I’ve slept on it and come up with the following;

If we are to expand in America it can’t be just an RFL thing, it has to be a joint enterprise between RFL, NRL and the IRFL (who ultimately should have the responsibility). Pump money in to the league (which has been up and running for nearly 20yrs), attract investors and innovators such as Perez. Sign players from Australia/England/France whilst also creating youth pathways for Americans. It’s a slow, methodical and lethargic process which ultimately could take 15-25years but that’s the only way we’ll get anywhere close to making ground in the USA.

I’ve been lamenting Toronto’s expulsion but I also said that it was not a long term option, that the ultimate aim has to be a pro American League. There’s already teams in Philadelphia, Jacksonville, Boston, Orlando, Washington, Los Angeles and Cleveland (or so I recall). Build on that, invest in it. That’s the only way we can sustain a professional league. The standard won’t be great and our top amateur teams would give them a hiding (I went over in 2011 and we hammered Jacksonville by 40 odd) but it would eventually come good.

Otherwise it’s pointless. SL can’t sustain long term a transatlantic side, never mind 2/3.

And actually competed fairly well in SL. Any other year they would have stayed up with that amount of points. If you're looking for a team to be SL ready in such a short period, they're the best bet IMO. Not sure how much the squad has turned over but I think a lot of it was down to Danny Ward, who is still there of course. Whoever does come up should be exempt from relegation for a year though IMO due to the short time available to them to prepare a competitive squad.

so 2 years ago? Hows that merit for this season?

I disagree, If you look at squads its a shootout between Leigh and Toulouse and they also have the facilities ready also, Londons squad has been decimated

I know. I knew that as soon as I saw 'Pieman wrote'.