As I understand Maurice Watkin is overseeing a complete review of Rugby league after 10 years of Richard Lewis’s tenure.
In my opinion the following areas need addressing immediately otherwise our great game will go into further decline.

1.Super league Format (Structure) to be changed from 14 clubs to 12 to increase competition and quality of games.

1a. To compensate for loss of four fixtures introduce a mid season competition including championship clubs e.g. Regal Trophy or Lancs Cup as previously. Super league clubs to be handicapped e.g. with players under 25 only qualifying to play.

2. Reintroduce promotion and relegation, 1up and 1 down or even a play off between bottom and top clubs for the right of a Super league place.

3. Salary Cap to be increased to a more realistic level (at least £2 million) so that we can compete with RU and NRL.

4. Super League leaders to be crowned League Champions with a suitable trophy and prize money similar to CC final winners, The most consistent team over the season must be rewarded and recognised as such.

5. Challenge Cup final to be moved back to May to replace the contrived Magic Weekend and create a bigger gap between major finals. Magic weekend has always been an unfair fixture arrangement with some clubs having easier games.

6. Grand final play off format back to top 5 only.

7. Pricing of CC and Play off games to be discounted with rewards for loyalty e.g. season ticket holders.

8. Refereeing inconsistencies to be addressed.

9. A video referee to be made available at all Super league games, this would ensure all matches are treated equally, not just TV games.

10. Video refereeing decisions to be consistent with clarification of his role with a clear definition of when and what he can intervene for. A transcript or voice recording of all communications between the Video Ref and Referee to be made available after every game.

11. The disciplinary - Judiciary panel to be more transparent and consistent with punishments e.g. Rangi Chase elbow to jaw causing a serious injury not sent off, on report 3 match ban. Michael McIlorum late high tackle no injury caused, Red card given plus 3 match ban.

There are probably many other matters of concern but to my mind these are the main problems that cause controversy at the moment and need to be resolved as soon as possible.

Where is the extra money going to come from for a £2 million salary cap?

Incidently I agree with most of the other things.

Definitely agree with this, possibly be even more radical and reduce Super League down to 10 clubs as the present pool of players isn't big enough to spread evenly over 14 clubs. If we want a competition as competitive as the NRL where you don't know who will make the Grand Final each season we have to be bold and take action.



There is the idea to create a new cup competition or the gap could allow the possibility for the return of test / Ashes series. As part of the series the touring team could play against the Super League champions and Challenge Cup winners.



I love the idea of a play off between Super League's bottom club against the Championship winners, it could be part of a double header on Grand Final day. It would generate fantastic drama and make for a brilliant occasion at Old Trafford.



This is a must, at it's present level we're risking the loss of more players to either the NRL or rugby union. It's worrying that younger players are now starting to leave Super League.



Whoever ends the league rounds on top of the table deserves far more than a shield that looks like a hub cap and a cursory mention on SKY and in the written press.



Always thought that having the CC final and Grand Final within 4/5 weeks of each other was a mistake. Especially in financial terms for supporters.



In my opinion it should be top 5 with 1st place gaining automatic qualification to the Grand Final. The other 4 teams play off over 2 weeks for the right to be the other finalist, 1st place deserves the opportunity to win the Grand Final and be crowned champions.



The RFL has to look at the cost of play off tickets for next season as they are far too expensive, it's no wonder that many of the games had huge amounts of empty seats. Didn't help in the 1st round that there were quite a few one sided results too.



Only way for this to be done is for a new broom to sweep the problem away, since the introduction of full time match officials the standards have been horrendous. The buck has to stop with the guy in charge of this department, namely Cummings. Bring back Greg McCallum or someone of that ilk.



Doesn't have to be costly, when it was first brought into the NRL wasn't it just a red or green light that signified a try or not? Therefore, every club doesn't have to have a huge video screen installed.



Great idea, it should especially be used on the RFL website when they show disciplinary judgements. If supporters have a better idea of what exactly occurred they may be more inclined to accept judgements made.



As far as I'm concerned previous character should not come into any decision as it merely muddies the waters. Every incident should be judged purely on it's merits with a set ban period for each type of incident. That way we should hopefully get rid of cases where one week "Player A" gets a 3 game ban but the following week "Player B" gets sending off sufficient for a similar incident.

The RFL has to start getting proactive because at present the domestic game is starting to stagnate.

Employ caswigan as RFL chairman immediatley.

Just the £2m SC that needs to be questioned as more money would have to be brought in somewhere especially with losing 2 home league games.

Not sure we could bring Regal Trophy back though if CC is moved back to May.

If top became Champions then we could keep top 8 playoffs to be fair.

Other than that i just wish the RFL thought more sensibly, its not rocket science.

Would love to see GB v Australia Ashes back. They were always a great few weeks. The Tri Nations were fantastic too but in true RFL style they got rid of it instead of the 'reduced in quality' 4 nations. I know it was to give France/PNG more games against the 'big 3' but if we have the Tri Nations, the 'other nation' that doesn't play of a weekend could always play France/PNG in a one off test.

It should rise to £2m based on income. Clubs should be rewarded for their work in attracting fans and players to the sport.

Some clubs can't spend the full cap as it is at the moment and some that are are operating at a loss, how is increasing the salary cap going to help stabalise these clubs?

As for the rest of those suggestions, well I think your living in fantasy land if you think any of those will happen anytime soon. I was expecting a return to winter rugby to be suggested at some point.

They'll have to get off their then and get some fans through the gate then won't they as opposed to sitting back and letting the big clubs do it for them.

Shape up or sh*t out as Peter Kay said on Phoenix Nights.

What abothe likes of the Hull clubs, Bradford and Saints? They attract good crowds and have some good revenue treams yet they're operating at a loss. The problrm isn't with the RFL (although obviously they can improve in some areas), the simple fact is most of the blokes running the the clubs haven't a clue. The RFL get a lot of stick over the stobbart deal but that was voted for by the clubs, as was the decsion to scrap P + R, and keep the salary cap as it is.

Is there any way we can get these views to the RFL because they are spot on cas. Or maybe spam them onto the other fans boards for reaction so we can get a country wide petition kind of thing going to the RFL Panel. These views would really get fans' bums back on seats and increase the games profile without doubt. I have no doubt the lower league clubs would agree to this also as their game suffers as a knock on effect as the SL dropping. Let's get our game going again.

Some of them haven't got a clue you're right. The problem is that most of them are happy to sit there and let others do it for them and vote for the ridiculous things they vote for.

Why should they bother trying to sign players who are 18/19 and develop them when they can let Wigan, Leeds, St Helens and Warrington do it for them and then sign them up in a few years? The new academy structure is an absolute joke.

This gets mentioned a lot but whenever it is what is never mentioned is how to make it feasible to operate P&R between a full time professional league and a semi-pro lower division that pays 1/4 the wages.

Relegation isn't just a sporting issue and ceased to be so once the game went full time. Players, coaches and staffs livelihoods are at stake here. The average wage if you divide the NL1 salary cup up equally across a 25 man squad is £16K per player. In SL the average is £64K. Who is going to take up a full time job in the sport as a player if it is possible they will see a pay cut of 30 or 40 K or more at the end of the season?

And its no good saying the players could all get a contract with the promoted side because apart from the fact they probably wouldn't it would make the whole thing a charade if they did.

What also gets ignored is with P&R clubs take the short term view every time. If you think some clubs are not pulling their weight on the player development front you watch them vote to remove the home grown player rules so they can import average ready made Aussies to try and stay up no doubt getting into debt in the process.

Bottom line is there is not enough money in the game to afford P&R. NL1 would have to be able to pay at least a £1M a year in salary to make it feasible for players to drop down without ending up unable to pay the mortgage.

Games should be free to get in to so that crowds are increased. This could be paid for by increasing the tv deal to £2billion per year.

It really saddens me that the OP makes a few suggestions (some good some not) and all some can do is make spurious silly comments that help no one, perhaps these people are after jobs at the RFL because it is the same head in the sand everything is rosy kind of outlook.

Sadly although I agree to a lot of the suggestions made by the OP I cannot honestly see any of them actually happening. P&R as pointed out by DaveO is a real issue due to the gulf between SL and Championship, and I find it impossible that two or more SL clubs would ever vote themselves out of SL.

Perhaps less radical but more gradual changes are the way forward, sad to say but one option would be that ANY club going into administration is automatically removed from SL to Championship - this could be one way of reducing SL over time (it is highly likely given existing financial circumstance that at least one more SL club is likely to go into administration in the next year or so). I do think that moving the CC is both feasible and should seriously be looked into.

Personally I have never liked the playoff system (finish top=champions in my book always has been and always will be) - but it looks like it is here to stay so needs to be changed - if the RFL aren't woken up by the poor crowds for the first round then they are truly a lost cause. Top 8 is far too many.

Sadly though I cannot see any significant changes being made - the RFL are far too parochial.

Essentially we've had P&R this season - Crusaders down Widnes up. Ok Widnes struggled for their first few months, but when they settled in they pulled off some good results. Yes they would have gone down again, but ask their fans if they'd prefer that opportunity to stagnating in the lower divisions.