ditto

nothing new there that hasnt been said already.

All perfectly valid points, that will be stubbornly ignored by the powers that be at Red Hall.

There are some very simple steps the game could take to improve dramatically in lots of different areas but they won't.

It could upset some of the clubs that bring nothing to the table yet seem to get treated like royalty.

Eammon McManus has also expressed the same views. Would those involved with Saints have the same opinion if their club was one that could potentially be dropped from Super League.....? Hmmmmm...I think not!

I agree with scrapping the magic weekend, id personally like to keep it 14 teams but play each other once home and away and thats it. 26 games plus play offs but make the play offs harder to qualify for. Top 8 is too many, top 6. Carry on the exiles series and build on it, 1 a of few good ideas the RFL have come up with.

I agree with the sentiment but it should be ten teams to start with instead of 12. Play each other three times if need be - I'd rather see competitive, meaningful matches between the same teams than the 'big' teams drubbing the 'small' ones in increasingly pointless regular season matches.

And the sooner we get back to a top 5 playoff structure the better, rewarding 7th and 8th playoff places (the latter usually qualifies despite losing more games than they win in the regular season) is farcical.

22 games + playoffs would be more suitable.

I'd actually go one further and have a 10 team SL. with a top 4 Play off. But have the additional derby game. So if you include the CC thats a maximum of 26 games domestically in the season, which i'm sure the players would prefer. We could have a longer off season, with the potential for a bigger WCC.

Who is the expended World Club Championship going to be against? It certainly won't be any teams from the NRL as they have no desire or need to have such a competition.


Wasn't Colquitt the guy who McManus effectively had a go at in Saints accounts' statement for not maximising commercial revenue whilst at Saints?

Unfortunately, we can't afford to keep thinking in these sentimental terms.

The game is struggling at various financial levels. If you think of the sort of people who now run the top clubs - Lenagan, McManus, Moran etc - how frustrated must self-made millionaire businessmen like that feel about the stubborn oafs at Red Hall who still seem to think that it's more important to hang onto little ex-mining towns in Yorkshire than it is to create a top quality, high intensity and much more marketable RL competition?

I appreciate that comparisons to Australia are overly emotive - the two countries are so different, and RL in eastern Aus benefits massively from being the main sport there, not twentieth in the pecking-order as it is here. But we have a great product which still can't seem to sell itself. It really is time, IMO, to hack away the SL dead wood and maximise its appeal by concentrating its talent and resources in a meaningful way.

There will be losers for sure, but better that than the whole game reverting to a semi-amateur sport or, worse still, having to merge with Union just so that it can survive in a big-money world.

I'd love to see this happen as like the article says its gonna strengthen the comp.

The ideal and, most importantly, ACHIEVABLE goal should be 12 almost equally strong sides all going for the title in new sparkling stadia with a massive super bowl type blowout in October.


1-Wigan
2-Wire
3-Saints
4-Hull
5-Hudds

That's five teams in the right stadia there all with top squads that aren't a million miles from each other imo.

6-Leeds
7-Catalans

Two massive teams who can both win the title this year but need ground improvements which Catalan have undertaken Tbf.

That's us over halfway there in terms of having an open and competative comp which is excellent imo.

We've then gotta find 5 other sides to complete the list.

Salford and Widnes are two sides that stand out for me. If they could follow the same development path as Hudds did who is to say they cant be just as big of a force?

Find the other three from Hull KR, Cas, Wakey, Bradford, Leigh, Fev.

Those last three need a hell of a lot of work it must be said.

Bring back promotion and relegation, give the bottom teams in SL the change to fight for their place in SL, and the teams in the Championship something to play for. It's all too stagnant, teams in SL know they will be in SL for at least 3 years, teams in the Championship know they have little to no chance of breaking into the SL, so what's the point? Put the SL back to 12 teams. We don't need 14. The current play off system is a joke, a team in the bottom half making the playoffs?? Yeah, that's sensible!! Should be a top 5-6 maximum.

Posted this a few times on the VT.

Top 8 Super League - Franchise based with applications every 3 years

Catalans
Huddersfield
Hull FC
Leeds
St Helens
Warrington
Wigan
Bradford/Hull KR - Would be HKR now obviously.

Top 4 playoffs, followed by a Premiership style end of season competition - that gives 15 games minimum and 19 maximum.

Division 1 - Bottom team relegated

Castleford
London
Salford
Wakefield
Widnes
Bradford/Hull KR
Leigh
Featherstone
Halifax
Sheffield

Top 4 playoffs

Division 2 - Champions promoted

Batley
Dewsbury
Hunslet
Keighley
Swinton
York
Oldham
Rochdale
Barrow
Doncaster
N Wales
S Wales
Whitehaven
Workington

Top 6 playoffs


Divisions 1 and 2 play in NRC

To be honest, P&R will never create a top tier of super clubs. What it will create is a twilight zone between the two divisions, where 5 or 6 clubs will engage in an annual yoyo contest, which in its turn will prevent any of them attaining real Super League status.

We need to settle on the 10/12 best Super League candidates - on the basis of business acumen, stadia, competitiveness, finances, etc, all the usual stuff - and then close the doors, giving them adequate time to develop. Others can join this elite group as and when (if) a time comes when they too are able to satisfy very stringent criteria (i.e. not provide the sort of loose, empty guarantees that seem to have underwritten Bradford's access to the 2012 competition).

It seems harsh on those others who, as you say, have nothing to play for. But then professional sports throughout the world are filled with competitors who 'have nothing to play for' because they are nowhere near the top. I don't understand why British RL seems to be the only major pro sport where the solution to this seems to be to bring the top closer to the bottom.

Sod it, just do it base of how much money the clubs have, if at some point a rich backer comes in and buys a random club like Leigh and they can spend to cap, let them in, any team goes belly up, get kicked out.