With the world as it is and after yet another failed attempt at expansion, now is the time for a solid option and Leigh are pretty much that.

They are almost on a hiding to nothing but their relegation won't set them back too much.

London will get their chance again and if it is with franchising will get a few years go at it.

The club won’t be too annoyed to see Leigh back in. They’ll bring 3,000+ to Wigan (if allowed) and that’s a good few bob in to the coffers. It may be short sighted to think this but they’ll be good news in the short term for other clubs, especially Wigan, Saints, Wire etc.

Why?

Agreed,and the most important thing is to have a great game of rugby league.

Given the lack of time Leigh will struggle to put a competitive squad together. On the other hand we have an opportunity to offload some fringe players or to set up a couple of loans.

There is a simple answer for Rugby League expansion. Extend the league to 14 teams and get rid of the stupid loop fixtures. Teams like Leigh, London and Tolouse can then compete. If promotion and relegation is confined to 1 team then at least 2 of those sides will stay in super league for 2 seasons and one of them for 3 seasons at least. Sides like York and Fev then have the opportunity for promotion and the game grows. It's easy really. Just need to expand the league. I don't really see a downside unless I am missing something. I could be.

The downsides would be:

- The existing SL sides would get 1/14 of the TV money instead of 1/12
- The talent pool would be spread thinner, potentially lowering the overall quality
- More uncompetitive games (i.e you're giving up a third Wigan v Saints fixture for a new Wigan v York or whoever)
- Less gate money for the existing SL sides (same theory as above)
- You significantly weaken the Championship as they lose their three best sides
- Less gate money for the remaining Championship sides as presumably the sides getting promoted were drawing higher crowds than whoever comes up from League 1
- There is also the question of what you do with the play offs. If you expand then to 7 or 8 teams then a lot of the regular season will be meaningless for the top sides once they know they are in the play offs. If you have 5 or 6 teams then the season will be meaningless for many of the bottom sides once they know they are safe from relegation.

I'm not saying we shouldn't do it eventually, but those would be the drawbacks.

like what? Leigh offer away support thats all that we can expect these days as its been proven that these big city clubs dont bring in the investors thats been bounded around for year

Bearing in mind we are still in the middle of this pandemic then bringing Leigh in was probably the safest and smartest choice (and I'm saying that as an expansionist).

I would like to hope that a number of ambitious Championship clubs look of ways to grow and seek additional investment to give them the greatest chance of progressing into SL over the next 3-5 years. I'm talking about Toulouse, London, Newcastle and York to spread away from the M62 as well as Widnes and Bradford strengthening the traditional heartlands.

A SL team made up of TO, London, Newcastle & York all competing would give us a much better chance of a new TV deal once the next one expires. Surely as a business that's the aim? To be in a stronger competition than the one it was five years earlier?

Also just to add. I know there is an element of hypocrisy in my post as we sign young players from other sides not even in our region, Smithies, Pearce-Paul etc but that is the network we have in place. It's not just a case of nabbing all the best youngsters it's hard work and due diligence on the clubs part to sniff these lads out. Rugby League is played all over the country. London Broncos have found a good number of local lads and have made strides as a club as a result. They made it back in Super League and were very unlucky to go down. Every side that comes up is always going to have the cards stacked against them but that experience of playing at that higher level is all good for the future of the club. They won a lot of friends the season before last because they were a well coached and well drilled unit. Pretty much all the lower league clubs need to have a look at London's business model and follow their lead.

Oh for sure it's pessimistic. I think there are benefits to going to 14 teams eventually but we can't just pretend there aren't hurdles. History tells us that the promoted teams tend to bring in experienced journeymen at the expense of youngsters because they need to stay up. Already I, and others, are saying we should be touting Clark and Hankinson to Leigh, for example. Players who weren't good enough for SL last year, but may be starters next year even with one team coming up. What standard of player ends up on the pitch when you add in a further two teams and one of them picks up a few injuries?

More youngsters would inevitably get opportunities at some point as well (e.g Clark goes to Leigh so Kilner gets the odd game here). That's OK at Wigan because we have the best academy. Are the clubs further down the pecking order ready to cope with that demand, or do we end up with players on the pitch who should really be playing at a lower level, or more NRL has-beens over for one last payday? That's the biggest hitch IMO. Same number of players available, 60 or so more required to play Super League regularly.


Not sure how familiar you are with League 1 so apologies if this sounds patronising. The quality is bloody awful, worse than amateur level in many cases (hence NCL sides regularly beating League 1 sides in the CC). The sides with a shout of coming up aren't the exciting expansion teams. It would likely be two of Barrow/Keighley/Rochdale. They aren't building for the future, they are in a permanent state of trying to keep their heads above water. In fact I've long argued that they should just merge the NCL and League 1. West Wales wouldn't even be in the top two divisions if they did that.

Forget that bit though, what about the remaining Championship teams? They were all reliant on some loan/Dual Reg players every week to fulfil fixtures. The players they would have loaned will now be playing SL for whoever. What quality of player can they loan now? The problem trickles down.


Agree with all this. The reserves league needs to be in place for three years before we can consider 14 teams IMO. That way you may have enough players ready to step up.

If the league to be expanded to 14 nominate the 2 clubs to be come into SL 12 months beforehand so the said clubs could accrue personnel to at least compete in SL and give them financial help to do so.