According to form, both Hull clubs and an abstention from Wigan.


In principal, moving to a 14 club SL, with a balanced fixture program is absolutely the right way forward.
However, there are two huge issues here. 
Primarily, using IMG gradings for 12 clubs plus 2 clubs chosen by an "independent" panel is just wrong.
Either go "all in" with IMG or, use a different model completely.
More importantly, given the "quality of the bottom 3 clubs in SL, there is an argument that we should be cutting SL numbers and not 
increasing them.
Finally, with Nigel Wood now seemingly running the show, does anyone have faith in the "independent" panel.


Call me a cynic but, assuming they dont have the required number of IMG points, the 2 "wildcard" clubs will most likely be, Bradford and London.


Also, what happens in the following season, is the drawbridge being pulled up or, are we to have promotion and relegation and would the "wildcard" clubs be exempt.


The organisation at the top of our sport is an absolute shambles.
We are in the first full year of IMG and already, we are giving up[ on the process and this is whilst shelling out heaps of cash for their services.


The only positive here is a "balanced" fixture schedule but, the planning and methodology are utterly flawed and the inability of the sport at being able to make a coherent plan
and stick to it is shameful.


Rant over,

I'm not counting any chickens here.   York have a great chance, they're the best team we've played this season.  They have a tidy stadium and seem well run.   As said above I reckon London will be in with shout due to Hetherington getting on board.   Despite Toulouse being top I'm not sure there's a big appetite for a second French club in SL - could they afford to pay the travel expenses of 13 other clubs like Catalans would?   


A lot depends on if Salford get relegated.   A lot of people are making assumptions.


On the Bradford juniors in SL there's a decent starting 13 spread across the SL clubs now.   I just wish them well, it helps if they're in a side that beats Leeds too!

And Wood isnt in post to allow Bradford to be "overlooked"
Hetherington will get London up to speed but, they shouldn't be gifted a SL spot when they are performing so badly on the field of play

One or two journo's have been saying for a few weeks that its Salford out, Bradford, York and London in.


Getting rid of the loop fixtures is a positive, but there isn't enough quality players IMO to sustain 14 clubs - which is one of the reasons we cut back to 12 teams I think?

Bradford won't be in the top 14 IMG gradings even if they win the Championship, which is looking unlikely anyway. They were 16th last year - 1.43 points behind Toulouse in 13th. 

I just can't see how Toulouse won't go up via IMG, even if they don't win the final. There's such a gap between them and the next club (York). But I hope they win it just to seal the deal and ruin the masterplan. There are officials, players, and most importantly fans who have shelled out time, energy and money to get that club to where it is. No different from any club in England. They've played by the rules, only to have the rules changed because of the self-interest of a few parochial club owners.


If Toulouse come up, we can safely assume Salford will finish 13th or 14th in the gradings and not get past the panel. Which leaves the panel choosing from York, London or Bradford. Anyone who knows the characters involved knows that it's Bradford and London coming up through the 'independent' panel. It's wool over the eyes but the nose still smells it.

I can understand the cynicism but despite Wood's involvement I can see Bradford missing out.  


I've seen the speculation in the press too but it should be taken with a pinch of salt.  Some journalists have definite agendas to push.  


I've not seen anything on what happens from 2027 onwards - is the drawbridge being pulled up or will their be potentially a way for championship clubs to get into SL or SL clubs to be relegated?  There must be some achievable pathway.  

Although having Hetherington on board is a huge plus for London, no club should be promoted from 10th spot in a 13 club league.
Maybe, someone at the top of the sport should be honest enough to tell us who they actually want in the top flight and let's just bin off IMG and get on with it.


Once again, rather than looking like a top professional sport RL is pi$$ing of the fans and making the sport look like a circus and all this when we are building to the biggest Test series in decades.


Only in Rugby League !

London were 20th on the overall ladder at the end of the 1994/5 season yet were promoted to SL in 1996 and finished 4th.  


So only two places higher than they are now.

We can say what we like about IMG but they certainly focused the minds of many clubs to make improvements.

Yet because the IMG points scoring had an inherent bias to SL teams many other clubs could make improvements but it wouldn't matter.    I'm in agreement that IMG needed to get clubs to improve off field matters but there should not be bias towards SL incumbents who could rest on their laurels by virtue of the benefits of already being in SL so already had bigger crowds and featured more on TV (just two examples).    If the metrics were a bit smarter those clubs making the most effort would get more points than those that bumped along.  

Anyway, it might all be academic now.