Team to win the championship optimistically..
Jowitt Kershaw Croft Hall Murphy Walker AN Other Battye Bowes Whitbread Crowther Ashurst (captain) Shaw
Subs Kay Eseh ODonovan Windrow

I am guessing that big spending Leigh will be promoted and Featherstone having thrown loads of cash at trying to get promoted this year will have little money left for next season.

I remember when we were down in the old second division and it was grim. Our gates had a 'one' as the first figure more often than not. We were part time and any young talent quickly disappeared to other clubs. I think it will be tough if we drop down .It could take a few seasons to sort things around and get settled. Lets not forget the central funding next season will be peanuts. The teams down there at the moment with full time squads are being bank rolled , Leigh especially and I cant see our BoD taking that approach. I would guess we will run as a part time operation, establish our level than take it from there.

Sorry but you are dreaming !!
Murphy and Hall have promising SL careers infront of them.
One or two others will get full time contracts at other clubs.
One or two of the young ones will get picked up by SL clubs.
The rest would have to be prepared to either play part time or retire.
I think you are in for an almighty shock.

IMG are widely reported to be splitting the league into two after next season which obviously means we will be in the second tier along with a couple more teams that are now in the top tier . So looking forwards it may not be the death knell of our club like some imagine , and could even lead to a brighter future than the one we are looking at right now

As has been said on here after next season it's supposedly going to 2 divisions anyway, assuming that Leigh win promotion to super league next season, do you think they have a realistic chance of staying in the top tier the year after, I only mention this in the context of your post regarding for me they're imminent promotion this season.

It wont happen anyway....
League reform for 2024 - SL1 & SL2.....
Even if we won the Championship they'd stick us SL2.......

If you are right that the championship winners next season will be in SL 2 then the only thing to play for is to get in the top 8 . The bottom 4 will be written off altogether. How is this progress. Presumably teams like Whitehaven Dewsbury Keithley and Oldham with all their history are going to be ababdoned

People all over saying RL is dying in this country for various reasons , along come a global player to kick us dragging and screaming into the future and we still moan . Be hopes to god they don’t talk to fans first as they are supposedly doing , they’ll probably just walk away and leave us as the basket case we are in this country .

I think your underestimating what may be possible somewhat. If we remove the large salaries and work to a salary model we could likely build a starting 17-21 full time players with a subsequent 7 or so academy/part time players.

You wouldn’t be talking 60/70 k contracts but more in the region of 25-40k which would appeal to players like Murphy/Kershaw etc.

I think we are at our rock bottom almost attendence wise yet vs Toulouse we still pulled 3.5k almost. I could see us still raising above 3k regularly in the championship if we build a competitive squad.

Perhaps i'm missing something here,but i've mentioned SL1 and SL2 before and touched on whether they will be closed shops or open to promotion and relegation.There is also the issue of funding and percentages.Any thoughts?

I don't agree that the sport is dying. Attendances are down because people haven't any money. Young men and women still want to play the game . Spectators will go and watch it if the price is right. The product is still great . Players are not going to be able to ask for 6 figure saleries anymore and clubs need to stop wasting money in second rate Aussies. Our best players may get lures by the Aussie dollar but recent experience says they only stay one or two seasons then come back