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.

Apparently, they are using a criteria based again on the 2020 system....
Why can't they just say the championship and grand final winners get into SL?

Well, that clearly changed with the inclusion of Wakey in SL for 2025 and becoming a Grade A club along with our good friends the Inbreds down the road.....Also the fact that teams already in SL in 2024 slipped down the rankings for 2025......

I don’t think they are using the 2020 criteria, I think that’s Aaron Bower just musing on it. No one knows the criteria yet. 


I guess they can’t say the winner of the final comes up just in case Fev, Doncaster, or even Toulouse wins it. In practice, if York or Toulouse win it, it’ll probably give them enough IMG points to come into the 12 anyway. 


I’ve followed the game’s governance/old boys club too long - I can see the scenarios playing out already, and happy to have this thrown back in my face if I’m wrong!:


If Toulouse win it, then Toulouse, Bradford and London will come up.


If York win it, it’ll be York, Bradford and London.


If Bradford win it, it’ll be York, Bradford and London.


There’s only one scenario in which York and Toulouse both make it, which is if Huddersfield have dropped enough points under IMG to drop into 13th place, and Toulouse make 11th and York 12th.


Then Huddersfield and Bradford will be bounced back up.

Looks like they are doing an 8 team playoff NRL style.
Which I like apart from it being 8 in a 14 team comp. It means you could in theory win the comp while finishing in the bottom half of the league.

Would be better with a top 7 and the first place team gets a week off while 2v7, 3v6 and 4v5 play each other.