The RFL management team clearly has no capacity for forward thinking; hence they are perpetually beset by the unintended consequences of their actions. Bradford are a case in point - many could argue that the RFL's cack-handed attempts to save them has actually made their situation much worse.

I think this one is about appeasing those people who believe that 6 points is too harsh, whilst maintaining the illusion of having followed due process.

That's my suspicion. The rules of natural justice state that a sanction should have an appeal process. I wonder if Bradford threatened judicial review and an injunction to halt the season.

Let them have the appeal. Give them back two points to appease and the lawyers stay out of it. That is probably the thinking.

You may remember the last round of franchising and the last minute demise of Crusaders saving us, one or two people believed it wasn't us that got saved that day.

Of course no one would believe that an independent body could not have known about said other teams financial problems and of course at the time money was no object for the Wildcats.

Most processes like this have an appeal process built in.
If the answer is that they reviewed it and they still agree 6 points then what's the problem.
If they say circumstances have changed and by the rules some should be returned then that's ok too.

Most appeal processes (including the RFL's disciplinary one) have an element of jeopardy, to deter non-meritorious appellants; this one doesn't.

These are my thoughts - why wouldn't they appeal ? , there's no reason not to . If there was a chance of a bigger points deduction then maybe they'd think twice , but as it stands ..well you might as well chance you're arm .

From an outsider here's what it seems.
Wakefield got double the central funding that Bradford did...they then got a further boost with a share of Bradfords withheld money.....which allowed them to get 2 of Bradfords better players.....but now you're upset because you will, in all probability ONLY have a 4 points start over Bradford in the league table.
Trust me, if they finish above you in the league and you get relegated, you DO deserve to go down.

If we didn't have to sell half of our team due to being told if we went into admin we'd be out of SL we would be no where near the relegation zone.

Don't let facts get in the way of the 'outsider' ....

From an outsider to the Bradford situation here's how it seems:

Bradford were bailed out several times by the RFL and the true details were only made public when the sh** hit the fan.
Bradford were clearly (even before the reduced SKY money situation) running with a squad they could not afford but even after a first administration made no significant attempt to reduce that cost. It was therefore clearly only a matter of time before they found themselves in trouble again.
With reduced funding surely anyone with any nous could see that they would be even less able to sustain that level of expenditure on playing squad, but did they make much effort to reduce it?? Not as far as I can tell.
Wakefield made significant efforts to reduce our playing costs to a sustainable level.


I do agree with your final statement though - if they finish above us in the league then we do deserve to go down.
I personally would like to see us finish enough points above them to be able to say that the deduction made no difference.

Most important thing to achieve if we do survive this season otherwise it'll be another tedious ''you're only still here because Crusaders pulled out'' scenario.

Try fishing somewhere else

I think the intended deterrent is that the club have to pay for the appeal themselves. Not sure how much it will cost, but I believe their new owner, Marc Green , is paying for it out of his own pocket.
To me it's all a bit of a red herring. They would be better using their time and money focusing on winning games and improving their squad. I can't see a rebate of more than 2 points.
After the 'you only got in because Crusaders folded' saga, we just need to concentrate on winning more games than London and Bradford ( and maybe Salford?)

We are good enough to stay up on the back of our own performances regardless of how many points (if any) Bradford get back. The fact they can appeal with no risk to themselves is an absolute joke and the rules need looking at in future. There's an arrogance around Bradford as a club that needs knocking out of then, so let's hope we do it when we play then in a few weeks.

Best ive read on this board for a long time!