Obviously the LED screen is a joke but as expected the majority of the down grade will be for performance and stadium utilisation. Both factors are well in the clubs control.

Absolutely but the teams we are likely to be battling it out against have both been awarded A grade licenses. Wakefield are ambitious and will be far more competitive than London and Cas who finished 9 points ahead of us have secured new investment. Despite the improvement in our squad that's quite a margin.

That's why it's desperately important we sort out the LED screens.

Also the reduction in TV viewer score is a reflection that we haven't had a game of interest after July for any non die-hards for about 10 years now. Other clubs will have had a decider game to get in the playoffs to draw the casual SKY viewer in, we may as well be put on the Deadrubber Sports1 channel

https://x.com/johnnyddavidson/status/18 ... 9750096249

https://x.com/johnnyddavidson/status/18 ... 9750096249

Disappointed to see us drop a grade, some of the rulings are a joke but it’s ultimately our failings on the pitch that have seen us drop.

Do find the delay in information regarding the fans forum interesting, maybe waiting to announce it alongside the investment/takeover?

Can’t see them doing a forum if a takeover/investment hasn’t taken place.

I'm still optimistic this is the case, the timing of the dinner in particular would be unusual otherwise usually these things would be done at the start of end of seasons not when players and staff are just returning from holiday (or arriving at the club)

Another bad decision from our owner. I'm starting to feel he got lucky buying City and maybe Marketing Manager for Leeds Unred was his actual level of ability.

Aside from hiring Motu Tony what great decisions has he made at this club? The things we are good at such as merchandise and social media were already in a good place under Kath and co.

Agreed, it’s not only directly our performer score that dropped it has a knock on effect on everything.

I'll be disappointed if we finish below Cas and Wakey next year tear, I'm sure there fans will say the same, but I think that along with Hudds Is a real target, maybe Leigh and Salford depending on injuries.

Our 17 and squad is better than last season, add in the off field appointments I don't think its unreasonable to say we could finish 8th to 10th.

Unless I’m missing something with the calculations I saw the other day that Wigan received the full 5 performance points because of the cup and league bonuses, we scored 2.85. So Wigan scored 2.15 points more the us on the performance score.

Wigan scored 16.91 in the total gradings today, so - 2.15 from the performance criteria leaves them on 14.76 and a grade B rating. Just go to show that despite all the LED and other nonsense, had Wigan performed as badly as we have they’d also only be a grade B club. Performance criteria really is the big one we need to improve everything else is minor.

Not sure if this what you are after but this from the Wakefield website

IMG GRADING BREAKDOWN

FANDOM – 4.20

PERFORMANCE – 3.0929

FINANCE – 3.80

STADIUM – 2.7480

COMMUNITY – 1.25

TOTAL – 15.09 – GRADE A

Even though we have tended to play our home games on a Saturday afternoon these past couple of years, thereby not clashing with any other fixture normally, I would doubt too many neutrals would be tuning in to watch us, even if they were at a loose end on a Saturday (which most people usually aren't).

This year especially, why would anyone wish to spend their hard-earned weekend watching Hull Fc, never mind the black & white die-hards! Not only were we hardly the most exciting team to watch (and don't we all know that!!!) but I suspect most people had already decided on what the game result would be even before kick-off (and were usually proved correct in 2024!!), hardly inducement to switch on, especially for any casual viewer.

Like the majority of the grading performance, the improvement is largely in our hands, we perform better on the field, everything else will most likely follow suit, even the two big screens!!!

Just read Doncaster lost 1 full point, as they have a gantry 40cm too small.

Oldham moved to a bigger stadium quadrupled their attendances but lost points under the 'utilisation of a stadium criteria,'

Whether we're a Grade-A or Grade-B club, we are still a Super League club, which means that our future and the direction of travel remains in our own hands, no-one else's.

The key is to start behaving like a grown-up sporting organization, something which has been sadly absent for far too long unfortunately. The prime objective of any sporting club is on-field performance, winning matches basically! All of our other faults (as highlighted in this, admittedly flawed, system) will recede if we once more start winning a game more than once every Sheffield flood!!

It won't be easy, we are having to come from a long way back, and my suspicion is that 2025 will still be a difficult year to sit through, but we have to start the road back from somewhere.
We are probably now about as low as we can seriously afford to drop, barring a fall into complete oblivion, and so I would think our grading performance can only go back in an upwards direction again, but it really is linked to our on-field performance. I hope J. Cartwright realises the weight which will fall on his shoulders the moment his feet touch Hull terra-firma!!

Have wakefield scored more than us for performance despite finishing below us for each of the years of the measure? Clearly someone knowledgeable has come up with the criteria

I wonder if they failed on girth or length.

Wakefield got an A grade due to the 0.25 bonus points they got for winning the Championship Grand Final which is crackers.

If the club have been holding off a signing announcement then this evening might be a good time to do it.

At least people are now seeing what i have said all along that IMG are just speadsheet Charlies who have done nothing to enhance the game yet have already been paid £500000.
Its obvious to me they are not sustainable and clubs will force the RFL to act and remove them costing even more money.
Supporters are not interested in gradings its what happens on the field that counts and until someone new at the RFL comes in with some radical vision for the game like removing the salary cap and quotas to get more super stars into the UK game R/L in the UK will continue to stagnate.
We dont need every game televised that works against getting people into stadiums but what we do need is promotion and relegation.
I would even go with fourteen teams in S/L with 2 up 2 down so that there is a real incentive for building up a meaningful Championship division with automatic promotion for the Championship top team and auto relgation for the bottom two in S/L.
That way we would also have an exciting end of season Championship play off for the second promotion place unlike now which counts for nothing but an IMG tick

it wont be difficult to see an on field improvement as last season we were dire but its exciting entertaining R/L the fans want to watch but this is a team of average joes so if you want excitement you wont get it.
Dull,boring but more competitive yes

Only in RL would you be rewarded for failure

Which takes the Championship winners points slightly over the points allocated to the team finishing bottom of SL that's the incentive for the champoinship clubs and also for SL clubs to finish higher in the SL table.

Remove the salary cap and you'll end up with what they have in union with clubs overspending and going pop. The game isn't rich enough to have no spending limits.

I agree on the televising of games. I probably watched less games last year than previous years as there was so much dross on it was counter productive for me.

P&R is fine if the teams coming up offer more than the relegated teams but if you had 4 team SL with 2 P&R you'll end up with effectively what would be the current 3rd and 4th best teams in the championship coming up then the competition as a whole would be pretty poor