Featherstone 24-32 Nottingham
Bramley 30-24 Huddersfield

Next weekend

Huddersfield Vs Nottingham

Very unlucky Fev!

rlLate Drake Strike Stuns Underbankrl

Congratulations on Nottingham for a good performance but I still cant work out why they were allowed to use players that have been playing semi-professional all season with Doncaster!!

Surely there needs to be a certain number of games players need to play before they can qualify for the play-offs. Is it fair to bring semi pro players in just for the play-offs!! I dont think so

They changed the rule a few years back (for the RLC as a whole, assume it's the same rules) as one league had 2 teams drop out so some teams (mostly second teams who had moved players between firsts and seconds) didn't have enough players having played the required number of fixtures even though they had a team. Of course rather than base it on percentage of games played as would be sensible (i.e. making exceptions in cases like that) they threw the rule out entirely and let these sort of things happen. Worksop (as they then were still called even though they'd already moved to Doncaster) once made the playoffs on finishing bottom (due to one dropout and it being 4 from 5 in playoffs) and chucked most of their Doncaster based players and shipped in a whole new team from Dewsbury just for the playoffs, though think they narrowly lost the regional final thankfully.

the rules state

[i14.15 Contracted professionals in either code of rugby league or union are deemed ineligible and by implication cannot be considered for selection in the Championship Play Offs by their recognised RLC National club. [/i

Which excludes anyone that's signed a pro contract. Some of the players that signed pro, were on amateur terms which would allow them to play.

Neither of the two players in question signed a contract, and they were at Doncaster for a maximum of 6 weeks. Get your facts right before you rant on a public message board. They'd both played at least 3 games for us before Donny came calling as well, so even then they'd qualify on the "players must have played 2 games during the regular season" rule. Going to Donny probably did the two lads more harm than sticking with the Outlaws tbh, as as least they might have been on a winning side during those 6 weeks.

I never said they had signed a contract I said they were playing at a semi pro club which makes it unfair for them to drop down for the playoffs Especially as they hadnt played for Nottingham for at least five months.
Nottingham have just bent the rules like our other friends Huddersfield. Do both teams deserve to be in the final three teams left in the competition? I dont think so!!

That Rules gone now.

I presume Richard Knight and Andy Boothroyd have been released from their respective contracts at York City Knights and Sheffield respectively. I could have sworn they both played this season for them? I think Andy Boothroyd played at Oldham as well this year.

Are they not classed as pro clubs?

So they both played for Huddersfield last weekend did they.

Surely this is not in the rules. There are certain teams making a mockery of the rules and the competition. What is the point of bringing in professionals apart from the obvious!! The people running this competition are a disgrace for letting the clubs get away with this!!

Nottingham have stuck rigidly to the rules!

Both players were cleared to play by the RLCN administration before they were allowed to pull on an Outlaws jersey

The 2 key aspects of the rules are

(1) players cannot sign for a RLCN club after the first Saturday in Sept. Both players met that criteria

(2) professionally contracted players cannot play in the play-offs. Both players had their professional contracts terminated by Doncaster and were removed of the RFL operations data base of contracted professionals.

By fulfilling the above Nottingham have done everything by the book.

As to whether this is fair? thats another point but please do not accuse Nottingham of cheating when they have followed the rules to the letter.

If you can exploit the rules like Nottingham and Huddersfield well good luck to them, its the people running the competition and making the rules which is the problem. If feathertsone rovers were not in the playoffs the lions would have tried to get some of their players to our club to strengthen us.

The thing I can't understand is that you don't have to play any games throughout the season but you can still qualify for the play-offs!!!