Re: Relegation : Mon Jun 10, 2019 2:26 pm  

christopher wrote:

In some ways that's a good thing, for some reason (and this started with the stupid middle 8s) the focus is all about the bottom rather than what's going on at the top, clubs should be striving ti get into the top 5 not scrabbling around trying to stay up.

The NRL doesn't have this issue but then again it only seems to be the British that are overly bothered about P&R. Look at the table as it is, there's 8 points between bottom and 5 with 24 points still to play for, theoretically every team has something to play for as they could all make the top 5, instead we are all talking about relegation - the focus is all wrong, IMHO.

Indeed. And i would imagine the play offs would be extended to 6 teams in the similar format to what we have now with the top 2 getting the second chance still.

Like you say everybody should be striving to get themselves in the 6 not just surviving in the division.

Re: Relegation : Mon Jun 10, 2019 3:15 pm  

Gotcha wrote:

I would agree with most of that, and certainly the direction. However, I feel there should be a genuine thought process to look at dropping Wakefield, Salford and Leigh from it, and possibly Huddersfield should be forced to merge with Halifax. I would have liked to see the game support as soon as possible to grow a big challenge from the Cumbria region to replace one of those, even if that involves mergers in that area, and hopefully Newcastle can replace one of the others.

I am a confirmed expansionist and certainly agree that Cumbria should be explored , but just out of interest what makes say Castleford a more attractive proposition than the teams that you consider worth dropping ?

Re: Relegation : Mon Jun 10, 2019 3:35 pm  

Rupert Slazenger wrote:

I am a confirmed expansionist and certainly agree that Cumbria should be explored , but just out of interest what makes say Castleford a more attractive proposition than the teams that you consider worth dropping ?

They have proven they can attract crowds. They have a fine youth production record. They have formed a brand that seems to work now. The areas of say Wakefield that are really captured by the game go to Cas anyway.

Re: Relegation : Mon Jun 10, 2019 7:50 pm  

batleyrhino wrote:

In the longer term, for the sport to thrive, it must grow. The only way to do this sustainably is franchising. We basically bottled it last time, and listened to too many people with their own agendas instead of the sport itself as their primary concern. Due to the way that this year is shaping up, with nothing really to choose between London, HKR, Leeds, and then even Wigan, Hudds and Salford all within 4 points of each other, more than half of the league are at risk of relegation (which would be catastrophic for whichever club is concerned) so I would state now that there will be no relegation this year. Then I would promote Toronto as others have said and this group then become franchises for the following season. Any club can join the following year as long as they meet certain playing, structural and commercial criteria, with the potential for one team to be added each year when they meet those criteria.

Imagine in 5 years time you could have a league that looks like this:

Leeds
Saints
Wigan
Warrington
Hull KR
Hull
Wakefield
Salford
London
Toronto
Castleford
Bradford
Leigh
Tolouse
Catalans
Huddersfield

That's 16 teams, with others like New York that could potentially join once they've met the criteria. Some will say that we simply don't have the player pool to support this number of clubs, but without the clubs and no risk of relegation this will be an eternal question. Without the risk of relegation, more kids would get chances and so the player pool grows.

It's the only sustainable way to develop the club game.

Agree we as a sport bottled it last time with licensing. We gave in to the demands of the lower league clubs, the tail was very much wagging the dog. I’m not keen on Robert Elstone because I trust him as far as I could throw Lolohea. But I hope at least his appointment means that the sport won’t be making such decisions in the future.
Unfortunately they’ve made the same mistakes as 10+ years ago with the boring, unimaginative, lazy loop fixtures.

I’m massively in favour of licensing. I don’t see how the sport can ignore the massive success and growth of the NRL that a licensed league has played a big part in helping create.
However, I can’t help but remember that god awful, cringe-inducing press conference we had at the start of licensing where the charisma black-hole that is Richard Lewis was stood in front of a sh|t PowerPoint presentation of spinning club logos as each one was announced.
Please, please! Anything but that again!

Re: Relegation : Tue Jun 11, 2019 6:06 am  

Not sure what all this talk about licensing is about weve only just gone back to 1 up 1 down surely were not changing again????

You can change SL to as many teams as you want but it will mean less money for the clubs currently there and they wint vote for that.

Elstone cant be judged until the next TV deal is announced. If he comes back with a mega deal hes good if he doesn't hes just like the rest. That and the next world cup in England are the 2 most important things for the sport

Re: Relegation : Tue Jun 11, 2019 6:10 am  

What if he got an improved deal but that meant the same money per club and more clubs?

Re: Relegation : Tue Jun 11, 2019 7:08 am  

That's my view Batley - genuine expansion bringing in overseas clubs has the potential at least to lead to a bigger TV deal. It wouldn't be hard to get Sky's views on the impact of different mixes. One thing's for sure, the idea of replacing a Wigan or Leeds with Widnes or Leigh would make the comp instantly less attractive.

Re: Relegation : Tue Jun 11, 2019 7:17 am  

Easy to say that as a Leeds fan. Wonder if you would say the same as a Widnes or Leigh fan?

Re: Relegation : Tue Jun 11, 2019 7:27 am  

Marty Grrrrrrrrrr! wrote:

Easy to say that as a Leeds fan. Wonder if you would say the same as a Widnes or Leigh fan?

There isn't enough of them to bother about that one though. When there are, then their voice should be heard.

Re: Relegation : Tue Jun 11, 2019 7:32 am  

That's irrelevant tho. There are probably more of them than Salford and Hudds certainly in Leigh's case.

They would probably take more fans than we did to Wigan, Salford and Wakey games also. Our away following is embarrassing.