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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.

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 ?

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.

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