They made the last two finals on offer - therefore they clearly had good enough resources to compete for finals. I agree it appears poor though unless we learn anything more. I don't understand it as they definitely fielded reserves at the start of the year and as above I don't get why they don't loan players. I'm guessing there must be something we're missing.
I'd argue there's a big difference in getting to two finals in a 12 month period and sustaining that level of success over a longer period of time. You need depth to consistently challenge and I'd say this is proof that their squad is paper thin.
I might sound like a grump, or that I'm going OTT, but I'm absolutely sick to my back teeth of the British game at the min. The Toronto fiasco, Catalan's might not fulfill their quota and now this.
Where's the leadership? Why aren't clubs being told that if they want to be part of the top tier of RL in this country they need 30 players and an academy? That seems like an absolute basic for a professional team imo.
Why weren't Catalan's made to move over to the UK like the NZ warriors had to, or the Storm had to? Pretty obvious that there was a chance that France, or the UK might go back into lockdown and to have all the teams based in the same country would kinda be useful.
You can't expect money to come into the game when it seems like it's amateur hour.
Why aren't clubs being told that if they want to be part of the top tier of RL in this country they need 30 players and an academy? That seems like an absolute basic for a professional team imo..
I would imagine they can't afford it
sergeant pepper wrote:
Why weren't Catalan's made to move over to the UK like the NZ warriors had to, or the Storm had to? Pretty obvious that there was a chance that France, or the UK might go back into lockdown and to have all the teams based in the same country would kinda be useful.
Some scientists claim that hydrogen, because it is so plentiful, is the basic building block of the universe. I dispute that. I say there is more stupidity than hydrogen, and that is the basic building block of the universe.
The_Enforcer wrote:
Most idiotic post ever goes to Grimmy..... The way to restart should be an arm wrestle between a designated player from each side.
Tough to say, but it's not really an excuse & each has a wider impact on the rest of the league.
We run an academy and other teams benefit from it. Not really a fair approach, or one that incentives teams to start running an academy.
The integrity of the comp has been massively impacted by Catalan and Toronto and the change to win %. If they couldn't afford to move over to the UK then the league should have mothballed them for 12 months. Dispensations could have been made on signing players from Cats or Toronto on loan meaning the financial burden of wages was less for them.
Welcome to the race to the bottom then. How many times do we roll out the poverty line?
Look at this from a wider commercial POV for once. If you were a decent sized company and wanted to invest in a sponsorship relationship, would you honestly pick RL? If not then why not?
Look at our nearest competitor RU - they kept the integrity of the league. No win % changes, no last min changes to the playoff structure. Just simple and solid leadership to see it out the league as it should have been.
Some scientists claim that hydrogen, because it is so plentiful, is the basic building block of the universe. I dispute that. I say there is more stupidity than hydrogen, and that is the basic building block of the universe.
The_Enforcer wrote:
Most idiotic post ever goes to Grimmy..... The way to restart should be an arm wrestle between a designated player from each side.
Look at this from a wider commercial POV for once.
Ironic, given that you have completely ignored the obvious commercial issue by advocating that we should have cancelled this season, thus throwing away every club's major lifeline - the sky money. Don't just take my word for that, we publicly acknowledge in the accounts every year that, like all SL clubs, we are reliant on income from Sky.
sergeant pepper wrote:
If you were a decent sized company and wanted to invest in a sponsorship relationship, would you honestly pick RL? If not then why not?
No I wouldn't invest in RL, we're a poor sport with not great attendances followed primarily by people who don't live in very affluent areas (I include myself in that). Bugger all to do with the integrity of the comp or whether teams run academies.
sergeant pepper wrote:
Look at our nearest competitor RU - they kept the integrity of the league. No win % changes, no last min changes to the playoff structure. Just simple and solid leadership to see it out the league as it should have been.
I find RU boring so I don't follow it. If they are demanding every team has an academy and putting up overseas teams in hotels for long periods (I genuinely don't know what issues they have faced or how they dealt with them) then it will be because they can afford it.
Now that the clubs with the exception of Catalan have completed the required 15 fixtures and a extended play off competition is now to take place, why be surprised?
Ironic, given that you have completely ignored the obvious commercial issue by advocating that we should have cancelled this season, thus throwing away every club's major lifeline - the sky money. Don't just take my word for that, we publicly acknowledge in the accounts every year that, like all SL clubs, we are reliant on income from Sky.
Where have I said we should have cancelled this season? I said that if Cats or Toronto couldn't commit to the moving to the UK for the rest of the season they should have been mothballed until 2021. I then argued for special dispensation for other teams to sign their players on a loan basis. Plenty of work/thought to do in making it an even spread across the league, but not an impossible task imo. Hell it might have actually helped Salford out too.
No I wouldn't invest in RL, we're a poor sport with not great attendances followed primarily by people who don't live in very affluent areas (I include myself in that). Bugger all to do with the integrity of the comp or whether teams run academies.
I'm not sure if you're being serious here or not? Are you saying that businesses don't market to the kind of people that watch RL? I guess that these large firms for example, haven't realised the type of people who watch darts https://www.pdc.tv/about-pdc/partners-pdc. You yourself said we're a poor sport, but rather than accept it maybe it's time to change it?
Businesses don't enter into commercial partnerships with organisations that don't look like they have their act together. We have that perception and that's why we struggle to get meaningful sponsors. Thus we're overly reliant on Sky.
ATEOTD RL desperately needs more investment. Saying "oh it's ok" to teams that don't have an academy, or accepting the constant flip flopping with rule and structure changes isn't helping portray the image of us having our $hit together.
Grimmy wrote:
Ironic, given that you have completely ignored the obvious commercial issue by advocating that we should have cancelled this season, thus throwing away every club's major lifeline - the sky money. Don't just take my word for that, we publicly acknowledge in the accounts every year that, like all SL clubs, we are reliant on income from Sky.
Where have I said we should have cancelled this season? I said that if Cats or Toronto couldn't commit to the moving to the UK for the rest of the season they should have been mothballed until 2021. I then argued for special dispensation for other teams to sign their players on a loan basis. Plenty of work/thought to do in making it an even spread across the league, but not an impossible task imo. Hell it might have actually helped Salford out too.
No I wouldn't invest in RL, we're a poor sport with not great attendances followed primarily by people who don't live in very affluent areas (I include myself in that). Bugger all to do with the integrity of the comp or whether teams run academies.
I'm not sure if you're being serious here or not? Are you saying that businesses don't market to the kind of people that watch RL? I guess that these large firms for example, haven't realised the type of people who watch darts https://www.pdc.tv/about-pdc/partners-pdc. You yourself said we're a poor sport, but rather than accept it maybe it's time to change it?
Businesses don't enter into commercial partnerships with organisations that don't look like they have their act together. We have that perception and that's why we struggle to get meaningful sponsors. Thus we're overly reliant on Sky.
ATEOTD RL desperately needs more investment. Saying "oh it's ok" to teams that don't have an academy, or accepting the constant flip flopping with rule and structure changes isn't helping portray the image of us having our $hit together.