Cokey wrote:
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Yes, if the Championship club had higher points.
As things stand, promotion and relegation is currently points based. Hence Wakefield coming up and London going down this season. The fact that it happens to be the team that finished 12th in Super League and the team that finished 1st in the Championship is coincidental. London were always destined to be heading back to the Championship next season because of the provisional grading they were given last year. There was just too much catching up to do.
What's now under consideration is a proposal that has been motioned by Batley that will be getting discussed by clubs at a meeting at the beginning of December that guarantees that the winner of the Championship gets promoted to Super League regardless of their points. The only criteria that club has to meet is that they have a Grade B licence. The proposal also says that in terms of relegation, the lowest ranked Grade B Super League club would be relegated with Grade A clubs exempt from relegation. "Lowest ranked" seems to be up for debate as to whether it means if it's the Grade B team that has the fewest grading points or the Grade B team that finishes the lowest in the league. If all Super League clubs eventually achieve Grade A, Super League would be expanded to include the Championship winner.
So we have this weird scenario under this proposal that Doncaster, currently the lowest ranked Grade B club in the Championship on 7.52 points, can guarantee themselves a place in Super League in 2026 if they win the Championship Grand Final. Their points score wouldn't matter compared to other Championship clubs, they would be in Super League as a reward for winning the competition. Meanwhile, Salford could potentially find themselves relegated despite having 6.45 points more than Doncaster because they are currently the lowest ranked Grade B team on points in the Super League. But if it's based on league position, you have the potential (although highly unlikely) scenario that the three Grade B clubs of Super League (FC, Huddersfield and Salford) could finish 1st, 2nd and 3rd respectively and the 3rd place team would be relegated in favour of Doncaster because the other nine clubs are Grade A and exempt from relegation.
As I said on a previous post, it either has to be straight up promotion and relegation or the grading system. Not some weird hybrid of the two.
. I said at the time gaining points to achieve grade A in SL for winning competitions in the Championship is just madness and ill thought out and thats not bashing Wakey as I think they have made big strides in other areas. Its just the fact a team can be awarded points based on on field performance/success that are playing in a lower league which for makes the whole grading system valueless if all teams aren't judged on the exact same points.
