Re: BATTLE FOR THE PLAYOFFS : Mon Oct 09, 2023 12:14 pm  

Irrespective of one's feelings for fev (and their obnoxious fans), it wouldn't look right for the ideology of "Super League" to have yet another "village team" to add to Leigh and Castleford, not to mention the potential trouble if they got thrashed at PO Road by the likes of Cas and Hull.

I'm guessing they gambled all or nothing re promotion, so expect a huge cull from Fev in the coming weeks. Hey, how about getting Springer back?

Re: BATTLE FOR THE PLAYOFFS : Mon Oct 09, 2023 12:47 pm  

I think you could be right regarding Fev offloading players and no doubt Campbell's court case could have an impact on that as well but realistically who would you want to see from Fev at Fax? This isn't a case of none of their team been good enough as they would all get in our current side, its more that a lot of their team are knocking on a bit now and to be fair they will be on good money at Fev and could be priced out of the Championship market.

Re: BATTLE FOR THE PLAYOFFS : Mon Oct 09, 2023 5:49 pm  

Greg Florimos Boots wrote:

I think you could be right regarding Fev offloading players and no doubt Campbell's court case could have an impact on that as well but realistically who would you want to see from Fev at Fax? This isn't a case of none of their team been good enough as they would all get in our current side, its more that a lot of their team are knocking on a bit now and to be fair they will be on good money at Fev and could be priced out of the Championship market.

Yep agree with that and maybe that was their problem. Leigh put together a team that could dominate our league but it was also a team where the majority of them were capable and had the ambition of going into SL, so more desire to achieve that. Whereas when looking at the Fev team it's hard to think of many that would now cut it in SL. So what's the motivation for them, potentially some will now remain on decent championship pay.

Re: BATTLE FOR THE PLAYOFFS : Tue Oct 10, 2023 9:35 am  

Everyone knows and have stated numerous times that unless you have a backer / benefactor with deep pockets then getting into and staying in SL is virtually impossible.

Interesting to see how each club responds after they are given their respective gradings next week and it becomes a battle for the criteria instead of a battle for the play offs and if it changes who if any clubs have a better / worse chance.

I suspect with reduced funding and attendances it will be meaner and leaner for most.

What Mark Campbell at Fev decides to do after he has had time to get over and reflect on the inevitable disappointment of missing out could be a big indicator, by the way his court case isn't until the 3rd of Feb 2025!!

Re: BATTLE FOR THE PLAYOFFS : Sun Oct 15, 2023 3:58 pm  

Congratulations to London, they played the system spot on and finished the season strongly. It'll be interesting if they now manage to establish themselves in SL. Going forward under the name "London" will, however, always be a problem as nobody in the Big Smoke really relates to the city in name, I would have thought taking on a regional name (Fulham was probably the biggest success in the city) would be a better idea.

It'll also be interesting to see if Toulouse decide to carry on in the Championship now the IMG will effectively pull up the drawbridge to SL. Hopefully not, as all they bring is high travelling costs in a league where clubs exist on very tight budgets. And would any Fax fan be happy if we participated in a French league with no local rivals? I certainly wouldn't. I'm surprised Toulouse fans are happy with this carry on as well, it's bonkers

Re: BATTLE FOR THE PLAYOFFS : Sun Oct 15, 2023 4:31 pm  

Interesting now to see what London do, they won't be close to the top 12 for the IMG rankings so its a one time deal only for them next season so seems very little point in them going full time and wasting the funding they will get on players.

Re: BATTLE FOR THE PLAYOFFS : Sun Oct 15, 2023 8:10 pm  

Amazing run of form from London beating everyone on their run back into Super League. Highlights on the tube here. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=i59wgKTDB ... b25jb3M%3D

Amazing run of form from London beating everyone on their run back into Super League. Highlights on the tube here. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=i59wgKTDB ... b25jb3M%3D

Re: BATTLE FOR THE PLAYOFFS : Sun Oct 15, 2023 9:03 pm  

Tony Fax wrote:

Congratulations to London, they played the system spot on and finished the season strongly. It'll be interesting if they now manage to establish themselves in SL. Going forward under the name "London" will, however, always be a problem as nobody in the Big Smoke really relates to the city in name, I would have thought taking on a regional name (Fulham was probably the biggest success in the city) would be a better idea.

It'll also be interesting to see if Toulouse decide to carry on in the Championship now the IMG will effectively pull up the drawbridge to SL. Hopefully not, as all they bring is high travelling costs in a league where clubs exist on very tight budgets. And would any Fax fan be happy if we participated in a French league with no local rivals? I certainly wouldn't. I'm surprised Toulouse fans are happy with this carry on as well, it's bonkers

Re Toulouse. We've been on about this tonight. I wouldn't be at all surprised if they jacked it in and followed Newcastle in pulling out of the league.

Re: BATTLE FOR THE PLAYOFFS : Mon Oct 16, 2023 9:08 am  

Hudd-Shay wrote:

Re Toulouse. We've been on about this tonight. I wouldn't be at all surprised if they jacked it in and followed Newcastle in pulling out of the league.

It must cost Toulouse a small fortune in travel and accommodation. I can't for the life of me understand why they themselves would want to be part of a foreign league. Same with Catalans I suppose, even though they get decent crowds. But I would have thought the French RL would benefit more with their own domestic league?

Re: BATTLE FOR THE PLAYOFFS : Mon Oct 16, 2023 10:26 am  

Tony Fax wrote:

It must cost Toulouse a small fortune in travel and accommodation. I can't for the life of me understand why they themselves would want to be part of a foreign league. Same with Catalans I suppose, even though they get decent crowds. But I would have thought the French RL would benefit more with their own domestic league?

Aye, you would think so. I cant see where Toulouse go from here though bearing in mind all this IMG rubbish. I doubt if they would be happy, unlike ourselves apparently, to just plod along and play meaninglessness games for the next however many years. Unless, of course, they know summat that we don't.