They really are just a shambles, so not prepared for Super League. They'll still be struggling after year three at this rate, nicely done RFL...

What makes me laugh is Eddie and his ilk's oft repeated "this is only the first year, they have 3 years to get up to speed."

Wrong! They have as many years as they like. Has any SL club been denied a franchise renewal for being poor on the field? Are they likely to be? No, of course not. When it comes around to franchise time, on-field performance is not even mentioned.

I would be amazed if Fev were ever considered for SL as they simply do not fit the SL Vision Template of "Big City Teams". It's totally wrong but there it is.

On the plus side, criticism for the present system is gathering momentum so let's wait and see.

Possible restructure?? SL 1 & 2?? It's been mooted several times and that concept seems to have a hell of a lot of backing within the game and is gathering quite a bit of momentum. Both Fev n Fax would sit comfortably within SL 2 and with P&R to shoot for it would make the season have some real meaning!

It won't happen - well, not the way you want it to anyway. Basically, you've got to spread the paltry amount of Sky money across a selected few clubs. The current selected few clubs will choose to cut off its wobbly legs and keep it all thank you very much. The legs will join the head of The Championship and we'll play for free through Premier TV and doff our caps and be thankful for the TV exposure. As Nigel says (with his expert sponsorship deals) "You can't buy advertising like that". No Nigel, you fat twerp - you sell it!!!

I kind of anticipated that Rich, and I can kind of live with that if there is genuine P&R twixt SL1-2! But I would like to see the promoted club given a 'lift' with a bigger pot for winning SL2 to improve their chances of competing in SL1.
It might mean Cas share the yo yo duties with Wakey for the first 5 seasons or so but would in my opinion be a step nearer the egalitarian/utopian ideal I have in my mind for RL- but sadly my mind is the nearest it is likely to get to reality.

I agree. Decent concept. Say two divs of 10. All clubs would have to meet certain core, long term criteria. Such as stadia and infrastructures. Other variables would be driven by p&r (as should be the case in competition based sport). This would alleviate the jump up to superleague, and make sl a better spectacle in two ways:
- reduce number of teams... there are not enough good players to support 12 teams, let alone 14. Superleague is getting worse as a spectacle
- (re)introduce something to play for to 16 teams. At the moment there are about 6 teams who have anything to play for. The RFL believe a franchise system will help us beat the aussies. No it will not - intense rugby will. And who says beating the aussies has to be the core principle of rfl governance? I would say the health of our game is of more importance (and seemingly licensing is doing nothing to this end either!)

A strong argument for franchising was to help blood young talent. I believed this. Though it is all relative - exposing them to mediocrity will help them to achieve mediocre greatness.

Super League
Championship Division
Championship Division 1
Championship Division 2

- All ten teams.
- All PR.
- Real transparency from all clubs and keep fans involved.
- Reformed RFL who regulate but also guide clubs to avoid financial incidents.
- Entrenched 'constitution'.

I can dream...

After the Cas game we lost to Sheff 40-26 then won 3
After the Bradford we lost to Fev 30-18 then won 4

Yes you can, and it's not a bad one, 10 per division would mean games between well known teams in SL2 or whatever it's called for TV but do you go 1 up 1 down? Or go back to 1 up and a play off to play against the 2nd bottom team. I thought that this kept interest going but usually means the SL 1 team wins, but that would change I reckon after a few seasons.