Certainly a missed opportunity yesterday as we looked like we had them in the second half and probably should have gone on to win the game once we got back within 2 points. Just need to do the business next week and we should be ok. I cant see Fev beating London having seen them both recently, I think Fev need a downpour or something to win that game as they wont live with London on a hot day. Toulouse do not need to win but they will want to wrap up 2nd which they can just about do against us. So many twists and turns in this league and will be even better next year with bradford and York coming up and probably Widnes or Salford coming down who wont be anywhere near as strong as Toronto in this league.

GFB is right about the quality of this league next year which means a top four finish for Fax is vital if we want to be able to afford to compete next year. Without the cash being generated this season from prize money I don’t see us being able to bridge the gap as money this year is tight there will be nothing left to carry forward.

It does look like the current squad will pretty much stay together whatever the outcome which is massive but that extra money could really be used to bring in 1 or 2 quality players which can make so much difference as we have seen at the end of this season. We are not far off been the 2nd best team in this league and a couple of star signings could really push us on.

Was Fleming injured ?

FD I'm not putting Leigh down, we have taken big strides to even get into contention for the top 4,KP has worked wonders,for me we will finish on 32 points ,2 wins against Swinton and Sheff,this week end will reveal all, the Fax V Toulouse, and Fev v London games should be corkers,as you rightly say a great advert for this League and games nobody deserves to lose.

Yes, the difference regarding "prize" money is more of concern if we don't qualify. From a fixture prospective, the only opposition I'd look forward to seeing re the Super League teams are Leeds, with Widnes and Salford unlikely to bring hardly any fans and even Hull KR's away support isn't great.

But Toulouse failed to qualify last season yet still managed to carry on where they left off. One of their supporters posted on message on here saying they were financially sound due to a healthy network of sponsors and Toulouse did not have a sugar daddy.

Hopefully if we do fail to qualify, we can still kick on ourselves and build a community atmosphere at the Shay and gradually grow the fan base. We want to be going into these qualifiers with a fighting chance of getting promoted in future years rather than just making up the numbers.

Too right, Charlie, and I think the middle 8s is a great concept. If it means a third of Super League getting relegated, then so be it. It will make BOTH leagues stronger and will even filter down to League 1.

The only downside is that if you don't qualify you're consigned to this absurd end of season Champion Shield that doesn't have the Championship's best 4 teams in it.

I still think a far better idea would be to have the old style top 5 play off, with the GF winners getting promoted and the losing finalists having a play off against the 2nd bottom of Super League. That way you will have 5 interested Championship teams, a definite relegation/promotion and a chance of a 2nd relegation/promotion. Also STOP the season for the other 7 Championship clubs. With the play off having less fixtures than the Middle 8s, then the regular season can be extended (possibly having 14 teams in the league).

I'm not sure it is.

We'll have to wait and see.

Snag with that is that it's very difficult for a team gaining promotion via the play-off route to recruit for the following season, being six weeks behind nearly everyone else.

Sure, we had this for a few years between Divs 2 and 3. Batley were in it annually, it seemed.

Did anyone get promoted via the play-off ? No.