I agree about the need to win 5 out of 7 if there is only one good championship team in there.
But what if there was another who also beat a couple of SL strugglers. All of a sudden the maths change as those two SL teams may lose two games against the two better SL teams plus two Ch. teams. You then have one SL team truggling to get 8 points and the other only getting 6 points.

If in 14 months time we have a strong Bulls, London, Toulouse, Toronto and a relegated SL team in the middle 8s we could "potentially" have a very dangerous place for struggling SL teams to be.

Would the current Leigh team have beaten Wakey last year in that £1m game. I think they would have done and believe Wakey were lucky that both Leigh and Bulls were not ready for the middle 8s. Next season will be even better if we get our act together with London and a couple of others.

Still disagree with this format but it could work if 3-4 championship clubs really get their act together.

That HKR Huddersfield game is effectively an mpg in itself if the results before it go as expected.
If Rovers beat London and Fev they'll be on 8 points.
If Hudds beat Leigh but lose to Leeds, they'll be on 8 points.
Salford can only hope for 8 points at best so the winner of Hudds V HKR would secure their SL status, the loser goes to the mpg.

Some massive, massive games coming up over the next few weeks, I can't wait

I think it would make it tougher if it were Salford or huddersfield that come down because they will have the income streams already to spend even more than what Leigh have but on the other hand if it is KR then they could struggle to go straight back up but would be comfortable in the top 4. Add to that london probably improving and Toulouse coming in I think Bradford will drop further down the pecking order especially as most of their signings seem to be players that will settle them in to the Championship rather than ones that will propel the club.

Moss Chisholm Pryce? Players who will not propel the club?

Huddersfield just for the sheer comedy value.
Salford would be justice though.
I think both will struggle with the poor crowds they will get in the championship. KR will still get decent crowds I would imagine.

If Hudders did go down (but I really can’t see it) I expect Ken Davy would cushion the blow financially. So much as it would be funny I think they’re least likely to go down. I think it’s between HKR and Salford really. I think Salford would really struggle, especially if Koukash threw in the towel. HKR I think would find it difficult too unless Hudgell can find some new investors – there’s a bloke who I have little sympathy with. Rovers would at least bring a few supporters which is more than the other two.

Indeed. Each are better players than the ones they're replacing.

The current bloated squad was only good enough for 5th position. I think given a good pre-season and a squad that Smith has chosen that actually wants to play will make the top 4 next year.

His posts come across as if hes debating but its a way of trolling for me! Ask him about stuff to do with his club like the lack of paying rent, when the football club that play there play in non league and contributed more to the new stand than the rugby side he delfects and ignores

1. Bradford will have a much better quality squad than the dross this season. There won't be a better spine in the league next year.
2. Motivation. Playing in the shield will give the players plenty of motivation not to be in it again. There is a slowly changing attitude at the club.
3. We should start seeing some reward for our hard work with the academy as more break through.
4. Toulouse coming up will be stronger than those going down. But playing Hemel, Newcastle and North Wales, will be a damn sight different to going to Odsal, Mount Pleasant and the Shay. They won't lose many at home, but i think they may struggle away from home.

A big thing for me is, whoever comes down (which is looking likely) is that they will only have 3 months to sort their squad out. Many contracts will likely become void meaning they almost have to start from scratch. We no more than anybody how ahrd it is to get a HB's. Most will be signed up by now. Back in 2014 we had a year to sort everything out.

That's difficult to say without knowing who comes down and which players they sign/retain.

For example if KR were to retain Campese, Kelly & Lunt (unlikely I know) and sign a better fullback than Cockayne, their spine is arguably better than ours.
Similarly if Salford were to retain O'Brien, Lui & Dobson and sign a decent hooker.
Huddersfield with Grix/Connor, Brough, Ellis & Hinchcliffe.

Yeah we all know it'll be hard for the relegated team to hold on to those, but people said the same about us with Gaskell & O'Brien when we went down.

No doubt, I'm happier with Moss, Pryce, Chisholm & O'Brien as our spine next year than I have been with any of the last few years. But we don't know it's the best in the league just yet.

I'm fairly confident in the spine. I'm confident in the backs for a Championship level, although I'm not sure about the right centre position at the moment. The forwards is where my doubts are at the moment, but that's largely because we have no idea who will be signed for the pack.

The thing we should have learned from the last two years is that it is not just about how good the spine is but also how good the back-ups are if/when they get injured. e.g. Gaskell was good but if he only plays 40% of the time?

For the game it would be a shame for Rovers to come down because, like us, I reckon they won't be going back up again under this system. Hudgell is not a particularly wealthy man, I mean how could he be, he's a poxy solicitor when we all know the real money is in sundecks.

Salford and Huddersfield can have a decent pop at going straight back up.

Well Hudders could.

Salford will be fecked if Koukash pulls out.

From what I've seen of Keyes so far, I'm happy with him as backup for the halves. After that you're looking at Thomas or Pickersgill, but any team would be looking lower quality if two of their halves were unavailable (except London who seem to hoard halves and Leigh who would just buy more).

Fullback wise, I'm happy with James Clare moving there if Moss is injured. You can't expect to have a second player of Moss' quality just sat around just in case, so I think Clare offers enough to move there as a backup option.

Hooker, I still think we need better quality cover, but that may depend on getting rid of the already contracted Halafihi. O'Brien & Lumb I'm fairly content with as they are, but I'd rather have Lumb as the backup at the moment, as I still think he's more of a prospect than a regular in the 17 at this stage. We could do with another hooker to interchange with O'Brien and then have Lumb covering their unavailable games.

I notice that Salford keep stressing the point that their players are currently 'playing for their careers'. I mean, is that just a bit of hyperbole to try and drum up some interest or do they know a bit more than they're letting on?

Just because you go down a division, it does not mean your career is over.

At hooker we lost a fair bit of momentum when OB went off and Howarth came on yesterday. Howarth’s passing may be more accurate but he’s slower and less effective in defence. Lumb’s hardly had much opportunity. Has Halafihi played much for Swinton? He never got a chance under Lowes so hard to rate him either.

I expect a few Salford players were attracted there because of money. If they go down I expect Koukash to pull out. If that happened they’d have a player exodus to rival ours.

The only reason contracts would become void is if there were a written relegation clause or if the team coming down were going part time neither of which seems likely.

I do agree that Bradford should be better next season but imo so will Batley and London along with whichever SL team comes down. Top 4 is realistic but top 2 would be unlikely in my view judging on signings so far. lets face it though Leigh's team is on a totally different level to any team in this division but they are at a level that is needed to have a chance of promotion. London the closest other team to them are still a long way off even competing with SL clubs let alone beating them and with big spenders Toulouse and Toronto coming in in the next 2 years it makes it even harder for teams like Bradford, Fev, Batley, Fax etc who have no big money backers to make the top 4 let alone dream of promotion to SL.

Not sure where the thing about Koukash leaving has come from but he will not be going anywhere and he will throw a ton more money at them.

Not sure I agree that they are that different. We had to play them 3 times this year(unlike every other team, which actually means that had we only played them twice we would have qualified for Q8's) in those 3 games Leigh had a total points difference of +6 so hardly at a different level.

To be fair, Leigh also played well against all the other teams.

Agreed, and if we had had Chisholm and Moss when playing them I reckon it would be the other way round. Thing is they have been consistent against weaker sides and we have basically been complacent.

Did notice about Drinkwater probably wont be there next season supposedly already agreed a superleague contract with someone else and will be announced after the season. With him and Burns off wonder who they will make a play for as they will only have Ridyard and Reynolds. Saw Jarrod Mullen touted cant see why a starting NRL half would swap that for SL

He might want to import advanced sun deck technology when he goes back.

Sorry to disappoint, but since [i[ulast[/u[/i season (when I even did an illustrative playoffs table to explain my thinking) I worked out and have repeatedly said, that the only realistic - if still unlikely - route was to finish in the auto promotion spot. It is long odds against, but is possible (if you can beat at least one SL club plus all your Championship opponents) simply because other SL-v-SL results might all go your way.

My beef about the playoffs has been and remains that barring a Wakey-style meltdown no Championship team is ever going to beat a SL club in the MPG. And even if once a flood it did, that would just allow the RFL to "validate" their bogus promotion playoffs and claim if you're good enough etc. When in fact the dice are so loaded it's not even funny.

Yet they finished 9 points clear of their nearest rivals and a whopping 15 points points ahead of the Bulls. Anyone judging Leigh on a few games and saying they are not that much better is kidding themselves.

Ps. Not sure how the Bulls would have finished in the top 4 without the summer bash as it would have been Fev finishing in 3rd and Batley in 4th unless I am missing something?

According to you Leigh are a RL Superpower. Hands up all those teams that played them 3 times during the season. So just the Bulls then.
See above for what you are missing.

Both of you have valid points, but the truth is that, by accident or design, Leigh have improved slowly to reach a peak at the business end of the season, and have proved themselves well-equipped for the playoffs (a mirror image of what they did last season) whereas we have not. We have blown warm and cold all season, with far too much lukewarm and we have never reached any sort of peak, nor could we, given the coaching and personnel changes.

It doesn't matter whether we "raised our game" against Leigh or not, over the season they have maintained a certain level that we have not, and more to the point, come playoff time they have done the business. They spent their weekend beating Hull KR, whereas we spent ours making Swinton look half-decent. It was a pity that we hadn't signed a janitor, to sweep up all the loose balls off the floor, which must be a health and safety issue.

I know on the positive side, we belatedly have a coach, and indeed he has started off with making some fine signings, but we still have players who are not interested, and others who are frankly crap, and trying to compare us and Leigh as at September 2016 is, TBH, a bit "Black Knight" and frankly embarrassing.