It would be nice to see them bringing in new ideas - you could forgive them if they tried new approaches, even if they failed. But you just feel they are looking inwards and are not capable of the 'big idea'. We need some sharp businessmen in the RFL focussed on making money. We need the board of John Lewis, but unfortunately I think we have got Woolworths.

Woolworths? More like Ratners.

Not often I say this, however I agree with pretty much everything said by Paul above. I think it is exciting and of course it will take a bit of time to get our heads round, yet the complexity of test cricket has hardly done it any harm?

I've heard talk that it will put the 'new fan' off however as someone who came into the sport later in life I think that is rubbish. People when introduced to the sport are primarily concerned with figuring out the laws of the game, all the rest just comes with time.

Roll on 2015!

ohhh this is great! We struggle with our image now, imagine a superleague fixture on TV that has London away at Barrow's state of the art Shed....!! for those living in the past this will be real treat..........




I Dont like it, we struggle to get new spectators because they think the game has complicated rules never mind the league format. Anyway It'll last a couple of years before its changed back.

the league this year will be very close and I believe any one from five can win it and that will be nothing to do with fancy half wit formats...

That also leaves a path for anyone wanting to start up a new team in a new area and sell it to the locals of said town/city, not just a Barrow.

Presumably you don't lower yourself to watching the sport outside of SL, but I can't see Barrow making the top half of the championship any time soon so you have no need to worry. However if you want to look at something pretty I suggest a trip to the garden centre!

But what we have now, which we have never had before, is a system where a team can finish 4th and then win Super League by virtue of winning two games.

Thats what it basically boils down to for the top teams: two games. Whether you are 1st or 4th. Bearing in mind there could be 8-10 points difference in the league between 1st and 4th, it enhances the 'lottery' element at the end of the season.

Good for being brutal and piling on the excitement and keeping the unpredictability going, but it will not be popular with those that think there should be a reward for consistency.

Given that its been Warrington fans who were particularly vocal about the unfairness of the old system, I wonder how we would react if a team finishing 1st was knocked out of the playoffs straight away by virtue of losing ONE game to a team finishing 4th that was 8-10 points behind it.

I wonder how the last 3 or 4 weeks of the season will play out for the teams who are 1st and 2nd in the table: they might well have 'secured a 4th place finish' by then and their last few weeks would be a case of resting players to keep them fresh for the playoffs.

I wouldn't write Saints off as top 4 contenders & as for the second bite of the cherry ,,the Wire wouldn't have got to OT in 2012 without it.
I think to make the competition more equal throughout what talent is available will have to be spread thinly throughout all the clubs.

well you presumed wrong first off. So with that out of the way are you happy to disband the licencing system which was due to "force" Wakefield and Cas play in first class stadiums, now it appears they can stay in the dilapidated stadiums and attract no new fans whatsoever......great idea.

I'm sure you are aware being as big a fan as i am of the lower leagues Sheffield will play out of Owlerton stadium from next season..... its a hole I remember "fondly" from watching Wires play there in the mid/late 80's. how do you explain to a Wakefield Cas Widnes or London fan that the game is moving forward when the above clubs bar widnes are no longer required to move into fit for purpose stadiums and they will end up playing at places like Owlerton stadium...!!!

its a step back to the grim old days ...but one good thing is this (the scramble to avoid relegation) will explain to Koukash why we need a salary cap

Well there are bound to be problems in changing the format. For instance, just think what fans will say in a few years time when you ask them was Ratchford better than say Briers or Harris. Some will say of course it was Briers because he scored more tries. But others may say, ah, but Ratchford had to play in a more competitive system without the likes of London. He had to kick faster because the opposition were much quicker and more aggressive. Yes, if the worst comes to the worst, we can always say that all three were both fine players that entertained the faithful, scored some wonderful tries, but had different strengths and weaknesses. But we might never find out who was the best.

How has licensing improved stadia in Super League? We have Barton, but other than that and a new stand in East Hull funded by the EU Wakefield and Cas are no closer to moving and London will be playing this year in a stadium which does not meet the 2011 criteria.

In the Championship you have the LSV, Keepmoat and South Leeds Stadium which are class facilities, whilst there have been significant improvements in Dewsbury and Featherstone. Yes, Sheffield have moved back to Owlerton however it was that or leave the city and there are plans for a purpose built stadium in the future. You may argue these improvements were bought on by franchising however speak to any Championship Chairman and I promise you they will say otherwise.

Other than Owlerton (Bramhall Lane will quickly become available again) where in the top end of the Championship is unsuitable for Super League? Batley maybe, however it is easily the best day out in rugby league!

I would imagine a Challenge Cup round - probably the semis - will be the weekend after "Round 23" of Super League to ease this problem slightly.

Personally I think the whole thing is a stupid gimmick, but all I really want from Super League is for Warrington to finally win it, so carry on.

You could have different tiers of salary cap though.

In the middle tier there will be 4 clubs playing off a salary cap of £1.65m and 4 clubs playing off a cap of £300k.

So what would be wrong with having different cap levels in the top tier? Koukash wanted Salford to play off a different cap than the others: why not raise the cap for the richer clubs (Salford, Warrington, Leeds etc)?

The 4 championship clubs will have a salary cap of 900k for 2015. It should be surprisingly close.

Will the lower clubs still only have the one quota space compared with the 5 at Superleague?

I will see how it pans out but would never boycott the club I love. Bet the players wont be happy playing so many games.

With the extra games it means you rotate players, you do it wisely now though, bit by bit, not just wholesale because it's Widnes.

I hope it makes the league more competitive and also bridges the gap between leagues which will make the CC a better competition.

I don't believe so.

The only reference I can find to the quota rule in the proposed changes is:



This would imply that those with a full time academy (which is complicated) will have space for 7 quota players in a squad of 25 and those without can have 10. There is no reference to which league a team is in so can only assume it's linked to the academy and therefore across all leagues.

But there isn't the quality in numbers coming from Down Under to get all these quota players anyway. That is why the NRL is looking at our players in a different light these days with a view to attracting them to play in the NRL.

Because of the salary cap and the exchange rate, that's the only reason.

Don't see a problem with it, it's more complicated but not over complicated for me. Looks quite exciting frankly. Though I am not sure what happens when the eights play off against each other.... what does it accomplish having the bottom two leagues play off for?

whens the boycott starting? the saints game?

I'm already boycotting, sat at home all yesterday.

I too am boycotting SL, but would like to say that this structure only works with at least 6 clubs spending the full cap in tier two. The funding for 1-4 in this years championship for 2015 was rumoured to be £650k £600k £550k and £500k which should ensure all 4 go full time together with the 2 dropping down
This makes that promotion fight very interesting especially in year two onwards