Re: Today's big decision : Fri Jan 17, 2014 7:11 pm  

The system is probably going to be like this :-

After 11 Rounds, I'd assume 5 home & away plus M Weekend, the bottom 4 from SL go down to the Championship and then play the top 4 frm the Championship home and away, so that's 25 regular season matches, as you know it's 27 at the moment, and then I would have all 8 into the Finals Series, so you're playing for home field advantage. They should carry the points forward for those teams that stay in S League, but I wouldn't for the ones who are in the Championship after 11 Rounds, I'd carry the points over for the teams who go into Championship 1 though.

If you only have a 5 or 6 team Finals Series then one team may only play 1 match in a month. Have to make a big thing about winning the League Leaders Shield.

Re: Today's big decision : Fri Jan 17, 2014 7:12 pm  

Binosh wrote:

I completely get what you say,i don't think you do though, 4 teams will play 4 championship teams because they are the worst 4 and deserve it.

4 championship teams will play these bottom 4 because they DESERVE too.

Well no you couldn't, someone who has played and been on the end of a "good hiding" by a so called "lesser" team would not write something like this.

But at same time don't the likes if Fev, Halifax and Leigh DESERVE a realistic chance of promotion. They had more chance in licensing lol. The bottom 4 may "deserve" to get relegated for a couple of weeks, but is this going to help make the sport bigger better and more exciting...

As a fan I wouldn't be "upset" about finishing in the bottom 4 and playing Leigj, Sheffield etc, as I know we'll be playing in the top league the next season. I just wouldn't be prepared to pay an extra £60 a month to see my team walk over a part timers. It's not exciting.

RL clubs only have small hardcore fan bases. The rest watch it because they enjoy it. I just can't see this structure been exciting or competitive in any way.

Re: Today's big decision : Fri Jan 17, 2014 7:15 pm  

Viva La Vikings!! wrote:

Fish and chips on a friday? Didn't think of that actually.

End of the 2015 season lets say the second tier of 8 are:

Widnes
Castleford
Bradford
Castleford

London
Wakefield
Leigh
Halifax

Operating on a salary cap far far less than those in superleague, would they realistically stand a chance of gaining promotion?

Ok phew you go somewhere else for a minute and 3 pages fly by. Who said RL can't make headlines.

Avoiding the Cas trap!

What I would point out is that yes the cap at SL2 is less than SL1. However, it will not be as big as the current gap. Also it is highly likely that the bottom SL clubs will be those not maxing out the cap. So whilst the SL1 cap will be £1.825 million for 2015 and 2016.

The Tier 2 Salary Cap for 2015 would be increased to a maximum of £900k.

Now the question is not how will teams spending £900k beat teams on £1.8, it is more likely that the question will be how will 1 or 2 teams spending £900k beat 1 or 2 teams spending £1.2 million (big assumption here!!!!!) but I doubt all 12 SL clubs will spend the cap limit, they don't currently.

Well I would say you have to look at what needs to be done. In 7 games a team like featherstone need to beat the other 3 SL2 clubs and then any 2 SL1 clubs. That will be enough. So the big games the deciders will be Featherstone v Cas (and/or) widnes (for example).

Featherstone have shown in the CC it can be done, as have other teams and that is with a huge gap in player pay. Now the gap can be at the most halved, if not reduced to about £300K.

I think this is the point missed. We are not talking about current spending in a new system, it's new spending. I would imagine in year 1 Featherstone and one other maybe the only teams likely to bridge the gap. But in the years after we could see a welsh team, another french team. It's a very fluid system and the step down is not the cliff edge we currently have where it is FT or PT.

Re: Today's big decision : Fri Jan 17, 2014 7:16 pm  

Are we really 17 or so pages deep and nobody has mentioned the plight of the 4/5 teams who'll be effectively kicked out of the league with the door slammed and locked behind them?

Or have I missed something here?

There are 28 teams currently in the Championship but only 24 (or maybe 23 plus Toulouse) for the new structure. Has there been mention as yet of how the teams dropped and the current Championship 1 sides could gain entry to the new set-up?

Also have they announced how the top 12 will be decided at the end of 2014?

Re: Today's big decision : Fri Jan 17, 2014 7:18 pm  

I actually think this could work very well if thought through.

Firstly, they need to rethink magic.....why have it in the first round, to have an imbalanced fixture list, and then an imbalanced fixture list in the second round of 7 matches with 3/4 home and 4/3 away? Should be 11 home / 11 away, then magic AFTER the split as a first round. Then 3 home / 3 away which becomes your play off series (we cant have another series on top of that or becomes convoluted. Top 2 then to Grand Final. meanwhile the lower 8 play off in a series without a GF, simply fighting for top 4 for promotion.

So in effect, we have a balanced set of 11 home and away fixtures, followed by a 3 home / 3 away / 1 neutral play off series to determine top two.

I would also go back to a Boxing day start and bring back some tradition. 22 games plus 5 rounds of the cup takes you to the end of June. Challenge cup final should then take place at the end of June, followed by an international break in July for 4-6 weeks (which also gets maximum exposure due to lack of other sporting competition and so we can have a summer world cup in future like other sports.). We then come back for the business end of the season. 7 rounds followed by a grand final for the final two months in August and September. This then helps with ST sales - we have one for the general season, and then one sold for the play off series once fixtures are known, with a 4-6 week interval to sell tickets for the play off series!! Could actually be excellent if thought through IMO!

This also has the benefit of internationals not taking place into october / november etc, and though we start in winter we work up to the pinicale of the season being over summer and not autumn as it is now!

Re: Today's big decision : Fri Jan 17, 2014 7:18 pm  

Bovrick wrote:

Wait, what?

i think its to the general consensus that people want promotion and relegation back but judging on here that most people don't want it via this method. I have no problem with promotion and relegation as long as the RFL can financial support the relegated team for the following season. So just let the team that finishes last get relegated.

Re: Today's big decision : Fri Jan 17, 2014 7:20 pm  

fevfan76 wrote:

But it doesn't back up yours does it. End of the day you can only assume SL teams will win.

Until it happens we dont know

clearly it does 2 out of 3> than 1 out of 3. Considering you get beat by the worse super league team of the past decade as well.

Re: Today's big decision : Fri Jan 17, 2014 7:21 pm  

yossarian wrote:

Are we really 17 or so pages deep and nobody has mentioned the plight of the 4/5 teams who'll be effectively kicked out of the league with the door slammed and locked behind them?

Or have I missed something here?

There are 28 teams currently in the Championship but only 24 (or maybe 23 plus Toulouse) for the new structure. Has there been mention as yet of how the teams dropped and the current Championship 1 sides could gain entry to the new set-up?

Also have they announced how the top 12 will be decided at the end of 2014?

Top 12 purely on league position.
I've no idea about the bottom of the championship

Re: Today's big decision : Fri Jan 17, 2014 7:24 pm  

Saint Simon wrote:

Top 12 purely on league position.
I've no idea about the bottom of the championship

Thanks mate, is it definite? As a Widnes fan I expect the worst if it isn't down to league position. Not that I'd take us finishing above the bottom two for granted either mind you.

Re: Today's big decision : Fri Jan 17, 2014 7:26 pm  

Bull Mania wrote:

But at same time don't the likes if Fev, Halifax and Leigh DESERVE a realistic chance of promotion. They had more chance in licensing lol. The bottom 4 may "deserve" to get relegated for a couple of weeks, but is this going to help make the sport bigger better and more exciting...

As a fan I wouldn't be "upset" about finishing in the bottom 4 and playing Leigj, Sheffield etc, as I know we'll be playing in the top league the next season. I just wouldn't be prepared to pay an extra £60 a month to see my team walk over a part timers. It's not exciting.

RL clubs only have small hardcore fan bases. The rest watch it because they enjoy it. I just can't see this structure been exciting or competitive in any way.

I think if the cap is thought out right enough then the second league will actually be very competitive.

Realistically, in terms of resources / support etc at the moment, what is the real difference between the top of the championship (if allowed to spend and get a fair divy of TV money) and the bottom of Super League? Not much in reality!!!

The group in yr one would probably be likely to be something like Leigh, Halifax, Sheffield, Featherstone, London, Wakefield, Castleford, & Widnes. Done in the right way, with a reasonable parity of spending, that could be a fantastic fight each year for the 4 spots the following season!!