But the NRL and premier league can genuinely say they have a national spread. They only have Melbourne outside of QLD and NSW but it's still a presence in south Australia and they are a success.



We are on our way to a M62 only competition. Where is the national spread?

Last three years actually, don't forget Wakefield's abject capitulation under Webster.



I'd miss Catalans t.b.h. only because of the extra televised game every other Saturday. Perhaps they could show all Leeds home games instead, they're simply not on Sky Sports enough.

rl should offer some sort of season pas like NFl, you can watch all games on that. however all their games are pretty much 90-100% sell outs in 60-70k + stadiums

Foxy Bingo was fantastic

Sport is about promotion relegation. Football you would not close the shop on the premiership or league one or 2 etc so why would you want a closed shop in super league.



For years with that franchising bollox there was nothing to play for in the championship and nothing for the bottom teams in superleague to fear. The middle 8s as had more views on sky than the super 8s.



When the likes of Barrow, Halifax won the grandfinals we should of been up not stopped by the fat controller. The franchiseing was crap wakefield was in administration Halifax ut in a good application proved we was running at a profit had a better stadium than half the super league clubs were still rejected.



The tv deal is crap for the championship. We used to have Thursday night games on premier sports which were brilliant until sky bought the rights now we get the blackpool bash and I wont count the middle 8s as they have not shown one championship v championship game at all.



When you superleague worshipers realise there are decent teams below super league you will see the bigger picture.



Good luck to leigh sunday send the dragens packing and leave egg on the fat controllers face

OK Mrs Wood, just because Nige didn't fill the dish washer





Although there is no doubt that the Middle 8's are an exciting watch and this season it has been a tight run finish, only being settled in the last round, before the MPG.

The major down side for any club that is lucky enough to progress from the Championship to SL, is that they are put in jeopardy the next season and as such, cannot make any long term plans.



The main plus with the "franchise" system was the stability that it brought, allowing clubs to bring their youngsters through in greater numbers.



What we have now is survive at all costs and this usually means going for the quick fix, tried and tested journeyman pro or, Aussie import and this will once again, stifle the numbers of younger players getting their chance to play at the top level.



As for Halifax's SL application, IIRC, wasn't it on the back of a fag packet ?

Bit of a joke how most the sl clubs are not running an academy where the likes of Halifax are bringing in there own players.



Bit pointless though if we can not go up if we are going to be a feeder club for hull and warrington. E.g nick rawsthore who signed for hull would have been in the first team this year but spent most the season in c1

Most clubs ??

So, 7 clubs in SL without an academy ?



Hull sharing with KR and Leigh sharing with Salford.

Was it you who did the sums for Halifax's franchise application ?



I agree that all clubs should have their own academy and perhaps Fax should have "sold" their player but agreed that he could continue his development with them.

I agree that the DR system is a bit of a joke and everyone would be better served if 2 or 3 players could return to fitness through the senior academy.

In the main I'd say the Championship has always had a wider geographical footprint than the SL

do championship clubs get any travel costs from the rfl to toulouse?



if not, thow in another trip to catalan if they go down, plus toronto (if any extra costs to be covered) could really hurt some clubs financially

Who's up for an Easter Weekend road trip at Catalans & Toulouse?

No and Catalan and Toulouse don't get any money towards travel to England every other week