Rugby League

[slymunn]

18 hours ago, Heathrow fox said:

I would chuck them all in one league.Have all the teams play each other,but only the once.Then alternate the fixtures the following season.Use the ratings to ensure an even spread so a weaker team doesn’t end up playing all the stronger teams away one year.

Add on a really complicated play-off competition at the end of the season to determine final placings.

That just about adds up to the same amount of matches a Championship club plays now.

It sounds like you have said, play each other once then a split league system...similar to the 8s they did previously.

[Super_horns]

Oh dear .

 

Whst was he thinking ?

 

 

[Guest worth_the_wait]

Well at the end of a week of gnashing teeth, conspiracy theories, accusations of corruption and incompetence ...

 

The bottom club from Super League (Salford) has been relegated, whilst the top 3 clubs from the Championship (York, Toulouse, Bradford) have been promoted.

 

Hopefully the new 14 team Super League will be good next year.   At least, it will do away with the (generally disliked) "loop fixtures".

 

[CosbehFox]

37 minutes ago, worth_the_wait said:

Well at the end of a week of gnashing teeth, conspiracy theories, accusations of corruption and incompetence ...

 

The bottom club from Super League (Salford) has been relegated, whilst the top 3 clubs from the Championship (York, Toulouse, Bradford) have been promoted.

 

Hopefully the new 14 team Super League will be good next year.   At least, it will do away with the (generally disliked) "loop fixtures".

 

To be fair that's hard to get past given Nigel Woods reappearance and Bradford's IMG scores suddenly improving. 

 

But yeah I think it's a fair decision really. So much work to be done with London to get them in any position for SL. 

[slymunn]

5 minutes ago, CosbehFox said:

To be fair that's hard to get past given Nigel Woods reappearance and Bradford's IMG scores suddenly improving. 

 

But yeah I think it's a fair decision really. So much work to be done with London to get them in any position for SL. 

The RFL giving Bradford Odsal back at a loss to them this year, gave Bradford extra profit from the asset value, and stadium owning IMG points to get into super league. 

 

[slymunn]

47 minutes ago, worth_the_wait said:

Well at the end of a week of gnashing teeth, conspiracy theories, accusations of corruption and incompetence ...

 

The bottom club from Super League (Salford) has been relegated, whilst the top 3 clubs from the Championship (York, Toulouse, Bradford) have been promoted.

 

Hopefully the new 14 team Super League will be good next year.   At least, it will do away with the (generally disliked) "loop fixtures".

 

I'm happy the loop fixtures have gone, as they was only there for extra income. Keeping magic is a bonus too  

The problem with the 14 teams I feel is the quality overall may be worse for it. They have had to up the quota on imports as they know the SL will struggle to find around 50/60 extra super league standard players. It may be a top 8 and bottom 6 league for a couple of years at least till they work it out, but the format will of changed again by then 

[CosbehFox]

1 minute ago, slymunn said:

I'm happy the loop fixtures have gone, as they was only there for extra income. Keeping magic is a bonus too  

The problem with the 14 teams I feel is the quality overall may be worse for it. They have had to up the quota on imports as they know the SL will struggle to find around 50/60 extra super league standard players. It may be a top 8 and bottom 6 league for a couple of years at least till they work it out, but the format will of changed again by then 

The overall quality will be worst. Particularly given NRL is on the edge of further expansion. 

 

They have to allow it to bed but they need something to keep the bottom interesting as without relegation, there's going to be some dead rubbers. 

[Guest worth_the_wait]

8 minutes ago, slymunn said:

The RFL giving Bradford Odsal back at a loss to them this year, gave Bradford extra profit from the asset value, and stadium owning IMG points to get into super league. 

 

The IMG scores in the 10th to 15th placings were given as

 

10. Bradford Bulls –  14.81
11. Castleford Tigers –  14.66
12. Huddersfield Giants –  14.65
13. Toulouse Olympique –  13.25
14. York –  13.04
15. Salford Red Devils –  12.65

 

For Bradford, it says their sub-total Finance points increased by 1.5.    In fairness, even if you take off 1.5 from their score, their overall IMG score still gets them comfortably into the top 14.

 

(not defending IMG stuff here btw ... I'm old school on pitch performance should be the sole criteria, subject to meeting minimum entrance criteria)

 

 

[slymunn]

Just now, CosbehFox said:

The overall quality will be worst. Particularly given NRL is on the edge of further expansion. 

 

They have to allow it to bed but they need something to keep the bottom interesting as without relegation, there's going to be some dead rubbers. 

The NRL slowly increases and creates the teams, and they all have pathways already in place, or a whole country to have players from.

 

We are bringing up three teams that honestly are not really enough enough to go up. York are playing well and signed a few decent players, but cannot see them doing what Leigh or Wakey have done recently. There isn't a decent academy or reserve grade here, only part time teams if you are not in SL and quite a few players are worse off if they actually go full time from my personal experience with players I know. 

 

At least if there is 4 to 6 teams close at the bottom that's fairly interesting, rather than a team losing every week. Even if there isn't a chance of going down.

[slymunn]

2 minutes ago, worth_the_wait said:

The IMG scores in the 10th to 15th placings were given as

 

10. Bradford Bulls –  14.81
11. Castleford Tigers –  14.66
12. Huddersfield Giants –  14.65
13. Toulouse Olympique –  13.25
14. York –  13.04
15. Salford Red Devils –  12.65

 

For Bradford, it says their sub-total Finance points increased by 1.5.    In fairness, even if you take off 1.5 from their score, their overall IMG score still gets them comfortably into the top 14.

 

(not defending IMG stuff here btw ... I'm old school on pitch performance should be the sole criteria, subject to meeting minimum entrance criteria)

 

 

They also got an extra 1.1 for owning the stadium again 

 

Finance score rose by 1.5 to a near-perfect 4.25/5, their performance score rose from 2.1714 to 2.5143 after finishing third in the Championship table and their stadium score also increased by 1.1181 to score 1.8992 out of 3.

[Guest worth_the_wait]

29 minutes ago, slymunn said:

They also got an extra 1.1 for owning the stadium again 

 

Finance score rose by 1.5 to a near-perfect 4.25/5, their performance score rose from 2.1714 to 2.5143 after finishing third in the Championship table and their stadium score also increased by 1.1181 to score 1.8992 out of 3.

ok.  fair point.  If all of the 2.61 increase was a "fiddle", then that's a bit naughty.   But they would only have had to have a "legitimate" Finance + Stadium increase of 0.46 to still make the top 14.    (if my maths is correct)

 

[slymunn]

21 minutes ago, worth_the_wait said:

ok.  fair point.  If all of the 2.61 increase was a "fiddle", then that's a bit naughty.   But they would only have had to have a "legitimate" Finance + Stadium increase of 0.46 to still make the top 14.    (if my maths is correct)

 

It just feels like the timing of it all, made the IMG gradings work for them early on in the year. The decent league position has made the promotion easier to accept for a lot of people, but they could spend bigger on the team more knowing the score would improve by 2.6 for having Odsal back. If Bradford finished where London did and still made the cut it would be talked about a lot more. 

 

I'm glad Fev didn't apply for SL, as it sound like we have our yearly money problems...again! Its almost as predictable as having a birthday now.

[Guest worth_the_wait]

1 hour ago, slymunn said:

It just feels like the timing of it all, made the IMG gradings work for them early on in the year. The decent league position has made the promotion easier to accept for a lot of people, but they could spend bigger on the team more knowing the score would improve by 2.6 for having Odsal back. If Bradford finished where London did and still made the cut it would be talked about a lot more. 

I did wonder if the timings was a bit crafty too.   Announce that Bradford have got in "legitimately" via their objectively-assigned IMG rating, which takes the sting out of any criticism.   Then the next day, announce who they have graciously allowed to be promoted via their thorough independent and highly-respected process.

 

Anyway, it is what it is now.    (I hate that expression!).       I just hope all 3 newcomers are good enough to have a fair crack at the other Super League teams.    In fairness, this last season, it was only Salford's major problems that meant they just were way off the mark.     Hudds, Cas and Catalans were all decent on their day.

[grobyfox1990]

Went to dinner with Kevin Sinfield event on Weds, he was on my table. Really interesting guy and ofc his story is inspirational. Himself and Barrie McDermott were very genuine and funny

[slymunn]

4 minutes ago, worth_the_wait said:

I did wonder if the timings was a bit crafty too.   Announce that Bradford have got in "legitimately" via their objectively-assigned IMG rating, which takes the sting out of any criticism.   Then the next day, announce who they have graciously allowed to be promoted via their thorough independent and highly-respected process.

 

Anyway, it is what it is now.    (I hate that expression!).       I just hope all 3 newcomers are good enough to have a fair crack at the other Super League teams.    In fairness, this last season, it was only Salford's major problems that meant they just were way off the mark.     Hudds, Cas and Catalans were all decent on their day.

Hudds, Cas and the three promoted sides will be in a little bit of a mini league I recon. They just don't have the quality and money of the other teams. Catalan and Wire finished a fair few points points ahead of them with bad seasons. I can't see either only getting 20 points again next season.

 

Its going to be similar with the championship next season, as there's only going to be the two leagues. The lower L1 teams will get some heavy defeats against the better championship teams of this year.

[slymunn]

1 minute ago, grobyfox1990 said:

Went to dinner with Kevin Sinfield event on Weds, he was on my table. Really interesting guy and ofc his story is inspirational. Himself and Barrie McDermott were very genuine and funny

He's a great guy is Kev. Met him a few times through Leeds Rhinos and he always has time for people. 

[Heathrow fox]

8 hours ago, worth_the_wait said:

Well at the end of a week of gnashing teeth, conspiracy theories, accusations of corruption and incompetence ...

 

The bottom club from Super League (Salford) has been relegated, whilst the top 3 clubs from the Championship (York, Toulouse, Bradford) have been promoted.

 

Hopefully the new 14 team Super League will be good next year.   At least, it will do away with the (generally disliked) "loop fixtures".

 

I think this is a fair result.At least there is a glimmer of hope for ambitious clubs going forward.Really pleased for York.Great fans btw.Good to have two teams from France.Bradford are a top flight club.

London really need to get a couple of Championship dominating seasons under their belt.They need to start winning games at home far more consistently.Which they haven’t for several seasons now.Including when they last went up.That will help grow the crowds.The new owners look like they mean business so we shall see.

Oldham will be knocking on the door and only a matter of time before we see a newly formed amalgamated Greater Manchester team.(Salford/Swinton.)

[Guest worth_the_wait]

Anyone else going to the upcoming Aussie games?    I've got tickets for the first 2 tests.   

 

I'm really hoping we can give it a real go.      The first test might not be the greatest of atmospheres in a 2/3 full Wembley, but I reckon the one at Everton might be something special.

 

The doom-mongers are going the usual OTT ... hopefully they are not as clever as they think they are.

 

[slymunn]

I'm not going to any, but I'll be watching them if I'm not busy at the time. 

I don't think either teams have the best squads out there, but the Aussies will probably have too much for England. They should be closer than people are talking about, so the matches will be competitive (I'm hoping)  

[CosbehFox]

Well the quality difference was massively clear. Even in quite a nervy first twenty minutes, Aussies kicking on the fifth was a quality above. 

 

I could see one of these tests being really worrying scoreline wise because they were undercooked and made a few errors themselves. 

[Guest worth_the_wait]

We were certainly 2nd best on Saturday.     

 

I'm just hoping (being a natural optimist) that we can cut out all our errors, and they continue to make a few.   That way at least we'd make a game of it.

 

If we could just get a bit of early luck and get our noses in front, the crowd for the next Test will definitely respond.   A full-house in a much tighter ground with mostly "Northern" RL fans should make for a much better atmosphere.   (Wembley was a bit of a "day tripper-oncer-touristy-Aussie" crowd.  Nothing wrong with that, as such).   

 

But obviously the team have got to give it something to hang on to.   Crumbs of comfort, if you like!

[CosbehFox]

19 minutes ago, worth_the_wait said:

We were certainly 2nd best on Saturday.     

 

I'm just hoping (being a natural optimist) that we can cut out all our errors, and they continue to make a few.   That way at least we'd make a game of it.

 

If we could just get a bit of early luck and get our noses in front, the crowd for the next Test will definitely respond.   A full-house in a much tighter ground with mostly "Northern" RL fans should make for a much better atmosphere.   (Wembley was a bit of a "day tripper-oncer-touristy-Aussie" crowd.  Nothing wrong with that, as such).   

 

But obviously the team have got to give it something to hang on to.   Crumbs of comfort, if you like!

Chance was there a couple of occasions in the first half annoyingly. 

[slymunn]

The next game is the worry as Grant Atkins is the ref so it will be closer to NRL rules, ruck speed wise. England cannot keep trying to slow the tackles down and get away with it as much as they did in the first match. 

I also cannot see Wane making many changes to the team but you would expect to see a few like Smithies, Brimson & Smith coming into the team.

[slymunn]

My RL team Fev are going into administration.

 

STATEMENT

Rovers can confirm, ahead of the HMRC hearing in the High Court tomorrow, that following professional advice, the company has had no choice but to apply to go into administration, as it will be unable to trade it's way out of the present situation, due to the level of debt it currently has.

 

The club has therefore, through its legal advisors, today made an application to court, for a hearing at which we hope to be granted an Administration Order and we are now awaiting a date for that hearing.

 

This will enable the Winding Up Petition to be adjourned tomorrow and will allow our professional representatives to take the necessary steps to properly deal with the affairs of the company moving forward.

 

It is a regrettable course of action for all concerned, but ultimately, the only course of action available.

 

We continue to be in dialogue with the RFL regarding a new club participating in the league and cup structure for 2026 and will keep fans updated on all of these matters as things progress.

[Guest worth_the_wait]

Really hope Fev (and Salford) can sort out their problems.    Can't afford for any (more) teams to disappear ....