IMG

Double Whammy of bad news for Cas today.

Last appointed as coach, so he will take us down either this year or next year.

The IMG proposals being passed means that we will then not get back into SL for probably another 10 years at least. I can`t believe that all the SL clubs voted for it!!

I'm not quite sure what IMG are trying to achieve,is it expansionism? Spread the game nationwide,dragging it away from it's heartland with its established fan base, numerous previous failed attempts show that doesn't work. Are they trying to create an elite super league,a closed members club,no promotion or relegation, do they really think that will make it more competitive or improve standards. Of course it won't the same clubs that have dominated since the inception, the one's with the millionaire backers will stay at the pinnacle of the sport,they and their creative accountants who manage to build a squad like Wires and remain within the salary cap ( Do me a favour!) The rest will be bumbling along praying for a golden season like ours in 2017 to get their moment in the spotlight.Maybe they are trying to polish us up,shows us at our best on nationwide TV be it Sky or terrestrial,a game of skill,passion played out in front of vociferous loyal fans. If that's the case they should switch onto Sky and watch Huddersfield in their nice flash stadium,full to overflowing with three men,a dog and some berk with a cow bell. Wakey...won't matter..Salford,play great rugby in a stadium with three sides empty. Truth is the cameras love Cas,sithole or not, IMG I'm led to believe are not stupid,they would be fools to let a club like Cas slip away..what we need is the ground sorting.

Some good stuff said here, as always it is the unknowns that are more worrying than the knowns!

I guess the dream model is a sport that is well supported and competitive on the field, but attracts enough exposure and therefore viewership and therefore money that it could exist without the footfall - like the darts and snooker model now, even take away the people in the arenas those sports have sufficient finance, exposure and money that they'd still be successful.
The heartlands are strong and matter, but sadly are not enough to grow something financially strong.

I am comfortable with that as an objective, that's the easy part - but if we have a clear objective it is streets ahead of the RFL and other entities short term selfish bumbling decision making without the capability to lead a conga round my back garden without hitting the fence.

Biggest problem I have is that we've been here before. It's all well and good giving clubs a grade however how many championship clubs will realistically achieve anything close to grade B?

What happens if Keighley for example absolutely smashes it next season, they finish top and have their shot at SL removed due to their grade not being up to scratch?

I don't understand why the sport has to change every few years, you can hardly keep up with the constant rule changes and yet again they're messing around with how the leagues work.

We struggle to keep two leagues going as it is, instead of basically giving the "top" clubs invulnerability from relegation why not focus on why we have part time clubs in the league below us. There's no real competition outside of SL, the bigger clubs will always dominate that league while the rest just go about trying to stay afloat.

The focus should be on future growth of the sport. We need to invest in youth structures, bring more mainstream attention to the game and work on bringing the Championship up to a similar level so that relegation doesn't basically destroy a club.

Franchising failed last time and it's going to fail again.

I'm going to take a positive view of the IMG takeover of RL.

As a Cas fan, if we are in the top 10 of teams, we are guaranteed a spot. Certainly in the short term.

To get higher we need the ground sorted and it all points to that getting the go ahead by August at the latest. So by the end of the season we'll have started the rebuild..So we maybe rise to 8th, still certain of a super League place.

Being in it and safe for 3 years means we can get our youths through the system and maintain our set up. We can sign players knowing we have stability and can finance our club with more certainty.

Don't get me wrong, it's not good for the rugby league pyramid, but I'm a Cas fan. I support us only. I see it as good for us.

RaoulDuke
I admire your optimism, but no way will be in the top 10, or even the top 12 to get into SL.

We will have a very low score for catchment area, a very low score for ground and facilities and a low score for performance and recent results. How is that going to get us in the top 12 and in SL.

I believe Cas' reluctance to support the ideas was in fact our catchment area.

I'm not sure what the criteria is or even what it could be but Cas are not reliant upon it's townsfolk alone. We stretch well into the Leeds district with good support from places like Allerton Bywater, Garforth and Kippax.

We also have Ponte & Knottingley, Ackworth and the SE of the Wakefield district and indeed, Wakefield itself. Other teams in the area also have these areas to target support so how does itwork?

stuey

Realistically outside of SL who else would make the 12?

• Fev
  Catchment area issues along with us and Wakefield and in addition while we're not doing the best at the moment we're still in a stronger position.

• Toulouse
  Struggled in SL last time and they don't tick many other boxes - plus I'd still like to hope that French RL could become more of a thing and eventually Catalans join part of a new French league.

• Sheffield, Widnes, Halifax, Bradford
  None would make SL any better than the current line up.

Apart from results. York would have a good shout.

Massive catchment area - probably the largest of any existing SL club and a brand new stadium.

stuey for us to be not even 12th, who gets in above us?

Appreciating that we don't know the IMG rules fully but within reason for what we know, I can't understand why we wouldn't.

Yes we get poor marks for the ground and facilities but we're still in line with wakey. Have been more competitive, have the same junior and other teams set up

Negatives, they made a profit, but we spend cap. (Which apparently is good)

Not many teams own their own ground and have as little debt as us.

Salford recently took out a loan to pay bills, they are struggling. They rent and look at though they'll be moved out. Have no junior/other teams in the set up.

Leigh rent, they've already had Beaumont walk out once and little history in the super League.
We are at least on a par with hull kr, they do seem to be putting a lot of effort in at the moment so maybe getting above us in the short term.

Who from the rest is above us?

Toulouse? Newcastle? Bradford? York? London? None have proved successful in the last 10 years, turn a profit, getting good attendances, own their own ground, have good social media work or would best us on finding positions.

They may all best us on catchment area but that's not the only metric.

RaoulDuke

There are currently 10 teams in SL with better facilities than us and 9 with a better playing record than us. Add Fev, Toulouse York & Widnes in for ground facilties far better than ours, and York with a better catchment area and top 12 COULD be a struggle for us. All might change by the end of this season, but as of now, we are not looking in a very strong position..

Depends how you look at it I suppose, financially our situation is relatively strong compared to others,8 Super league teams showed far higher losses than we did when last reported. We are one of the few teams that own their own ground albeit one in need of a serious overhaul. Our average attendance in 2022 was just under 7,500,which puts us 8th on the list,amazing for a team with a low catchment area,our highest gate was 10, 500 beaten by only four others. Our travelling support is amazing. In terms of numbers we punch seriously above our weight,we are a rugby town full stop. Clubs like Cas are the beating heart of Rugby League.

Hepworth completely true but who knows ehat the next set of goalposts will be?

Well I hope its not decided on handling errors!

Hepworth

Or how many tries you score.