Whole new world.

Hepworth

Have to say the reports of a potential NRL investment in Super League could change the face of our game beyond recognition. A ten team top flight with guaranteed places for Leeds,Wigan,Saints,Wire,Hull,Hull KR and more controversially Catalans and Tolouse would leave little room for manoeuvre for some of the traditional heartland clubs left scrapping for the two remaining spots. My question then is would stalwart fans be prepared to consider merging with another club to be part of of revamped league or would we prefer to play in a separate competition without the so called big boys. Interesting dilemma. For me I hope it’s all wind and water and comes to nothing because the alternatives for me could mean the death of our club,as a diehard that would be unthinkable. I’d follow Cas in whatever league against any opposition but for me it’s heart is in the town and the people who have supported it over the years not in some contrived marriage of convenience that merely serves to keep us at the top table.

yorky

the problem in my mind is that the top 4 / 6 clubs just buy up all the best available players leaving the scraps for the bottom 6 & thats why we have such a poor competition, let alone expand to 14 teams?

mdean

I have thought about this a bit - my first instinct is it is like the European Super League they mooted in football. It was so contrived and yes, would be the most financially attractive model for the best clubs in Europe - but in reality there has to be something in sport that is sporting. You have to be able to see Sheffield win the CC, Leicester win the Prem, Cas win the LLS, Ipswich go L1, Champ then Prem back to back. That is sport.

I feel similar about this, there has to be something constructed that is authentic with standards and that was supposed to be IMG, before that “Framing the Future”. A lot of folks on here probably would watch a team outside Super League, but in reality you know if you go to Oldham V Hunslet there are so few people there and part time, it is sport but not as we have known it at Cas.

Add 2 teams and for gods sake no more contrived loop fixtures. Home and away, P&L with a minimum points requirement to be declared before a ball is kicked to be eligible to be promoted. So there are no surprises after the GF’s or play-offs. Everyone knows their scope.

That increases the league to include the clubs wanted, means there is a minimum credible standard and because of the home and away nature the derby’s actually matter, you don’t get the situation where teams can play each other 5 times in the season.

yorky

agree with all you say & i think it was american footbll where they had a draft system ie there is a pool pf players & each team gets to pick one player at a time until their squad is full, this leads to a level playing field, no it wouldnt work in RL but this dominance be the same 6 clubs has to stop for th sake of the sport

Hepworth

If the reported conditions the NRL have requested before they’d have any involvement in Super League were to be met then there would be no place in Super League for Cas,Huddersfield and Salford as they would use IMG scoring to determine the Top10,with 8 places guaranteed including the French clubs Leigh and Wakefield would currently be the other two. Yet for all the supposed business acumen and organisational flair possessed by the RL,IMG and the NRL the ideas submitted by posters on here would be more logical,better informed and more acceptable to the fan base than this latest tripe.

RaoulDuke

I don’t see why we would drop out tbh. Just because wakey have above 5k for the first time in numerous years doesn’t mean they would be above us. In every metric, barring this seasons performance, they aren’t above us. They maybe a city but that didn’t make a difference to the crowd.

Ultimately we don’t know what the NRL would want but I can assume each team wants more money.

pirate

RaoulDuke and that number is dropping as the defeats roll in, we are their biggest pay day

Hepworth

All ifs and buts isn’t it? But as is stands Wakeys current grading score is higher than ours,by a fraction of a point maybe but still higher. What’s perverse is Hulls score is lower than ours but according to reports they would be one of the untouchables so would be in. More interestingly for me is that there is apparently a faction within the RL that sees a 14 team Super League as the way forward but without the French teams. It may go one way,it may go the other or knowing our governing body it might go neither. But with two directly opposing sides there’ll either be compromise for the sake of consensus or a civil war. The next weeks and months could prove pivotal but once again we find ourselves bathed in uncertainty and the game suffers while politics takes centre stage.

RaoulDuke

Wakey won’t be above us. They’ll need to win the challenge Cup and the grand final to match their playing scores after this year, though there should be a slight pick up over the 3 year mark.

They got full points for stadium and we were short by the led boards but being in. They’ll drop below 15 points and it’s increase our points.

RaoulDuke

All clubs want more money and the less clubs means a bigger share but the competition won’t be any better just more boring

Hepworth

That sounds more hopeful but I’m with Mdean in the hope for a 14 team top flight the inclusion of the French teams would appease the NRL powerbrokers,the retaining of heartland clubs would appeal to the traditionalists and they could shoehorn in a newly Australian funded Broncos,which let’s face it they’re going to find a way to do anyhow. Aligning with the NRL could give us greater leverage when negotiating TV and sponsorship deals which could offset the short term drop in funding from our own governing body. Who knows even IMG might earn their corn. So here we go…..
Wigan
Warrington
Saints
Leeds
Leigh
Hull
Hull KR
Wakefield
Castleford
Huddersfield
Catalan
Salford 🤷🏼
Tolouse
London.
One up,One down if the teams meet a minimum eligibility criteria.

RaoulDuke

pirate they can’t get a 7500 average, they would have to get above 4th and us bottom to be above us in finishing positions. They lose 0.1 because they can’t win the 1895 Cup. They’ll lose 0.25 unless they win the grand final.

We gain 0.125 for led boards.

So should we keep the 7350 average needed this year for the 7500 over 3 years. And our average league position stay the same. We’ll still be over 15 points by an extra 0.125.

The grading is there for all to see. It’s not rocket science….

Next year might be a different tale of course but we might not have the injuries and recruitment might work better. We might get higher.

mdean

A lot of sense being talked - @Hepworth as you describe, a minimum criteria cut off, in that you have to be at the points total say 31 January before the season to be eligible to be promoted. No if or but.

That way, as the NRL have kind of done with the Titans and Dolphins, there is a credible route in to the competition and if, like Salford you can’t meet your financial obligations - unlucky, off you pop down one and do a Rangers.
The competition can handle bye-weeks. We are always talking about player workload anyway.

It is just clean, competitive and might even improve the spectacle - sure there will be a top ⅘ with loads of wedge, but there may actually be a more competitive bottom half.

Hepworth

I’d hope Messrs Jepson and Beaumont will be at the game on Saturday he could prove a more than useful ally come reckoning day.

pirate

Hepworth who is this Beaumont?

yorky

i hope Mr Jepson isn’t having second thoughts about fully taking over what could end up being a 2 tier club if the nrl get their way

yorky

the leigh owner Derek

pirate

yorky
Ahhh of course , I thought for one minute that we had another investor

Hepworth

Yeah sorry,you have to look beyond the flamboyant dress with Derek cos there’s a shrewd operator behind that. Him and Gary Hetherington at Leeds have beeen the ones trying to bring the RFL to account for some of their decisions or lack of them.