How about we improve the spectacle and quality and get more bums on seats.

How about increase to 16, raise the salary cap above what the players would be expecting to play the additional games thus allowing more youth into teams. Let the younder players into sides to give the experienced players a rest from time to time (maybe put an actual limit to the number of normal league games an individual can play and force the clubs to allow the younger developing players in for one or two games).



We as spectators would get more games to watch and see some of the younger players getting into sides, youth development would be pushed and there would be more players in the "pool", experienced players would get an enforced break in the season thus saving them from overplaying.

A double whammy of increased cap and extra teams would decimate the progress made to date towards a competitive league.



Would be disastrous IMO.

Objective: To improve international competition by expanding European player pool through a structured FT league system.



To do this we need at least 1 more French team, and must nurture the game in S.Wales. At the same time we must recognise the challenge facing the ambitious, current non SL clubs.

We must increase the intensity at the top and provide a platform for clubs to develop.



Solution: Two divisions of 10, with 1 up 1 down to/from SL1, review franchise to SL2 every 3 years. Limit non nationals to 2 per club, by agreement or by allocation of money. Variable central contracts to top 50 players (Limit the number of games for these elite athletes), reviewed every 2 years, with the money taken from Sky deal before distribution. Hence you reduce the money available to waste on mediocre overseas players forcing clubs to give opportunities to young home grown players. Centrally contracted players will train as a squad X times per month.



Proposed Structure:



SL1.



Wigan

Hull

Bradford

Saints

Harlequins

Leeds

Catalans

Warrington

Huddersfield

Hull KR



SL2



Cas

Wakefield

Salford

S.Wales

Toulouse

Widnes

Halifax

Leigh

Whitehaven

Barrow



Fixture Format: 27 fixtures with play offs to determine Champions/Promotion. Top 4 , week 1 1v2 - winner to GF, 3v4 -straight KO, Week2 loser 1v2 play winner 3v4 for GF place, Week 3 GF.



Benefits:



1. Increase number of opportunities for FT players to follow a career path in the game at 20/21

2. Increase European player pool by the above and controlling imports

3. Geographically expand game into areas with access to junior playing pool

4. Create a more intensive comp for elite players

5. Enhance the international product through TEAM ethos and control of games played

6. Create an achievable pathway to the elite level for both player and club

If you want to reduce the amount of games the top professionals play then scrap the Challenge Cup and Murrayfield Magic.



This should reduce the total games played by a senior pro by 3 or 4.



And this comes from a supporter of the current holders of the Challenge Cup.





However it still makes me smile ( and yes, I appreciate that RL is now a far faster game with much harder contacts than is yesteryear) when you hear supremely conditioned athletes complaining at the number of matches when you had part time players with the athletic build of a Dave Chisnall or a Brendon Hill playing a 30 league game season + Lancs/Yorkshire Cup, John Player Trophy and Challenge Cup matches.

I'm not so sure, would 2 extra teams and a 10% increase in cap really make such a difference? How many teams fail to spend to the cap level already? Not withstanding the extra cap space is there to pay for the additional games which bring revenue and to allow the development of more younger players.



Last year we had teams like Bradford outside of the top 8 which wasn't expected or are you expecting that we are going to have a league without underdogs and no dominant team?

Drop Quins and Celtic for me, is RL any bigger in London these days and do they offer anything significant to the league? averaging less than 3500 last season, if teams like St Helens, Wigan, Hull KR and Bradford are losing money how are Quins finances? Havnt they been bailed out once already?

I still think the best option for SL would be to drop down to 12 teams and then have a good go at making those 12 teams as strong as possible.



Ask yourself if adding Salford and Celtic improved or weakened last years comp? Imo it weakened it significantly as although both clubs had one or two high points for the rest of the time they were simply a guaranteed two points.



Now I can’t see the point in keeping these two and then adding a further two from the championship. If two teams significantly weakened the comp what will four poor teams do to it? At least if you keep 12 of the current teams you’ve got SL standard clubs, add some top notch stadia over the next 3 years and then imo SL will be in a much better shape.



Of course it would be beneficial to move to say 16 teams in the league in the not to distant future but trying to add extensions to your house before your foundations are 100% set is a stupid idea.



As a side note if we did drop 2 teams into the championship we would be looking at a strong league there as well- Salford, Widnes, Fax, Leigh, Barrow etc. The RFL should look at getting better TV coverage for the championship and that will in turn raise it’s profile.

How long do we need to get the foundations 100%? It's been over 100 years already.

I don't care if we'd been going 400 years there would still be no point trying 2 expand the game when 'established' clubs in the heart land can't even sort themselves out.



It's time we looked inwards for a while and made the product as strong as poss before we look at taking it 2 RU strong holds like Wales.

Surely that is the very reason to expand? Les Cats have shown how it can be done. How long have they existed compared to Salford, Cas and Wakey?



In other words isn't about time to admit some of the so called heart land clubs never are going to make the grade and that they need to be moved aside to allow clubs that can take their place? I thought that is what franchising was about. Prove you are worthy of a franchise or leave.



Lets not forget we were in the doldrums of the 2nd division once and got out of it in a relatively short space of time yet some clubs such as Wakey seem to have lived charmed lives to keep their SL status yet still can't seemingly progress.







And what makes you think if we did that the current basket cases in the heart lands would be any better a few years down the track than they are now? If anything giving them what would be in effect protected status would be just another excuse to carry on as they are.



Dave

Agree with you on this, but just wanted to make the point that Catalans are a heartland club, albeit the heartland in this case is in France.



A big part of the reason (there is also the excellent council support and some decent management and marketing of the club) the Dragons have been such a success (and probably the one good thing to have come out of 15 years of SL failure on and off the field) is that they are a heartland club, in a region desperate for quality RL. To me any workable proposal from a traditional RL area in France has massive attractions over keeping failing traditional Yorkshire or Lancashire clubs in.



Toulouse played Catalans the other week and got over 4 thousand for a friendly. Just imagine a Toulouse team playing Catalans in SL, if we bring a viable Toulouse club into SL the rivalry in Southern France between those clubs would be immense. Toulouse and Catalans could be massive clubs in RL, just like the French clubs are in Union, they could be as big or bigger than the likes of Wigan and Leeds. Long term the French could have their own SL and play the English sides in a Heineken Cup style comp, which would be a real money spinner. (But even if they didn't we'd still have two big clubs in Southern France giving RL players from that region something to aim for and providing a base for a solid French RL international side, which would be a real boost for the international game). That's the kind of ambition I'd like to see from the RL authorities. But I'm not holding my breath.