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14 Team SL and Merged Championship?

Perth Red

Perth Red

Post Whore
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75,589
Taking The Two said:
What’s a “competitive” team? We already have at least a quarter of the comp who aren’t spending to the cap. I doubt that any of the applicants are going to be willing or able to spend to the cap at a few months notice, so it’s not going to be that. Is it going to be based on what the lowest spend currently is, which is contributing to a bottom three side or some sort of percentage increase on what they’re spending this year?
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I’m guessing they’ll asses the business plan and the forecast revenue growth/owner investment to see how much cap they think they can spend in next teo,seasons, alongside the current squad, how many ft players currently, how they are performing in championship/SL etc.

what’ll be interesting is if you’re hudds do you put in an application just in case they finish out of top 12, surely Salford won’t have the gall to apply?
 
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Taking The Two

Juniors
Messages
898
Next two seasons as a forecast suggests what is fundamentally wrong with this whole process, it’s rushed nature and the outcome we’re almost certainly going to get.

Are Cas competitive right now? Genuinely, are they? 5 wins from 22, of which 2 of their 5 wins were against Salford, who need no explaining right now. A paltry 3 wins from 19 games against the rest of the comp is, frankly, embarrassing and I would argue that it’s not at all competitive, so I’m not sure where temerity comes from to ask for a competitive team from Toulouse, Widnes, York, Oldham, London or Bradford, more so when you consider London, a part-time team on a smaller budget than Cas are now, managed the same amount of wins as Cas have to date. Equally, Huddersfield have managed the same amount of wins as Cas, both Cas and Huddersfield have been beaten by a decimated Salford side this year. If that’s the barometer we’re using, it’s a bloody low mark we’re aiming for.

Equally, how competitive can you get in six weeks roughly? That’s what we’re asking of these teams. You come up on October 16th and you’ve basically got six weeks till pre-season starts to increase the quality and/or depth of your side. How competitive can any of these sides truly be in 2026 when that’s what they’re dealing with? How can you even apply and provide a realistic forecast when you are still unaware whether you will get central funding or you won’t?
 
Perth Red

Perth Red

Post Whore
Messages
75,589
They’ll be looking at financial sustainability if there is no cap, though it’s sounds like the current SL club may be willing to take a 100-200k reduction in order for the two teams to get some money,

as for competitiveness yeh cas and hudds have been poor this year, last year it was hfc and london with 3 wins, year before it was wakey with 4 wins.its not just a SL thing. last year nrl tigers 6 wins, year before tigers 4 wins, dragons 5 wins, 2022 nrl had 4 clubs with only 6 wins.

such is sport.
 
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jason taylor

Bench
Messages
3,777
Pippen94 said:
What was their biggest crowd this year?!
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920 against the Goole Vikings. Worth remembering that Alexander Stadium has a capacity of 18k

League One rarely cracks 1000. Keighley Cougars probably have the highest average attendance (with the one anomaly being the Cumbria Workington vs Whitehaven local derby that attracts 2k+)
 
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Pippen94

First Grade
Messages
9,072
jason taylor said:
920 against the Goole Vikings. Worth remembering that Alexander Stadium has a capacity of 18k

League One rarely cracks 1000. Keighley Cougars probably have the highest average attendance (with the one anomaly being the Cumbria Workington vs Whitehaven local derby that attracts 2k+)
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Wasn't there a challenge cup game with bigger crowd?!

Edit: 985 vs Salford Red Devils in February.
 
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Perth Red

Perth Red

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75,589
Been some great games and crowds in SL this year. Tv, social media engagement and crowds are up. we have 5 genuine contenders for the title this year and hfc capable of upsetting any of them.
Cheer up chicken licken.
 
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Pippen94

First Grade
Messages
9,072
Perth Red said:
Been some great games and crowds in SL this year. Tv, social media engagement and crowds are up. we have 5 genuine contenders for the title this year and hfc capable of upsetting any of them.
Cheer up chicken licken.
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..and Salford not paying players and cancelling games. When's that last happened in a top sports league?!
 
B

BODISGOD

Bench
Messages
4,016
Taking The Two said:
As suspected, it’s just to remove loop fixtures and no thought process has gone into it beyond that.

The standard of Super League is crap, you’ve got teams playing in front of no one, playing in dumps, teams who produce nothing in terms of pathways and poor refs. It’s just looking at the wrong stuff. We’ve had loop games since ‘99.
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Outside of mythical "tv rights increases", what are you proposing? And please, if your follow up is "better marketing and promotion of the game!" then don't bother. Sky poured millions into it for decades. They are the biggest sports broadcaster in the UK and they push it plenty.

The reality is the central distribution is now fairly small. That counter intuitively opens up the opportunity for more clubs. The bigger ones like St Helens have already indicated that they could take less.
 
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BODISGOD

Bench
Messages
4,016
Pippen94 said:
..and Salford not paying players and cancelling games. When's that last happened in a top sports league?!
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And yet one of your proposals is for a "Manchester" team. You realise Salford is basically Manchester, right? Indeed Manchester United used the same stadium historically. They now use the same one as Leigh, both incredibly close to Manchester city centre.

So outside of the facility point (if one of the biggest sports teams in the world are already using these grounds, where are you going to locate a RL stadium close to the CBD?), you really think that branding a "Manchester" here is going to attract in more supporters?
 
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Pippen94

First Grade
Messages
9,072
BODISGOD said:
And yet one of your proposals is for a "Manchester" team. You realise Salford is basically Manchester, right? Indeed Manchester United used the same stadium historically. They now use the same one as Leigh, both incredibly close to Manchester city centre.

So outside of the facility point (if one of the biggest sports teams in the world are already using these grounds, where are you going to locate a RL stadium close to the CBD?), you really think that branding a "Manchester" here is going to attract in more supporters?
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Yes, I support team in Manchester with money to pay players. Controversial I know.
 
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