Harold Hill

I don't like his point about not having to sign players cos they have an A grade. That misses the point spectacularly. The end game isn't getting into SL. The endgame is getting to Old Trafford, winning that trophy, making the WCC and beating the best of the NRL, playing at Wembley etc. Thankfully he then said he does want to sign those players, but he did support a narrative that it's all about grading and making it into SL, which was a little smalltime, and maybe natural for somebody who has struggled to get into SL regularly for years. Grading isn't the competition and a place in SL the prize, SL is the comp and winning the Grand Final the prize. And yet London could get to Old Trafford and win the Grand Final next year knowing they'll be thrown out of SL the next day. I would say that grading is the ONLY competition in town.

I think they came out on the 13th ish of November in 21 and 22. Fingers crossed because the Early Bird price expires at the end of November.

Luckily for us Eagles fans, the new IMG POINTS WIN PRIZES Championship has come along at just the right time…? 2024 is the year we’ll win the Championship ladder and its GF, selling out our home games every week and urging the Council to review the safety certificate so we can get more than 3/4 000 in. Oh, and that’ll be just the first of ten consecutive titles. I could be wrong though and it’s Donny winning those 10 GFs and packing out the Eco Power with 15,000 fans at every home game. Wildly successful situations like this are just what the new grading system aims to bring about, so – serious question – by when will Sheffield or Doncaster have pushed up their scores of 8.36 & 8.11 sufficiently to a have a place in SL bestowed upon them? 2030, 2035, 2040? Or will we have the required 12 / 14 category As in place before then, meaning these two clubs (and all the others) spend the remainder of their existence playing what amount to friendlies? It’s much like those people crying out, “Bring back the Grammar Schools.” You’ll never hear them cry out, “Bring back the Secondary Moderns.”

Use this format for 2025. It will hopefully provided 13 fairly close (?) and mostly unpredictable games. Repeat the format in 2027 with 6 qualifying nations + the 2 group wooden spoons from 2025. Both finalists are promoted to the next World Cup in 2029. Rinse and repeat. It provides the best 14 nations with a structure to build their own tours around in intervening years (!) and provides those nations currently outside the top 14 with a qualifying route into a regular (Shield) competition.

I wouldn't do the knowledge if I were you.