tuutaisrambo

Sums up pretty well the mess IMG Gradings is now.... https://www.alloutrugbyleague.co.uk/news/bradford-bulls-super-league-return-1447439

Fair enough.....seems a little strange at a glance if you had large improvements in your score based on 'Finance' and 'Stadium' given the state of your stadium and financial history but good luck anyway The Bradford area contributes a lot to the game and should really be in super league one way or another.

There won't be any P&R going forward.......Maybe some R depending on what the next TV deal is worth. So you don't think Bradford where chosen in the hope that Bullmania returns? I'm not making up any scenarios...I just think quite a few owners think Bradford will fill their away stands and that's why they got in.....and if they do fair enough.....The sport needs to make more money desperately.

Out of morbid interest? ...what did the Bulls score high points in? Fandom?

York and London are making signings like they know they are in..........Toulouse are pretty quiet.

Of course and if they continue to have similar crowds to what they had in the championship they will definitely stay in Super League

Is there still minimum standards? Will the Bulls and Cas be given a time frame to upgrade their stadiums or can they just play in them till they fall down?

Not a surprise.....Bulls are in for the expected crowds they might bring.........if that doesn't materialise they'll be top of the list to get booted out. Just waiting for the meltdown now when Toulouse don't get in for being French.

It will be a completely different model to traditional team sports. 8 franchises/owners competing all over the world in glamour games..........The teams will compete for worldwide fan bases rather than have regional ties. There's a lot of the planet that isn't interested in either code of rugby that we have now. It's more like F1....or NFL.........they'll have to get their marketing/branding absolutely spot on. I'd expect different rules too cos traditional union will be too boring to make it work.

It's not going to stop anyone........certainly not top level talent who've already experienced representative rugby. R360 are offering up to £1.6m per 16 game season for top stars........Nathan Cleary etc I read RTS as done a deal at around $1m (AU) per season. All that for just 16 games around the world........I don't blame any of them. If you've got around 3 seasons of your career left and can earn 3x as much for a third less games it's a no brainer. The NRL are probably more at risk than top Union leagues with them being a big fish in a small pond.....(it's not even a pond...more like a big fish crammed in a bucket)

I assume the choice of Headingley for the third test is purely based on profit for the RFL? Use of Wembley and Everton's new stadium must come with significant costs whereas using Leeds Rhino's ground must be cheaper and more profitable. Otherwise considering how quickly the 3rd test sold out it's absolutely stupid to not have the game in a larger capacity stadium.

Every single one of these 'weak' links walks straight into the England team. I like your optimism but we need to play at 100% for 80 minutes withe zero errors and hope a few of these mistakes happen to have a chance.

Sometimes........a bit like when Premier league clubs lose to 3rd division teams in the cup They are levels above us....but on our day if they have an off day we have a chance. Suppose you think NRL Clubs take the World Club Challenge seriously too? It's been Penrith's FIRST friendly game of their pre season the last couple of years.

Lets hope they put as much effort is as NZ and Samoa and Tonga have done over here in recent tours.

If Australia take the games seriously we're screwed. No surprises with that squad........let's hope home advantage........biased refs and terrible weather help us out.