NORTH WALES CRUSADERS coach Carl Forster says his side will just try to keep winning after expressing frustration at the lack of clarity over the structure of the game moving forward.
Crus have made a superb start to the campaign and are targeting a spot in the Championship next season, even if their potential path there is uncertain.
The top four in League One will each play against the bottom four Championship teams in an ‘eights’ competition, with the top two after those four games earning a place in the second tier for 2026.
The teams in third and fourth will go into a play-off for the third promotion spot as the Championship reduces from 13 to 12 clubs.
Forster said: “The message to the lads is to keep winning games, and then hope we find answers sooner rather than later regarding the structure of it all.
“I think they have made it hard for League One teams to get promoted this year, but you can only do what’s in front of you.
“We recruited this team really early last season, we got this team on paper before we knew what the structure was, and it’s just a typical Rugby League thing to change everything every other year and move the goalposts.
“We just take it week by week. We’re here now, so why wouldn’t we aim to finish top?
“There’s a long way to go. We don’t even know what top gets you. If we play the four Championship teams, we don’t know which teams home and away. It’s just a big mess. It’s not in our hands, we don’t have any control over it, I just hope there’s some clarification from the RFL.”
When approached by League Express, the RFL confirmed that the side finishing top of League One after 18 games will be crowned champions, receiving the trophy, medals and prize money.
Although there is a preferred structure for how the eights games will be formatted, there needs to be flexibility with regard to ground availability.
However, it could all become a moot point anyway – a proposal to merge the Championship and League One next season was tabled at the strategic review meeting of clubs in Oldham last week.
