Death to the Rah Rah's

unfortunately its a case of 'lions led by sheep'. I have zero confidence in anything the RFL run - absolute shambles the lot of them !! If the RFL have limited resources they should be working with clubs and leagues to help them develop their own programme, which includes part financing a development officer out of the community game player registration tax, you know the one where the RFL charge for a service which was previously provided free of charge by BARLA and came with promises to give the community game a load of benefits !! Absolute shower of s*i*e the lot of them ! I'm sure we are all of the same opinion on here in that the league one clubs will put forward their proposals, the RFL will ignore them and roll out a pointless round of extra fixtures, which no doubt will see Town and Newcastle travelling to Cornwall for the extra fixture and our home loop game will be against Midland Hurrricanes who will fetch a car full of supporters - absolute cloons !!

the whole game needs restructured and I include the NCL and Regional leagues in that statement. Some of the regional leagues would be in good shape if their NCL clubs were still with them. Before the usual NCL fan club starts, I would like to see the community game restructured so there is still a national element for the top 1 or 2 divisions, but below that have a new more localised structure and absorb all the community leagues into one pyramid system to create competitive leagues with a clear pathway for those that want to progress. Some might say we have that at present - I would disagree, but that is obviously my own opinion, If the structure was in place with a properly thought out development pathway with involvement from the community clubs, then surely Sport England could be persuaded to back it with funding.

I'm not to worried about next season's squad as Mr Murdock and Muzzy have had a full season to access the current team and what weak links need addressed. Whether they can get the players in on the finances available is another matter taking into account Town (and Haven) probably have to pay at least 25% more in contract fees than our Lancs and Yorks rivals to get them to travel up the road. I wouldn't be surprised if we dipped our toe into the overseas market again, be that France or New Zealand or Auz - the issue will be what happens with the league structure below Superleague. If the Skolars pull out then it really isn't feasible to run League 1 in it's current format and the RFL will have some decisions to make. I was told that the club have cleared all the debt hanging over from last season and are now in the healthiest position they have been in for years, the links with the Reds Ladies and further developing the outside fan zone can only further strengthen our financial pot to mount a serious challenge next season. I know there's loads of fans on hear that want us to go up this year via the play-offs, but I can't help but feel that would undo all the good work of this year and we need another season to strengthen the squad as well as work on getting the attendance up to the magical average of 1000 paying adults per game We are getting there, we just need a little more patience

surely there must be some drawings and costings for the stadium ready to be shared with supporters of both clubs? As ganna be deed before owt gits built!!

I don't disagree with you, its more the availability of suitable players for making the step up to the championship as we would need at least 7 - 8 players to be able to sustain that level of rugby, by the time the play-offs are finished most are tied to new contracts, which tends to leave the journeyman type of player, and do we really want to go down that route again? If we go up we will have to just crack on and build as strong a squad as we can

I think yesterday was a bit of a reality check and showed us that there's a bit if work to do in the off season to make us competitive enough to get promoted and stay up. I've enjoyed this season, probably as much to do with the off field work the club have undertaken since the money issues of 2022. It would have been nice to have been able to mount a serious challenge in the play-offs, and who knows, when we get the injured players back we may just do that, but my head says another off-season of squad improvement is necessary and if the club continues with the magnificent off-field work we will be in great shape to mount a serious challenge next season

My head says we are a year off being strong enough for promotion, both on and off the field, but again, is there ever a good time to go up as every promoted team needs to strengthen! I’ve a lot more confidence in this current board, and I can’t for one minute think that Mr Murdock hasn’t thought about promotion and what it would take to build a competitive side which can compete and avoid relegation in the first season. so let’s just go for it, if we go up then great, if not then we go again in 2024

This was why I mentioned the ifollow model that lower league football have had for the last few seasons. away support in RL is poor, even in super league, so the RFL should be looking at working with clubs to get some form of subscription. Services for streaming games to a wider audience

Of Town can take even close to 100 that’s an amazing level of support at that distance, quicker to go to Tenerife !!

It’s ridiculous really, look how much money ifollow makes for lower football league clubs who screen away games to their supporters for a small subscription. the clubs are filming their games anyway - so why can’t the RFL set up their equivalent of ifollow and allow supporters to follow their own team. how many on here would be prepared to pay to watch a live stream with commentary of the Cornwall v Town game? I know we have a very good away following, probably one of the highest in this league but that still leaves 500+ who don’t go to away games who may subscribe to watch it at home. In this day and age clubs should have the opportunity to tap into every commercial opportunity

Most of the nations have no place in the international game either - Scotland and Ireland, Spain, Malta, Lebanon etc I would rather watch England v Queensland or NSW than a one sided England v France international

I proposed something similar last year, the four nations was a successful end of season tournament, but where I would slightly differ from your proposal would be to include the State of Origin winners, as I think that would really raise the bar and the commercial interest in the UK for TV and just general interest would be immense. to appease the Aussies and so they don’t get travel fatigue, we could have 2 teams from the following to play in the tournament each season (World Cup year excluded) tonga, NZ, Auz, Fiji, Samoa, Papua NG, Queensland or NSW i would suggest the state of origin winners when Papua NG were touring to help with the profile of that tournament

Cumbria County council is no more pal - it was absorbed with the other local district councils and split to form Westmorland & Furness and Cumberland Council

you keep throwing your argument at the 'semi-pro' clubs but how many of their super league compatriots would still be full time professionals without a benefactor? Its a classic chicken and egg conundrum, super league clubs need a vibrant championship, league one and community game in order to maintain the profile of the sport, not to mention the player pool and interest in the game to either watch, play or subscribe to Sky Tv or whoever to fund the sport. Whitehaven may have over budgeted and overspent this season, but they are still victims of the overall mess the RFL finds itself in as they claim that their central funding levels weren't cut until after the season had started. Yes, you could argue that Whitehaven and the other clubs in the championship and league one shouldn't have given any contracts out until the funding was agreed for this season, but you and I and everyone else on this forum knows that isn't how clubs at any level operate.

hope to god if they win the contract that they don't use any of the current sky commentary team