tim2

They could have been doing a Donald Trump 'lets knock it down and see what happens' approach!

'Boom and bust' or rather "Boom or bust' right there. Even if Fev return, they might be a shadow of the club they were. Fans will have drifted away and the ground may be gone. The amount of money and/or prestige you will need to break into SL from now on is getting increasingly difficult to find. Even a multi-millionaire can't spend it on the players to guarantee wining the Championship at a canter. You'd need at least a 5 year plan of losing millions of money while you built a youth-based system that developed your own team, while probably not winning much. Huddersbury did perform a bit of a miracle in escaping that bottom spot. We might laugh at Bradford for finishing last, but they got 7 wins and were competitive (in general terms) most of the time. Hardly anybody would have had the other 2 clubs in (possibly) 8th and 10th.

The whole business of (partially) non-playing related relegation reminds me a bit of the old 're-election to the league' system in football. The system that basically booted remote northern clubs like Gateshead, Workington and Barrow out. At least we haven't put the bottom 3, plus London, up for re-election by the other 11. That would be fun.

It's definitely crunch time. We find out how good Newcastle actually are, whether London will blow it, and whether last week's performance by Barrow was a one-off. The Eagles are down to bare bones due to injuries and a suspension so I think Barrow will prove too much for them at their own ground. I hope not. London Broncos v Doncaster KO By 14 Newcastle Thunder v Widnes Vikings By 8 Elimination Finals Oldham v Midlands Hurricanes By 20 Barrow Raiders v Sheffield Eagles By 6

Shame it's not at 3, I would have gone as I'm in the area, but 5 is too late.

And some amateur ones, depending on the club.

I'm up there for another reason (it was horrendous getting accommodation) but 5 o'clock may be a bit late for the kick off. I'd like to go - fancy Widnes to win.

I was stopping my grandsons fighting each other, recreating the Swinton-London game.

Eagles, down to absolute bare bones due to injuries, HIAs and suspensions, got past a stubborn Batley side on a pitch that has gone from a desert to lush meadow in just 2 weeks. Much better game than the awful Widnes match last week. No penalties in the first half at all, and very few errors. Sheffield eventually had too much power, and bombed a couple of tries, plus they missed 3 conversions. Barrow will be stinging a bit after being battered by Donny, but unless the Eagles get some troops back they will be favourites.

I would have been reluctant to bet anything on Toulouse being the top French team but it looks like it might happen.

That can be arranged, preferably as late as possible. This is the RFL.

I agree about it messing up the season. RL isn't football, where you can slot games in in midweek, or even ram 2 games in in midweek at the end of the season to make up the fixtures. The argument for it is that otherwise there's only one piece of silverware to aim for in the Championship. I'm not sure either way to be honest. In many ways the Challenge Cup is 98% a waste of time in a playing sense for clubs outside of the top end of SL. But it's worth it for the 2% shocks, the chance for players to play against higher level players and a bit of cash for amateur and Championship sides. These don't really apply for the 1895.

When they reform and get a license and a stadium, they would be in the East and Midlands in the West.

13 decades A good look at the history books would show that we've tried everything. Travel issues? Try in the 1900s when there were no motorways (or many cars) and you had to go by train to play Merthyr Tydfil away.

You would still play the Western Clubs, but not every season. The current system would have been OK except for the imploding of Fax, Fev and NWC, and dominance by the Broncos. With Broncos gone, and some stability hopefully back, it might be better next year. Although I wasted 30 minutes of my life generating that idea, I'd stick with the current system. However, the 1895 Cup has to be managed far better, and so does the construction of the fixture list. As you say, it allows the league to absorb new clubs, or lose them, between seasons. There's no good solution, to be honest. There are too many / too few teams - 2 x 14 is ideal but there's no way we would find 8 new clubs. 14 would mean losing 6. It's been a problem for decades to be fair.