yipyee

Suppose whilst not an actual merger, Leeds took over the whole of the area with Bramley and Hunslet shadow clubs now and all the best talent and fans going to the super club Leeds. St Helens now attract all the best talent in widnes as well as Wigan and Warrington encroaching on talent but the fans haven't followed. Huddersfield replaced Halifax in that area but this looks like it will flip back again. Oldham was replaced with Salford and again a flip will occur. Honesty think Rochdale and Oldham should merge as should halifax and huddersfield. Otherwise they will be forever fighting over the same talent and fans.

Don't think New Zealand will come and play in Wakefield though....

That's a great point and also it's good to lock fans out of a game, it increases season ticket sales, and helps tickets sell out quickly upon initial release. I know several people who wanted good friday tickets but left it too late. The scramble for tickets is good and increases sales. Also once games ate regularly sold out its feasible to increase ticket prices to grow revenue. I think Warrington made an error here by increasing their capacity when it was 12k.

On a more serious note Oldham would be the more attractive option. Great amateur and junior clubs to feed into oldham in terms of players and fans. And the club currently are building well with what appears a good team on and off the pitch. Great playing back in the soccer stadium too.

So your saying that it's a complete coincidence that IMG have targeted growth in certain areas and added those as scoring metrics towards SL participation and all of a sudden those metrics have increased drastically? Also did clubs even bother with social media prior to IMG. Finally it's not been mentioned that games on terrestial TV will definatly have increased viewership and therefore social media following

Not true there were several promotion offers floating around. School holidays/Easter which is popular with holidays particularly the first week prior to actual Easter and the poor showing in the cup would be the main points to drive down attendance. The women playing at home on the saturday may also be a factor. Not sure on ST holder numbers but I would guess quite a few of those missing too.

Didn't Australia cancel the regular NZ games , didn't NZ win more than they lost? Penrith refusing to play the WCC twice in the last 4 years..

Haha seems to be a pattern that Aus dodge great teams so they can portray the myth that they are perpetually the best

Is the owner getting ready for life after his leadership, is this his exit strategy getting the club ready for a sustainable future, and if that is in the championship with a smaller stadium , following and of course budget then it would leave them in a better place than what is happening at Salford right now.

Suppose if you can't beat them buy them

Weather it's week one or week 27 it's irrelevant in the grand scheme of things. Didn't someone field a weakened team in round 27 last year? From what Rowley said its the RFL that wouldn't let them enter 15 players as a squad. Ultimately there are rules and if they are operating at a reduced cap it is what it is. The Salford lads dug in for the full 80 and are hero's , some will go on to play many games in SL and will never forget their debuts.

Isn't the first time and won't be the last that a weakened team has been fielded. Think last time Saints did it was during Covid, and obviously the Bradford one years ago under Millward. It is what it is. The bigger question is why did Salford get a licence and allowed back in SL when finances is a criteria point. Toulouse should be back in with Salford in the championship. Was lessons not learned from the Crusaders fiasco.

It's only what Leigh did wasn't it

Isnt that what people wanted Toronto to do in covid? Relocate all players to the UK for a year with no regard to visas etc.. And when they said no they were kicked out of the league..

Could also give a team a breather when gased defending their own line or from a break, 2 mins break to get heir breath back. I am for it by the way but will be surprised if it's not used in the way above at least once before round 3