dealwithit

No way catalans will allow the squad to big majority from them.

The earlier “rumour” that a 6-figure salary had been offered has me thinking… are any head coaches not on 6-figures?

I mean, half the squad are from Australia or France so they’ll play domestically.

Bravo.

Crusaders should be happy

Thanks for sharing. Didn’t realise the match v Wales is slated for Paris. Plenty to be excited about in 2024.

Word on why only a handful of clubs are listed as full or affiliate members? Did the others not apply?

You give points for catchment and points for academy and they’re in with a chance. If they perform well on the field, that will increase fandom and viewership.

I mean, there are a couple of fair points he makes. 1) catchment criteria is a bit inconsiderate of london 2) the 3 year calculations include the COVID year when they went part time 3) there’s no benefit to developing players Of course, these should have been raised earlier. But, the RFL CEO has said there can be tweaks to the gradings before the scores are revealed for 2025.

Agreed. Definitely not the case in the NRL. Means RL fans more likely to casually tune in to watch a game not involving their team.

The RFL just needs the balls to start its own NH 4 Nations with promotion/relegation. Gives an opportunity for the Georgians, Serbs, Dutch, Ukrainians etc to aspire to something.

Evidence = spectators, viewership, broadcast deals, sponsorship dollars. All have dropped away for the Challenge Cup. The Lord Derby used to be much bigger too. Australia no longer has any cup tournaments at professional level.

@ATLANTISMAN there’s no evidence RL fans want a cup style tournament. If anything, the contrary. The thing in FFRXIII’s favour is that Elite 1 is played when the biggest consumer of RL is lacking content. The biggest thing working against FFRXIII is the language. Record the games with English commentary, tell the stories, build the hype and get the games on Kayo Sports. This has never really been attempted. League 1 is not the saviour for the top Elite 1 teams.

York a chance of taking a top 12 grading if they win the comp?

Interesting. Thanks for sharing. With IMG points up for grabs for performance, perhaps we’ll get to a point of no more DR as bottom SL clubs are worried about advancing B grade clubs.