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.

The thing that makes no sense is SL clubs having a reserves team and dual reg.

Elliot Kear should never have left London.

IMG points for stadium ownership?

This is just not true. Grant was the Chairman. A job whereby he’s paid very little to attend board meetings and attend events and influence people. Danny Kazanjian is the Secretary General and employed full time. He was previously the head of the RLEF. The IRL has other employees too, including Remond Safi (Middle East Africa), Romeo Monteith (Americas), Jovan from Serbia (Central & Eastern Europe) and Jeremy from Australia (Asia-Pacific). Typical RL.

It was dependent on local mayoral funding. With covid, local governments were less supportive. As such, the feds took the money away.

Cynicism aside, these are good changes. But when the opening rounds attract 30+ penalties, the RFL needs to have the balls to continue with them.

SL… forever 12+ months behind the NRL.

Grant is influential. Former politician. Worked closely with Vlandys when he had responsibility for Liquor & Gaming portfolio. His reign will be remembered for the covid years. Thing is, we’ve stuffed up and we need to be better. 1) France WC. Grant was instrumental in getting the original support. Then covid and elections led to the gov support evaporating. Whose fault is this? Should the FFRxiii have been better with managing relationships? 2) the 2021 WC. A disaster. And they’re handing out OBEs to the organisers. Seriously? 3) Tonga series. 3 lacklustre venues. Why were they selected? Why no dialogue from RL Commercial/RFL? Why are the fans not good enough to get a response? Why don’t our journalists ask the tough questions?

I’m stuck in work mode. *P&R

I agree with your last paragraph. Begs the question, would it not have been easier to allow P&L between same grading teams, rather than observing of 0.01 points — noting the above mentioned favouritism for SL teams. I’d like to think If Featherstone won the championship and a fellow B grade side like Leigh lost, that there’d be straight P&L. Instead we’ll be left counting who go the most tv viewers and the most likes on facebook, when naturally there’s higher engagement in SL than Championship.