Fri 13 Sept: SL: Wakefield Trinity v London Broncos KO 7.45pm (TV)

[londonrlfan]

Gutted, but unfortunately we weren't good enough over the course of the season. It was the Salford and Leeds defeats that relegated us rather than last night, we gave ourselves too much to do. But still proud of the team. Everyone said we'd be the whipping boys, but we took it to the last day and go down with 20 points, no disgrace. I can't see us coming back sadly, as we will lose our best players and have to rebuild from scratch on limited funds. 

[Phil]

9 hours ago, Niels said:

Can I point out next bottom was Hull KR (Another team from a city, and also smaller than Wakefield).

Wakefield would not have been relegated had they lost. 

 

 

 

Whoops sorry forgot both Hull clubs!!!!

but my overall point remains, compare us to soccer and we’re still have a preponderance of small town clubs 

[Chronicler of Chiswick]

Never mind, it was fun while it lasted, and we won nine more games than I thought we would!

[Dunbar]

What a night for my Sky Box to play up. Couldn't watch and it didn't record either. Even the effing internet router was playing up so couldn't see the scores half the time.

I feel for London after exceeding all expectations all year.

I hope the teams that survived kick on and go well next year.

[MADREDNIGE]

1 hour ago, WakefieldCityLoyal said:

We use your training Barn and I’m  sure your Wakefield supporting CEO appreciates the income you get from us.  

Up the Trin 

We've got players at Fev who support c@$ so what difference does it make who our CEO supports lol. 

[Rupert Prince]

25 minutes ago, Phil said:

Whoops sorry forgot both Hull clubs!!!!

but my overall point remains, compare us to soccer and we’re still have a preponderance of small town clubs 

There are 3 teams in Wakefiekd  2 in Hull, 2 in Wigan. Several in Leeds.

It's perhaps worth remembering that there are several football clubs in Glasgow.  Indeed football in scotland is centred around the M8 Corridor!

[Davo5]

11 hours ago, Liverpool Rover said:

 

The Rugby League thing to do would be to have the fans spending all season being invested in this relegation battle to announce in a couple of months time  that Super League is to be increased and nobody is being relegated after all.

Won’t happen,Leeds didn’t finish bottom.

[Rupert Prince]

24 minutes ago, Chronicler of Chiswick said:

Never mind, it was fun while it lasted, and we won nine more games than I thought we would!

Its been a funny season.  Wigan were distracted first my the WWC, then the Edwards thing and then by Barcelona. Plus injuries.  In that time they lost a number of games whilst being totally distracted (of course they may have lost those games anyway).

Warrington played well enough untill after the Semi. Leeds were totally out of thing a lot of the time.  At other times several clubs faced strings of injuries.

In any event, it does not matter how brilliant the side is that finishes bottom next season... one will have to get relegated and possibly cast into oblivion.

[Davo5]

2 hours ago, Wholly Trinity said:

You might want to book your seat for next season to avoid disappointment

Yeap seats in the new stand are expected to sell out fast !

[Phil]

12 minutes ago, Rupert Prince said:

There are 3 teams in Wakefiekd  2 in Hull, 2 in Wigan. Several in Leeds.

It's perhaps worth remembering that there are several football clubs in Glasgow.  Indeed football in scotland is centred around the M8 Corridor!

Yes indeed, the point I’m trying (poorly) to get across is that if we’re serious about spreading the game we need recognisable club names.

With massive respect to them but there are people in England who have never heard of Batley or Featherstone. Big cities like London and Manchester whether we like it or not have more kudos. A mega corp is more likely to want to jump into bed with a successful London or Manchester rather than a championship Batley or Fev. 

[Guest]

London will be fine. There is a decent local scene and the age groups show up well.

When the cut in money comes and super League sides have to play reserves, they will be better placed than most to put out a competitive side. 

[Quinskolar]

10 hours ago, Phil said:

So now we have only one big city club in the top tier with maybe Toronto next year if the SL let them in.

There won’t be a Manchester club in any division which leaves just Bradford, Newcastle and Coventry as city teams.

Small town clubs small time game.

ps I know Wakefield is a city but to all intents and purposes it’s just a large town

Salford is a city. Fact. Hull and York were cities last i looked! 

[Father Ted]

I don't like relegation for the Super League competition. It is just so difficult for promoted clubs to beat relegation in the first season up. Clubs should be able to stay up and build on their promotion. Will the newly promoted club in SL 2020 win 10 games as London did? I very much doubt it. 

If in subsequent seasons the promoted club is immediately relegated then the system will be changed. So why go though the whole mistaken process in the first place?  

[Guest]

At the time all of Bradford, Leigh, Widnes and London (last time) deserved to go. All were a shambles.

[Wellsy4HullFC]

3 hours ago, Oliver Clothesoff said:

They’ve lasted one season. How is that working?

It was a freak season. In any other season, they would have survived easily on 20 points.

It shows strength in depth in the competition below that the side, who wasn't even favourite for promotion, managed to generate a record number of points at the bottom with very few signings.

Do you think if Toronto had come up that they'd have been relegated so quickly?

[PREPOSTEROUS]

28 minutes ago, Father Ted said:

I don't like relegation for the Super League competition. It is just so difficult for promoted clubs to beat relegation in the first season up. Clubs should be able to stay up and build on their promotion. Will the newly promoted club in SL 2020 win 10 games as London did? I very much doubt it.

If Toronto go up, I think they would. 

[PREPOSTEROUS]

24 minutes ago, Leonard said:

At the time all of Bradford, Leigh, Widnes and London (last time) deserved to go. All were a shambles.

Atfer finishing bottom in 2015, Trinity also deserved to go. The contrived middle 8's came to the rescue. 

[Rupert Prince]

1 hour ago, Phil said:

Yes indeed, the point I’m trying (poorly) to get across is that if we’re serious about spreading the game we need recognisable club names.

With massive respect to them but there are people in England who have never heard of Batley or Featherstone. Big cities like London and Manchester whether we like it or not have more kudos. A mega corp is more likely to want to jump into bed with a successful London or Manchester rather than a championship Batley or Fev. 

I do take your point.  Perhaps I was being tangential.

[Superb Chops]

2 hours ago, Wellsy4HullFC said:

It was a freak season. In any other season, they would have survived easily on 20 points.

It shows strength in depth in the competition below that the side, who wasn't even favourite for promotion, managed to generate a record number of points at the bottom with very few signings.

Do you think if Toronto had come up that they'd have been relegated so quickly?

I feel somewhat sad London will not be in the top division next year. This outfit may be smaller than previously, but it's a smarter operation.

If the sport, as a whole, was innovative it would retain the Broncos and offer both Championship play-off finalists a Super League place - with the winners getting a better cash settlement to maintain competitiveness to the season's end.

It can't be that hard to organise a 14-team division, playing a 26-match regular season, made up of teams spreading the RL word, can it?

[Denton Rovers RLFC]

Went out last night so missed everything but the scores, hard lines to London, well done to Wakefield, they did what they had to and London didn't have quite enough. Quite possibly the biggest win for Wakefield in decades, it was in reality a multi million pound game particularly with respect to them and their current situation.

ATEOTD if you score more points and win more games then you deserve by definition of having done better over the whole season to stay up/win the comp (well except the latter).

I'm happy for the Wakey fans/club but I'm equally sad for London too, though they gave one hell of an account of themselves, we can only hope that the RFL see that by keeping London in that that is progressive and will enhance RL as a whole not to mention the London club and RL in the capital..

 

[Denton Rovers RLFC]

2 hours ago, Saint 1 said:

We had Coote, Makinson, Lomax, Walmsley, Taia out. A pretty decent side still but that's our best ball players, our best winger, our best prop and our best second rower.

And when teams have played with more injuries than that and in critical positions?

How do you know that any of those players didn't have minor niggles that are undisclosed and that resting them was not only a good thing for future games but also right in terms of player welfare, maybe you think forcing players to play through niggles/fatigue is acceptable, I happen to think it isn't and is more detrimental to the performance of a team over a season.

In any case London themselves weren't at full strength either.

[GeordieSaint]

15 hours ago, Man of Kent said:

That Lamb try is why it went down to the wire. If only London had played with a bit more derring-do earlier tonight 

Always difficult when you have zip-all field position; they got beat up down the middle for 60-70mins. When they did have position, it was wasted i.e. 2 x Dixon knock-ons over the line (one originally blown by Lamb the tackle before), the rightly Morgan disallowed try (fwd pass), or by soft but needless penalties (Hindmarsh).

Loved watching and having London in SL this year; they have been a breadth of fresh air in SL, which it really needed. Sad to see them relegated. An automatic return next year is going to be very tough indeed, especially losing a lot of players. Ward is an exceptional young coach though so who knows...

[Chris22]

What I think has been lost is that Wakefield played well. They did not appear nervous, were patient and made few errors. They deserved to retain their status.

London have done really well, they have won over a third of their fixtures! Any other year this would have been enough to survive, just not this one. It's a shame that London will have a lot of their players picked off, but I was pleased to see Danny Ward commit his future.

Here's hoping they bounce back straight away, because they added so much to the league.

[ivans82]

Could end up the Coach of the year goes to someone who Coaches a Team that`s got relegated.

[Niels]

4 hours ago, PREPOSTEROUS said:

Atfer finishing bottom in 2015, Trinity also deserved to go. The contrived middle 8's came to the rescue. 

If I remember correctly they didnt attempt to avoid finishing bottom because they was not how relegation was decided. 

They recruited for the plays offs I think. 

They had to play the system that was there. Whoever finished bottom was irrelevant.

Actually that's one of the things I really admire about them, they are very adaptable at survival.