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Why is it so hard for promoted teams to stay in Super League


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Being unable to recruit properly until you win the Championship Grand Final and by then the player market is more limited so you are mainly recruiting from the relegated club. Then promoted clubs are behind before the season starts as in RL games are generally won by the better team and doesn’t have as many upsets, so you can write off a load of games before the season has started.

Unless promoted teams are really shrewd or lucky with their recruiting they need more than one off season to build a team for Super League but don’t get the chance because they end up going back down.

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I think teams are seeing now that you need to put a Super League squad together in the Championship, rather than try and sign one after winning the Championship. That’s what Toulouse have done, Leigh and Featherstone have now gone down the same route. The problem is spending so much in the Championship is not sustainable if you don’t gain promotion. 

Compare how London did in 2019 (20 points) to Leigh in 2021 (4 points). If you look at the squads on paper you can certainly say Leigh looked stronger.London almost stuck entirely with their Championship winning squad and were completely written off as no hopers.  Leigh virtually signed a full new squad, 19 players I believe. It’s not just that so few players are available and the pickings are slim, bringing in that many new players doesn’t work.

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The obvious solution is to start the Championship season earlier and finish it earlier. If their GF is before the end of the regular season of SL, they'll have s fairer shot at the player market.

The last time they did this was 2001. Widnes were promoted and finished 6th the following year.

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4 hours ago, Sir Kevin Sinfield said:

I think teams are seeing now that you need to put a Super League squad together in the Championship, rather than try and sign one after winning the Championship. That’s what Toulouse have done, Leigh and Featherstone have now gone down the same route. The problem is spending so much in the Championship is not sustainable if you don’t gain promotion. 

Compare how London did in 2019 (20 points) to Leigh in 2021 (4 points). If you look at the squads on paper you can certainly say Leigh looked stronger.London almost stuck entirely with their Championship winning squad and were completely written off as no hopers.  Leigh virtually signed a full new squad, 19 players I believe. It’s not just that so few players are available and the pickings are slim, bringing in that many new players doesn’t work.

A lot of people really understimated that London side, and also the impact Danny Ward and Jaimie Langley had. If we had that squad again this year we would get promoted, it was a squad which was a lot more than its constituent parts

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Depending on the club coming up it could be a lack of money, a lack of time to prepare or the salary cap which prevents a stronger club from outspending a weaker one and being able to overcome the inherent advantages faced by a promoted side.

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The lack of players to draw on as well, in the absence of a thriving transfer market. Promoted football clubs can buy players from other English clubs or abroad, realistically neither of those options are available to promoted RL teams, even rich ones. 

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1 minute ago, Spidey said:

If they were good enough they'd still be there, they weren't and went down

Do think they were so unlucky. Had some impressive wins. Players like Ridyard, Higham, Hansen etc. Did not finish bottom. The game v Catalans also, unlucky. 

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Just now, Cw25 said:

Do think they were so unlucky. Had some impressive wins. Players like Ridyard, Higham, Hansen etc. Did not finish bottom. The game v Catalans also, unlucky. 

You can't assume teams would finish in the same positions if it was straight promotion/relegation, they lost the games that counted and went down

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3 minutes ago, Spidey said:

You can't assume teams would finish in the same positions if it was straight promotion/relegation, they lost the games that counted and went down

Of course. Everyone knew what was happening. They lost to Catalans, Went down. Anyway, Toulouse have no chance. Don't know why I am sticking up for other clubs when I am still not over our Lock Lane disaster.

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17 minutes ago, Cw25 said:

The time before, Leigh proved themselves to be good enough for SL. But went down in the 8s. They deserved to stay in then. 

In what way did they deserve to stay in Super League? They were relegated on the field. On that note Leigh did not deserve to be in Super League in 2022, but they are reaping the reward of a Super League parachute payment after they were gifted “promotion.”

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2 minutes ago, Sir Kevin Sinfield said:

But they are making the promoted team pay for their opponents travel costs, so it’s effectively withholding money again

Good point, woeful stuff. If Newcastle ever go up they’ll probably want them to pay travel costs too, it’s a long way up the A1. 

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4 minutes ago, Sir Kevin Sinfield said:

In what way did they deserve to stay in Super League? They were relegated on the field. On that note Leigh did not deserve to be in Super League in 2022, but they are reaping the reward of a Super League parachute payment after they were gifted “promotion.”

This last time they were always going to go for Leigh because of the covid situation. Even Bradford got mentioned !. To me, Leigh need that tiny bit of something extra.

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4 minutes ago, Cw25 said:

This last time they were always going to go for Leigh because of the covid situation. Even Bradford got mentioned !. To me, Leigh need that tiny bit of something extra.

You can try and use Covid as a justification as much as you like, it still doesn’t make it true. Catalans were able to play in Super League in 2021, Toulouse were able to play in the Championship in 2021, the argument Covid stopped Toulouse going up to Super League in 2021 is ridiculous. To be fair the amount the Leigh fans would have kicked off on here if Toulouse had of been gifted promotion the way their club were probably wouldn’t have made it worth it. Both clubs are now in the league they deserve to be in thanks to results on the field.

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5 minutes ago, Sir Kevin Sinfield said:

You can try and use Covid as a justification as much as you like, it still doesn’t make it true. Catalans were able to play in Super League in 2021, Toulouse were able to play in the Championship in 2021, the argument Covid stopped Toulouse going up to Super League in 2021 is ridiculous. To be fair the amount the Leigh fans would have kicked off on here if Toulouse had of been gifted promotion the way their club were probably wouldn’t have made it worth it. Both clubs are now in the league they deserve to be in thanks to results on the field.

Leigh are certain to be back next season. Almost as certain, Toulouse will be the team they are replacing.

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18 minutes ago, Jughead said:

Have Fev gone bust this morning?

No. They are going still. Will end up anywhere from 2nd to 4th. Maybe it will be them who get beat in the final. Anyway, I don't know why I am sticking up for Leigh. Here is a debate I should be having as a newbie on here, if you call yourself a Yed, Get to some matches this season. Starts off with a belter v Keighley.....

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Ive got a feeling Fev will be fine if they go up this year. They have built similar to how Hull KR did and they pretty much have a team now that at least would be competitive with the worst teams in SL. Add a few more players on promotion and I'd expect them to stay up. Leigh don't seem to have that steady build needed and its big changes for them each year, most of it through no fault of their own. Anyone outside of those two going up I would say the best thing would be to stay part time if they were part time already and bank the money and plan to bring players in for the championship the following year that would also be good enough to stay if they got in to SL the year after. That shouldnt be a slight on the team that chooses to do that but more a slight on how the game is currently set up.

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7 hours ago, Wellsy4HullFC said:

The obvious solution is to start the Championship season earlier and finish it earlier. If their GF is before the end of the regular season of SL, they'll have s fairer shot at the player market.

The last time they did this was 2001. Widnes were promoted and finished 6th the following year.

Great idea!! Start the season on Boxing Day with derbies, with the reverse fixtures on New Year’s Day, and finish the season by end of August.

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If the promoted team is part-time, that's 20 odd years catch up on other established teams in S/L to start with. Then finding the finance to fund a top quality team. Then actually being able to find those quality players that will buy into the teams structures. then you have the problem of a lot of the players that got you promoted not wanting a full-time contract. There the problems of trying to get a team on the field. Then of course you have the problem of are your facilities fit for purpose. That is the negative side. On the positive side, your Sky payments will increase. You should be able to generate more people attending your fixtures. That in itself will bring more money into the club. Sponsorship should be easier to obtain due to tv coverage. 

 

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14 hours ago, Sir Kevin Sinfield said:

I think teams are seeing now that you need to put a Super League squad together in the Championship, rather than try and sign one after winning the Championship. That’s what Toulouse have done, Leigh and Featherstone have now gone down the same route. The problem is spending so much in the Championship is not sustainable if you don’t gain promotion. 

Compare how London did in 2019 (20 points) to Leigh in 2021 (4 points). If you look at the squads on paper you can certainly say Leigh looked stronger.London almost stuck entirely with their Championship winning squad and were completely written off as no hopers.  Leigh virtually signed a full new squad, 19 players I believe. It’s not just that so few players are available and the pickings are slim, bringing in that many new players doesn’t work.

Yeah true and no easy task molding a lot of players into a team in a limited window. 

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