Sylvain Houles says Toulouse should be exempt from relegation

[Scubby]

5 minutes ago, Harry Stottle said:

Quite easy, 2 of those under the present format would be trying to avoid the drop and the other two trying to obtain promotion.

Please excuse me for having the audacity to ask this but why suddenly do those player's from overseas at Leigh and Fev get tagged with being NRL mercenaries and all those others who have graced the Championship and SL both here and France and even previously in Canada escape your nomination? I doubt you will answer that.

Corey Norman (TO) is also a mercenary joining up with Leilua, Jacks, Ferguson, Inu et al. These guys plus others were all scratching around for clubs after being in the wilderness. They didn't aspire to join Leigh, Fev or Toulouse as an exciting career move.

 

 

[Davo5]

7 minutes ago, Harry Stottle said:

Quite easy, 2 of those under the present format would be trying to avoid the drop and the other two trying to obtain promotion.

Please excuse me for having the audacity to ask this but why suddenly do those player's from overseas at Leigh and Fev get tagged with being NRL mercenaries and all those others who have graced the Championship and SL both here and France and even previously in Canada escape your nomination? I doubt you will answer that.

I’d say due to the extraordinary numbers of Southern Hemisphere players at both clubs that far exceeds the Superleague quota,a lot of those players know they’ll only be here for 1 season and as such will probably be on a fair amount of money.

[Harry Stottle]

2 minutes ago, Dave T said:

That's a particularly mean-spirited way of presenting that Scubby. 

I understand the issues with P&R, I get the arguments, and agree with many, but we do need to be careful not to eliminate any elements of sporting fun from the game. 

Signing players is a good thing. 

He misses out on that fun Dave, Scubby admittedly says he is a bystander looking in from the sidelines with no affection or affiliation for any team.

[Davo5]

2 minutes ago, Harry Stottle said:

Nah, as I said before Sky being the main "SPONSER" of RL in this country need to have more variety to air than just the race for Old Trafford.

They really don’t especially given the level of performance of the last 3 “promoted” teams.

[Scubby]

3 minutes ago, Dave T said:

That's a particularly mean-spirited way of presenting that Scubby. 

I understand the issues with P&R, I get the arguments, and agree with many, but we do need to be careful not to eliminate any elements of sporting fun from the game. 

Signing players is a good thing. 

Maybe so but I suppose I am old enough now to see where this sort of things spirals to. This has played out many times before in different guises. 

[Scubby]

1 minute ago, Davo5 said:

I’d say due to the extraordinary numbers of Southern Hemisphere players at both clubs that far exceeds the Superleague quota,a lot of those players know they’ll only be here for 1 season and as such will probably be on a fair amount of money.

That would make them sort of mercenaries Davo - steady on  

[Harry Stottle]

6 minutes ago, Scubby said:

Corey Norman (TO) is also a mercenary joining up with Leilua, Jacks, Ferguson, Inu et al. These guys plus others were all scratching around for clubs after being in the wilderness. They didn't aspire to join Leigh, Fev or Toulouse as an exciting career move.

 

 

Totally agree, thank  you for the adjustment from just Leigh and Fev, er but what about French, Field, Hopoate, Sironen etc?

[Scubby]

Just now, Harry Stottle said:

Totally agree, thank  you for the adjustment from just Leigh and Fev, er but what about French, Field, Hopoate, Sironen etc?

They were all signed by clubs on minimum two year contracts months in advance of the following season.

 

[Harry Stottle]

5 minutes ago, Davo5 said:

I’d say due to the extraordinary numbers of Southern Hemisphere players at both clubs that far exceeds the Superleague quota,a lot of those players know they’ll only be here for 1 season and as such will probably be on a fair amount of money.

Do disillusion yourself Dav, if the rules allowed it and it fell within the Salery cap remit your club and Saints, Leeds, Hull etc would be employing far more from the Souther hemisphere.

[Davo5]

4 minutes ago, Harry Stottle said:

Do disillusion yourself Dav, if the rules allowed it and it fell within the Salery cap remit your club and Saints, Leeds, Hull etc would be employing far more from the Souther hemisphere.

Now your just embarrassing yourself,take a break auld lad

[Harry Stottle]

7 minutes ago, Davo5 said:

They really don’t especially given the level of performance of the last 3 “promoted” teams.

Now let's go back to your competitiveness the push for promotion will be competitive- sorry you described it as highly competitive - especially if both Leigh and Fev are out of the way, if Toulouse manage to pull up their socks that could get very intersting and so there is more to see and air than just the top five.

[Harry Stottle]

6 minutes ago, Scubby said:

They were all signed by clubs on minimum two year contracts months in advance of the following season.

 

Would that be after not securing an NRL contract? Most players in the NRL know where they are moving to 12 months in advance after their present club says "you are not in our plans" we have a £2.1M SC compared to the NRL's £5.4M SC, you really have got to better than that Scubby.

[Scubby]

1 minute ago, Harry Stottle said:

Would that be after not securing an NRL contract? Most players in the NRL know where they are moving to 12 months in advance after their present club says "you are not in our plans" we have a £2.1M SC compared to the NRL's £5.4M SC, you really have got to better than that Scubby.

Will Hopoate was a direct replacement for Kevin Naiqama who has returned to the NRL for a contract with the Sydney Roosters and was in the 17 last week

 

[Harry Stottle]

10 minutes ago, Davo5 said:

Now your just embarrassing yourself,take a break auld lad

Really, are you honestly telling me that Wigan would not want more of the class of French and Field, I think it shows just how low our standards are at this present time with Wigan the second best team in our comp, and in that Field has been the difference from the opposition more than once.

[Davo5]

Just now, Scubby said:

Will Hopoate was a direct replacement for Kevin Naiqama who has returned to the NRL for a contract with the Sydney Roosters and was in the 17 last week

 

Your wasting your time.

[The Rocket]

17 hours ago, fighting irish said:

In the event that a Championship winning club, doesn't feel ready, no promotion or relegation would take place, so it's not automatic, but Championship winning clubs could apply and declare themselves ready.

I think that`s a really interesting idea but I suppose it could run the risk of alienating fans maybe even sponsors who want to go straight up. It`d certainly be worth offering to clubs though and may reveal clubs that are just happy being Championship sides.

If clubs started declaring themselves as solely Championship clubs it would then possibly add to the credibility/status of that comp as they may become a dominant club in that competition, sort of like the St. Helens of the Championship, if you get my drift. They would become the team to beat in the Championship and a drawcard in themselves.

However whether fans and sponsors would be happy with that, that would remain to be seen. I suppose the situation could arise if they were dominant for several years they may be able to build themselves into a situation where they were ready for a crack at the Super League.

The Championship btw is a competition I think that doesn`t get the credit it deserves..

I think your idea of one or two year ring-fence ( once you`re up ) almost has to be a minimum though if we are going to break out of this ridiculous yo-yo situation.

[Harry Stottle]

1 minute ago, Scubby said:

Will Hopoate was a direct replacement for Kevin Naiqama who has returned to the NRL for a contract with the Sydney Roosters and was in the 17 last week

 

Yes I know, Hopoate couldn't command an NRL salary so took the 'mercenary' route of going for the best remuneration, or has he done it out of the goodness of his heart.

[Harry Stottle]

2 minutes ago, Davo5 said:

Your wasting your time.

Sorry, you know best!

[Scubby]

3 minutes ago, Davo5 said:

Your wasting your time.

It's Friday afternoon at the office - he's doing me a favour!

[Harry Stottle]

2 minutes ago, Scubby said:

It's Friday afternoon at the office - he's doing me a favour!

Doesn't seem much to matter what day or time it is Scubby, any way time to go for a pint, thank you and the ever so much confused @Davo5for a bit of light entertainment.

[Davo5]

5 minutes ago, Harry Stottle said:

Doesn't seem much to matter what day or time it is Scubby, any way time to go for a pint, thank you and the ever so much confused @Davo5for a bit of light entertainment.

I bet it’s fun in there tonight.

[Scubby]

28 minutes ago, Harry Stottle said:

Doesn't seem much to matter what day or time it is Scubby, any way time to go for a pint 

Enjoy

Edited May 6, 2022 by Scubby

[DEANO]

6 hours ago, fighting irish said:

Let me say first of all, that I appreciate you taking the time to explain in more detail what you really mean.

One-line, (unsubstantiated) statements of ''fact'' without any supporting or explanatory commentary can be tiresome and (appear arrogant) and even seem insulting, especially if they are laced with innuendo, or implication.

 I'm tired of cliche so please forgive me for pointing them out.

I'm happy to engage with opposing views, as long as there's enough information for me to understand your arguments.

I have to say that I'm still unsure exactly what you claim, dulls the appetite, for existing fans?

Now to my suggestion -  

Sylvain Houles is drawing attention to the fact that they are struggling to adjust to the pace and pressure of Super League.

My suggestion was an attempt to provide a solution to that problem only, (acknowledging that the existing system makes it very difficult for newly promoted teams to settle in).

The idea also leaves the door open for aspiring teams to enter (when ready) and so removes the anathema ''closed shop'' that Harry is so opposed to, keeping alive the hopes of all fans throughout the game.

By moving to 14 teams, the loop fixtures would be eliminated.

I said earlier that this suggestion alone, will not solve all the games ills, but (I think) will ease the situation for newly promoted ambitious teams, struggling to make the transition to Super League.

I can see that my long-winded post may have made it seem more complicated than it really is but it's actually very simple. In a nutshell, I'm suggesting that a newly promoted team can play for 2 seasons without fear of relegation but then must compete with all the others in their third season.

One final point, it's my personal view, that expanding into France (Europe) will eventually reap rewards for the game, improving France's uptake (and World Cup chances) whereas shrinking back to the M62 shows a complete lack of ambition for the game and some real short term anxieties, which may put off potential sponsors.

  

 

[DEANO]

Just now, DEANO said:

 

Think it’s a great idea and one that’s been suggested before but you can’t change the rules mid season

[Oxford]

1 hour ago, Harry Stottle said:

Sport dear Oxy, sport.

Is that the new verse to "There's a Hole in My Bucket." Harry ?