Fri 8th - Sun 10th Sept: The Betfred Championship Match Thread

[Guest]

Eccles has done a fantastic job as coach.

[Expatknight]

One word to our Bulls pals Ha!  Not that it will mean anything as the other results have gone against us.

[crashmon]

5 minutes ago, Leonard said:

I assume London don't want to go up anyway - at least not without a guarantee of no relegation.

I have no idea the point of or what it looks like for a PT side to go up into a FT league.

That's an impressive hammering of Widnes and quite some run of wins.

Even if they go up, too much damage has been done to get fans back in any sort of numbers which would make the cost of renting PL viable. They would be dependent on away fans coming down in numbers.

 

Also where would they play at home in the 12 weeks they can't play at PL between mid May and Mid August

Edited September 10, 2023 by crashmon

[Griff]

1 minute ago, tim2 said:

London are coming into form at the right time. They played poorly at Sheffield last week and still won. Could have been 50 then if the ball had stuck to their hands. 

 

Indeed.  Completion barely 50%.

[Fevrover]

1 minute ago, Expatknight said:

One word to our Bulls pals Ha!  Not that it will mean anything as the other results have gone against us.

Good win for York that.

[Buzzer90]

Haven stay above Cougars with that last minute try.

[Guest]

3 minutes ago, crashmon said:

Even if they go up, too much damage has been done to get fans back in any sort of numbers which would make the cost of renting PL viable. They would be dependent on away fans coming down in numbers.

 

Also where would they play at home in the 12 weeks they can't play at PL between mid May and Mid August

If DH is funding it - not sure the problem.

[crashmon]

Can he afford to fund a full time team and also PL.  After all to pay for PL he made London go Part time?

[Griff]

6 minutes ago, Fevrover said:

Good win for York that.

Keeps their play-off hopes alive.  

[Fevrover]

Just now, Griff said:

Keeps their play-off hopes alive.  

Yeah it's looking more  interesting every week with a few teams.

[Guest]

4 minutes ago, crashmon said:

Can he afford to fund a full time team and also PL.  After all to pay for PL he made London go Part time?

Worst case with away fans you are probably looking at a shortfall of 2.5k to 3k over some sides that have been in SL recently. He could fund that. 

As to whether he would fund that and a completely new squad of 25 players and whether you could get those in and whether you would want to is a different issue.

Of course a honeymoon period in SL would help - but the other chairman won't grant that and even if IMG pushed it - they are too self centred and would be happy to have a team guaranteed to go down.

I doubt many if any of the current squad would want to go FT.

Edited September 10, 2023 by Leonard

[mickmike wilson]

Good win for Barrow today 

[Guest]

Has there been an example of a PT side being promoted in recent history?

[Griff]

1 minute ago, Leonard said:

Has there been an example of a PT side being promoted in recent history?

Part time being promoted, yes.  Staying part time, no.

[crashmon]

Looking tight....

Bradford have Sheffield and London to play....  They lose both, could miss the playoff's on 29 points, seeing fax have pretty easy run in, and Batley just need to win one of last 2

Also looks like Swinton have a chance of staying up, but have to beat Haven next week, as I don't see Keighley winning again this season

Edited September 10, 2023 by crashmon

[tim2]

Bulls have London and Sheffield away. Right now they could lose both which could meanmissing the play-offs altogether. This league is completely unpredictable between 2nd position (unless TO are in France) and 13th.

Eagles lost twice to Whitehaven, once to Swinton. It's probably kept Whitehaven up and given Swinton half a chance.

Speculation I know, but a narrow win by Swinton over Haven, and a narrow loss for Keighley against Fax could leave all 3 on 16 points with very little points difference between all of them. All three have hard games in the final week.    

3rd place is still in the Eagles' hands but the chances of winning 3 in a row to make that happen this season is slim. Looks like London 3rd on current form.

[doc]

Looks like Widnes won't be in the play offs, again.

Ahh well, nearly time to wave 2023 bye bye. 

Wonder if those four Vikings players are still signing for Oldham?

We shall still be at the Eagles game next week though.

[crashmon]

4 minutes ago, tim2 said:

Bulls have London and Sheffield away. Right now they could lose both which could meanmissing the play-offs altogether. This league is completely unpredictable between 2nd position (unless TO are in France) and 13th.

Eagles lost twice to Whitehaven, once to Swinton. It's probably kept Whitehaven up and given Swinton half a chance.

Speculation I know, but a narrow win by Swinton over Haven, and a narrow loss for Keighley against Fax could leave all 3 on 16 points with very little points difference between all of them. All three have hard games in the final week.    

3rd place is still in the Eagles' hands but the chances of winning 3 in a row to make that happen this season is slim. Looks like London 3rd on current form.

So looking at what's left

I expect Sheffield to Beat widnes next week, so will be safe in playoffs on 32 min

I expect London to beat Keighley last week of season so also 32 min
I expect Batley to beat newcastle so to be on 30 min
I expect Fax to win remaining games so will be on 31

So its all on the 2 bradford games, they could end up on 33 and 3rd place, or on 29 and miss out.   Has the championship ever been this close in the last 2 weeks

[crashmon]

Its also possible for Bradford to win one of the last 2 and still miss out on 31 to fax on points difference, if Batley win last 2 games

[tim2]

4 minutes ago, crashmon said:

So looking at what's left

I expect Sheffield to Beat widnes next week, so will be safe in playoffs on 32 min

I expect London to beat Keighley last week of season so also 32 min
I expect Batley to beat newcastle so to be on 30 min
I expect Fax to win remaining games so will be on 31

So its all on the 2 bradford games, they could end up on 33 and 3rd place, or on 29 and miss out.   Has the championship ever been this close in the last 2 weeks

I doubt it's been full of so many inconsistent teams. Definitely better than the year that Toronto won it when the top 6 beat the bottom 6 every time they played.

[bigbaldnmad]

Sounded like the Bulls fans were doing the Wigan walk again... second week running 

[crashmon]

32 points 100% gets you in playoffs
31 poins might get you in playoffs, but 50/50

30 points is possible, but needs a lot of other results to go your way

[bigbaldnmad]

41 minutes ago, Expatknight said:

One word to our Bulls pals Ha!  Not that it will mean anything as the other results have gone against us.

Win both games, and unless Bradford win one, you could still make the play offs. Possibly points difference between you and Batley.

[Wolford6]

The Bulls had enough position and possession to  win comfortably today. Just no cohesion in attack. Static at the play-the-ball and nowhere near enough offloads on a very narrow pitch. York must have time-wasted ten minutes off the clock but it was our fault for not roughing them up a couple of times.

Fair play to York, they took their chances well and their scrum half gave a masterly kicking performance.

Edited September 10, 2023 by Wolford6

[bigbaldnmad]

Big game on Viaplay next Monday.. York at home to Batley.