SKY SPORTS pundit Jon Wilkin has called for a smaller Super League competition instead of an expanded one following the IMG grading scores revealed earlier this week.
Nine Super League clubs achieved a Grade A, with three others – Hull FC, Huddersfield Giants and Salford Red Devils – being given a Grade B.
The only change to Super League will see Wakefield Trinity take London Broncos’ place following the former’s score of 15.09 and the latter’s score of 12.65.
Whilst a number of people have called for the expansion of the top flight to 14 – or even 16 – teams as clubs improve their scores along the way, Wilkin believes that is not the right avenue to go down.
Wilkin said live on Sky Sports: “Don’t even talk about expanding (Super League), because you’re just dragging other people into that. I think I’d reduce it, I’d have a 10-team top tier. I would not go anywhere near going to a 14-team top tier.
“We’ve got nine teams with a Grade A licence so now that’s telling me we’ve got nine good clubs and the rest are developing, so let’s build around what we’re strong at and let’s put ten clubs in a competition.
“It’s played out well for the game that the team who finished bottom. London are out and the team that finished top of the Championship and won the play-off are in.
“It has not been too controversial, now that won’t be the case going forward. You’d imagine the more Grade A teams we get, the trickier it’s going to become.”
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