SKY SPORTS pundit Jon Wilkin has called for a ten-team Super League to enhance the quality of the competition.
The northern hemisphere’s elite competition has flirted with 14 and 12 teams in the past, with an identity crisis continuing to loom large.
There has been an increasing argument to turn Super League into a two-tiered competition with two leagues of ten teams, whilst some have called for an expansion of the top flight – much similar to the 17-team NRL competition Down Under.
For Wilkin, however, he feels that the quality of the players in Super League is being ‘stretched’ too thin across 12 teams, and that ten teams would be the sweet spot for enhancing the calibre of the competition.
“I always feel like we are testing the quality of our competition by stretching the playing group too thin,” Wilkin said on Sky Sports’ The Bench podcast.
“If there’s 10 clubs, I think we’ve got enough players. But with 12 clubs, I don’t think there’s enough players being generated.”
With Hull FC director of rugby Richie Myler also in attendance on the podcast, he concurred, saying: “The pool of players we can all pick from, and we’re all fighting for, is too small and it’s going to get smaller if we lose more talent to the NRL.”