widnesblue
Player Valuation: £20m
100% a try.
Super League 2025
- Thread starter Sporting Billy
- Start date
You can't help but feel for Wire. Always the bridesmaids.
widnesblue
Player Valuation: £20m
Only thing I feel for them is pure hatred. Piss and blue clowns. To be fair, they was the better team and deserved to win that. The wet co dictions probably helped them but fair play to Hull KR. Great for the game that they’ve won it.
Cracking game
widnesblue
Player Valuation: £20m
Why did they go to the video ref for that? And, why did they have to check multiple times? Could see from the on field play he was short. The ref was a metre away ffs.
Warrington nearly challenge cup champs then humbled by Leeds, Leeds well beaten by a misfiring saints, wigan pushed all the way by giants then beaten by Wakefield.
I certainly don't want the sport to go under, but I'd be horrified if the alternative is to be a rich uber capitalist sport like footy that isn't competitive
I certainly don't want the sport to go under, but I'd be horrified if the alternative is to be a rich uber capitalist sport like footy that isn't competitive
Wigan are having their usual mid season lull. So far off the pace at the moment.
9LeagueTitles5FACups
Player Valuation: £8m
There was a real lack of imagination in the Wigan attack last night. Field's try came when Wigan dared to try something different but it was all too late. Wakefield certainly deserve credit for their performance, however.
A poor showing by Warrington yesterday against Huddersfield. Too many mistakes and poor handling combined with weak tackling handed Huddersfield an easy win.
9LeagueTitles5FACups
Player Valuation: £8m
Super League could expand to 14 teams in 2026 but crucial vote awaits
Super League could expand to 14 teams as early as next year if a strategic review is accepted by the sport
I thought I would share this development. As much as I would like to see an expanded Super League (for a greater variety of teams), I do have some concerns about the prospect.
My initial concern is the sharing of TV money. On the one hand, the existing Super League clubs may end up with a smaller slice of the pie when it comes to money from the TV deal. Yet, on the other hand, the greater variety of clubs in different areas may drum up some support and add to the argument in favour of a larger TV package.
Furthermore, there is the issue of the NRL potentially becoming involved in Super League. Commercially, I reckon their involvement in Super League may benefit the promotion of the competition to a wider audience overseas. Additional player pathways may also be opened up by such an agreement. However, it has been reported that the NRL would seek to downsize the competition to ten teams, which is something I would be against. Having only ten teams would perhaps make the league more competitive, but reduce the variety of teams on show.
If I had to pick a stance, I would probably favour expansion to fourteen teams. Whatever happens, the return of Bradford to the top flight would be fantastic news. I would be interested to learn about the thoughts of other posters on this.
widnesblue
Player Valuation: £20m
Expansion doesn’t work in Rugby League because it’s such a small sport. The people in charge of the RFL haven’t got a clue how to run the sport.Super League could expand to 14 teams in 2026 but crucial vote awaits
Super League could expand to 14 teams as early as next year if a strategic review is accepted by the sportwww.theguardian.com
I thought I would share this development. As much as I would like to see an expanded Super League (for a greater variety of teams), I do have some concerns about the prospect.
My initial concern is the sharing of TV money. On the one hand, the existing Super League clubs may end up with a smaller slice of the pie when it comes to money from the TV deal. Yet, on the other hand, the greater variety of clubs in different areas may drum up some support and add to the argument in favour of a larger TV package.
Furthermore, there is the issue of the NRL potentially becoming involved in Super League. Commercially, I reckon their involvement in Super League may benefit the promotion of the competition to a wider audience overseas. Additional player pathways may also be opened up by such an agreement. However, it has been reported that the NRL would seek to downsize the competition to ten teams, which is something I would be against. Having only ten teams would perhaps make the league more competitive, but reduce the variety of teams on show.
If I had to pick a stance, I would probably favour expansion to fourteen teams. Whatever happens, the return of Bradford to the top flight would be fantastic news. I would be interested to learn about the thoughts of other posters on this.
London, will never ever be a success in the sport. They’ve been trying for far too long. One club in the biggest city in the country isn’t good enough. They’ve moved around more than gypsies and there fans have had enough of locating every couple of years. Think I’ve been 4 grounds that London have called home. I know Reg Bowden personally and he was a player, coach and on the board of London(Fulham) and he’s been saying since the 80’s it will never work there. Maybe they’ll succeed if the NRL take over the sport here but again I doubt it. It’s a shame cos they’ve got a huge amatuer game down there but again the governing body is run by absolute clowns that kills it off.
Bradford should be in super league but again, are they gonna bring much? Financially they are in a better position than they was but still struggling. Doubt fans would like standing at Odsal in the rain.
York, great away trip but they aren’t ready has a club, them getting into SL would cripple them financially and ruin them long term. They don’t exactly get a good crowd and the ground is a bit of a pain to get to from city centre by walking.
Toulouse, no chance are they capable of succeeding in SL. Financially they are a mess and just like Catalans, be great for a while but there squad will be full of players past there best and rejects from the NRL. Catalans been in super league hasn’t actually helped the international game grow like they was hoping for, Toulouse won’t change that either.
The biggest problem for RL in this country is the ones in charge of the RFL and club owners. They are so short sighted that they don’t even see how much they’ve killed the game. They’ve relied to much on that Sky money for decades instead of trying to grow there clubs, getting outside sponsorships.
The standard of the game is abysmal. The on field product is pathetic. They wonder why people aren’t turning up, the on field product is so dull to watch. If people enjoy watching SL now, it’s because they are new fans of the sport. I used to say teams from decades ago would destroy these teams. Teams from 15 years ago would walk SL now. I hate what it’s become because back in the day it was the best sport to watch, play and be involved in.
9LeagueTitles5FACups
Player Valuation: £8m
I agree with you on the quality issue. There are definitely too many clubs in Super League who fail to pull their own weight - think of the likes of Castleford, Huddersfield and Wakefield. Teams like those I have listed often seem to be there just to make the numbers up and rarely win games.
The big clubs, most recently Wigan and St Helens, often tend to pile on the points in matches against such teams, hence why these matches tend to lack a competitive edge. Part of this problem is down to the gulf in the quality of the academies across the league and the other side of the problem is poor ownership. Leigh and Hull KR are examples of how teams should look to improve to compete, though I do think that even they are far from perfect.
Expansion is an appealing option, but it is not without its issues.
widnesblue
Player Valuation: £20m
Cas, Wakefield and Huddersfield are good clubs with good loyal fan bases but only so much you can tolerate. All 3 have been badly run and the reason clubs like them struggle is because of the lack of money in the game. Owners should be generating more money for the clubs but they won’t because they know the sky money keeps them a float.
The lack of academies is down to a lot of reasons. The sport has been destroyed in those towns by governing bodies. I’ll use an example of Widnes, got so many players who are from Widnes in Sts, Wigan, Warrington and other academies. Them kids had to go elsewhere because the RFL and BARLA destroyed the sport in this town. When I was a kid Leigh Rec was full of rugby pitches, had one football pitch. Now it’s full of Football pitches and no Rugby pitches. Two clubs for kids, was 8 when I was a kid, one amatuer open age team, was loads when I was growing up. Widnes cup final would get a bigger crowd than some super league games.
Leigh and Hull KR are perfect examples of how to run a club. They’ve got owners who are willing to invest in the sport. What both clubs have achieved in last decade is brilliant.
The RFL and Sky have done so much damage to the sport in the last 20 years, that they’ll never fix it. Only way forward is it needs the NRL to come in and to give it a chance, they’ll quickly realise how much of a fix it is. It will take decades to fix and it starts with grassroots and not letting the chairmen/owners of SL dictate how the sport goes. They only care about there pockets, not the clubs, fans or how much them clubs mean to the towns it’s played in.
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