According to the addendum to the policy document, both SKY and Premier sports had been consulted Jul, Sept 13, so must have reached accord who gets to show what.

Seems we've gone from the sublime to the ridiculous. Finish 8th chance of reaching the grand final, finish 9th, chance of being relegated.

So now an increased chance of SL being weakened with "clubs desperate for SL success at all costs"??

I'm on the fence with all this at the moment. I foresee more questions and problems than I do answers. It would be nice if the RFL engaged the fans and rather than just stick a stale framework out for all to see, actually told us why it will be better and answer the questions we have. A lot of people are suspicious of such drastic change, especially coming from an organisation such as the RFL, who has a poor track record of making good decisions.

Its now confirmed so we all have to embrace it.



Personally I have changed my view and feel it will be very good for Rugby League as a whole as interest maintained until the very last game.

I agree .

I feel I should be instinctively against this and probably would be if I didn't have such high hope for our season.

The fact that Heatherington is involved also grates as he seems too influential at the moment.

RFL generally makes poor decisions but made a very good job of the World Cup organisation.

So,I'm open minded but have a sneaking suspicion it could work out quite well !

It's too early to make any assessment based on the lack of facts revealed thus far.

The 3x8 clubs makes 24 - so as there are more clubs in the 3 divisions what happens to 'the spare' ?

Is there relegation from Championship 1?

What are the financial alterations to assist those both promoted and relegated,and where is the money coming from?

Will there be a sponsor for 2014 and 2015?

How long will this latest system remain in place?



Not to mention player pathways,reserve sides,dual registration and Under 19's,20's or whatever.



How many meetings have they required to finally confirm what they have just about ratified?



It doesn't leave much time to make any other important decisions to progress the sport.

We could end up with a scenario where Salford and Swinton are in the same pool, say Salford had too win to be promoted you can see the conflict of interest for the Doc already.

Well the Hetheringtons have had these conflicts for years - Leeds v Hull - now Leeds v Wakey. All will be OK.

With their son-in-law now the Chief Exec.at Widnes there could well be further controversy should Wigan not play their recognized strongest squad on the artificial surface,at Widnes,and lose thereby condemning another club to relegation.

The fixture list shows that game at the end of August.

[urlhttp://media.therfl.co.uk/docs/Policy%20Review%20-%20September%202013.pdf[/url

Policy Review Doc in full.



The is still a 3rd league - Championship 1 with two clubs going up to the ( SL2 ) comp ..





Re finance :-

They are reducing the minimum ground capacity requirements to qualify for SL

Yeah Cheers for making us knock down the Willows you B***t**ds , now franchising doesn't matter and you can qualify with a cowshed .







Remaining 12 SL clubs get slightly more cash

top 2 clubs in the Championship ( the two relegated SL teams from 2014) with get 900K (< half the SL allocation )

Clubs 3-4 ( Top two clubs from 2014 Championship get more as yet undisclosed )







reading between the lines , I get the feeling the top 8 will get stronger and distance themselves from the yo yo middle 8 teams who could find themselves in SL 1 year Tier 2 the next & vice versa.

rather than strengthen the comp it will make the task of offering extended contracts to good overseas players & and potential club trained future stars virtually impossible as you revenue streams could drop by millions as you lose 900 K funding & face 23 rounds against championship fixtures .

With the attendances for play-off games in Super League not the best,how will play-off games against part time opposition improve things? Should the part time players progress will there be enough time to get them up to full time fitness levels for the season ahead?

Should the sport find the resources to fund a relegated club with parachute payments will it give that club an unfair advantage against other Championship clubs?It could result in a yo-yo future for some clubs.



Has the idea for change come about due to pressure from Championship clubs or because licensing and clubs avoiding debt has failed,or because the international players want fewer but more intense games?

Are any of those questions answered by the announcement yesterday and has any consideration been given to financing the development of younger players and attaining the level of the players representing Australia at international level?



Just have to suck it and see until the next change.It doesn't strike me as progress on any of the topics raised over the recent years and the financing of it also concerns me.

Supporters of Championship clubs may be happy with their prospects of promotion but the idea may fail to generate better sponsorship and interest from non-rugby league followers.

if we were to have a decent run in this extended season ,our end of season could overlap with the start of sales , who would get priority if we both had a friday night fixture ? would we get sent to leigh again

Whilst it means everyone will have something to play for I cannot see how this will help clubs financially.



There is already a reduction in games due to Super League being reduced to 12. If you come 8th in Super League, which means you would be away in the first stage of the play offs, and get knocked out, your season ends early and as a club there is only the income of 11 home games. Not much to sustain cash strapped clubs over 12 months.



Unless, I am mistaken and the top 8 are to form a mini league too?

Surely the format for the playoffs will have to change, otherwise the 7th and 8th placed clubs could play 23 games and those 9th and below 29 games. This would give the lower placed clubs an unfair reward of an extra 3 home fixtures for failing to make the top 8.



The playoff format will have to change otherwise the 7th and 8th placed clubs could be financially disadvantaged for performing better during the regular season. It would be a total non starter because no club could survive with just 11 home fixtures. The only way around this if they wanted to keep the existing format would be to compensate 7th and 8th placed clubs with 250K each.