So we have come to the end of another relatively successful domestic season.

Castleford Tigers, the most consistent team during the regular season, fell short in the Grand final losing to the Leeds Rhinos, who won an unprecedented 8th Grand Final. At the other end of the table, Leigh Centurions found themselves relegated back to the Championship, with Hull KR deservedly taking their place in the Super League for the 2018 season.

In the lower leagues, the Bradford Bulls and Oldham Roughyeds were relegated to League 1 from the Championship with the Toronto Wolfpack and Barrow Raiders taking their place in the Championship for next season.

Now, onto some changes I think are needed in the sport of Rugby League in this country now and over the next few years. The only way Super League will become a stronger competition, in my opinion, is to have a strong solid Championship.

Here is an alternative to the current league formats from 2019 onwards –

Super League

Increase the competition from 12 to 14 teams which would give a 27 game regular season including the Magic Weekend. Using this format would lead to a reduction of 3 games compared to the current league format. From the conclusion of the regular season, you would then go straight into a playoff structure for the Grand Final between the top 4 teams (1st vs 4th & 2nd vs 3rd).

To enable this new format to take shape, at the end of the 2018 season the teams finishing in positions 1 through 6 after the qualifier’s would remain the Super League and the two teams in 7th and 8th would remain in the Championship for the 2019 season. This increase of 2 teams would allow for the additional promotion of clubs who could further enhance the quality of the competition.

Championship

Increase the competition from 12 to 16 teams; this would give a 30 game regular season including the Summer Bash. The number of games being played would be the same as there are in the current format.

Again, to enable this format to take shape, at the end of the 2018 season the teams finishing in positions 7th and 8th after the qualifiers would remain in the Championship for the 2019 season.

No relegation from the Championship into League 1 at the end of the 2018 season and the top 6 teams being promoted from League 1 into the Championship for the 2019 season.

League 1

League 1 would go from 14 teams to 10, with a League 1 cup (split into 2 groups of 5). This would give a minimum of 22 games not including the Challenge Cup.

Hopefully, with those changes, it would have the teams in this division playing against teams of a similar standard and in turn increase the competitiveness of League 1. There were a few times in the recent season where the weaker teams were being beaten by 40 to 60 points a game, but when they played each other these games were much closer and more entertaining for the fans paying to watch their team.

Overall

From 2019 I would like to see the following Promotion/Relegation rules applied, with the new formats as I lay out earlier –

Super League – Bottom club automatically relegated, replaced by the Grand Final winner in the Championship.

Championship – Bottom two clubs automatically relegated and replaced by two teams from League 1.

Other Suggestions

Dual Registration – Scrap it. The initial reason for introducing this has long since vanished and it is now being used for the wrong reasons. How can it be fair when one week a team is playing with Dual Reg players, beating their opponent, but then the following week, with those players have returned to the parent club they get beat? That surely goes against the spirit and the credibility of the competition.

New Teams – Any new teams wishing to join the RFL would have to begin in League 1 and both the positives and negatives from the Toronto Wolfpack joining would have to be implemented. It would now appear that a team from New York have submitted plans to join the RFL from 2019 (in the Championship), with further interest being shown for future expansion in North America.

With the now agreed merger between Gloucester and Oxford then the League 1 scenario is still possible from 2019 if that potential team from New York is placed in League 1.

Alliance League – The Alliance League should be brought back and every team that plays in Super League should have to field a reserve team. The reintroduction of the Alliance League would then retire the need to have Dual Registration which is now being abused by some clubs.

Future of Rugby League

It has been stated by some Super League coaches that we need to go back to the franchise (closed shop) system and that promotion/relegation should be done away with. I would like to remind these coaches that Rugby League does exist outside of Super League.

The top clubs have no right to deny any other club the opportunity to compete against them in the top division. If any club has the drive, aspiration and/or the ability to get to the top tier then they should be allowed every opportunity to do so and not find their path blocked. If this chance is removed then what is the point in having a structure under Super League, the only thing that then suffers is our wonderful game.

The primary reason for playing sport in any multi-division set up is for every club to strive to be the best club it possibly can. Financial constraints should be in place and adhered to, so that no club puts its own future in jeopardy and that there is a balance between playing quality and financial stability.

This minor reduction in games at the top level could also help our elite players when it comes to the international side of the sport.

Whilst I am not against expanding our game, I do have some concerns about the direction (or apparent lack of direction) that the people running our game are taking us.

Finally, player welfare (both on & off the field) has to be of paramount concern for the people running our game. The game is very physical and careers can be cruelly cut short.

I believe that we shouldn’t wait for something serious to happen before any action is taken in trying to clean up some of the so-called tackles that we are now seeing on a regular basis. The best example of this is when the ball carrier is held upright in the tackle in a vulnerable position and another player comes in and attacks the standing leg in such a way that could cause a serious or even career-threatening injury.

This and other pointlessly dangerous play needs to be eradicated from the game.

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