Who will win the franchise lottery...

[Matthew]

DaveO posted:
When the franchise system comes in in 2009 if there are bids that meet that criteria and there are some SL clubs that do not, then I can't see how the SL clubs can be given two or three years to sort themselves out. They will have had the same time as all the other clubs, SL clubs or not.

It is just unfair on the clubs outside of SL who will have worked diligently to meet the criteria. If they manage to do it there can be no excuse for the existing SL clubs to have failed to do the same thing.

Dave

Especially considering that without promotion and relegation the ladder is effectively being pulled up for teams that don't make the grade.

Teams without stadiums that meet the criteria should have been served notice by the RFL that either they get their plans drawn up and approved - or risk finding themselves in NL1; even if they are the current champions

[DaveO]

pie eaters posted:
Davo 0 if your saying that it is based on community programmes and stadiums then Leigh would get in at this very moment but that is never going to happen.

I am not saying that. As I mentioned before the selection criteria is supposed be based on stadium facilities, playing squad, revenue, supporter base, community work and marketing activities

With the bits in bold being the criteria Leigh would (I assume) struggle to meet.

What I am saying is that if there is an NL1 club that does meet all the above criteria and there is a SL club that does not come 2009, then the RFL/SL can't justify keeping the SL club in SL on a promise they will meet all the criteria in 2 or 3 years while denying the NL1 club the franchise.

Yes they have a new stadium being built as we speak and they do alot of community work but their fan base is not good and they do not have a sound financial backing so the negatives outweigh the positives

Which as I say above is why Leigh won't get a franchise.

so you cannot say that it is based on everything otherwise we will never get 14 teams into it.

If you are saying we won't have 14 clubs that meet all the criteria that does not alter the fact that franchises should be given to the ones that do whoever they are and whatever league they are currently in.

Once that is done the remaining franchises should be given to the clubs that are the "best of the rest" at meeting some of the criteria.

Or alternatively the SL should stick as 12 clubs (if we assume 12 clubs will meet the criteria).

What can't happen is clubs that do meet all the criteria end up being excluded in favour of existing SL clubs that to not.

Dave

[Fraggle]

pie eaters posted:
Who would have thought that 7 games into the season... Huddersfield would not have won a game

I don't think it's the first time they have achieved that in recent years. They have over-achieved in the last couple of seasons, but this is the team that cheated relegation twice at the start of the decade just because the NFP/NL1/whatever champion didn't meet the never-otherwise-enforced "Framing The Future" criteria. They are just back where they had been for much of the early part of the decade, it doesn't necessarily indicate the league is changing either for better or worse.

Wakefield are just being this year's "high-flyers", we always get one team who have a good season before sinking back to the bottom-half of the table (Castleford, Harlequins, Wire have all occupied that position in the recent past).

[DaveO]

pie eaters posted:
But overall i think the franchise system is going to ruin the league. It as started to become more competitive like the NRL. Wakefield, Hull KR and even Harlequins and Catalans are staring to become it as well. Who would have thought that 7 games into the season, Wakefield would be joint top and Huddersfield would not have won a game

I really do think the franchise would ruin the competetition that we now have.

But you are taking a very short term view of just the few games we have had so far this season.

There is no guarantee any of those sides will maintain their current form and the franchise system is all about the long term strength of the league.

Several of those sides don't appear to be meeting all the criteria for franchising and Wakefield in particular have always taken the short term view of "sod junior player development" to ensure SL survival.

The fact they are up there at the moment doesn't mean they are doing the right things off the pitch so while they may be currently be meeting one of the criteria (strength of playing squad) they probably are not meeting any of the others so that won't help them or the league be successful longer term.

In other words they may end up failing even in the playing squad criteria if they don't meet all the others whereas a side that does meet all the criteria has a better long term future.

In any case it is not as if this is a new thing. The clubs have known about it for a while now and if they don't meet the criteria they only have themselves to blame.

Dave

[Matthew]

pie eaters posted:
Nobody could have predicted this though. They don't have a bad side. Lolesi from west tigers, Robbie Paul, and Chris Thorman so personally i didnt think they would have lost every game up to now.

Robbie Paul is a shadow of his former self. That's why Bradford got rid of him. At his peak he was all over the pitch - recently I have watched games without realising that he is playing.

Thorman is OK - however Huddersfield's team lacks depth and with him out injured it is not likely to get any easier for them in the near future

[GeoffN]

Surely this is a late April Fool though:

New Zealand Rugby League acting chairman Andrew Chalmers has revealed a bid for the Wellington-based Southern Orcas to join Super League.

Chalmers led a bid for the Orcas to join the Australian NRL two years ago but the Gold Coast Titans claimed the available expansion place.

Now they have targeted a move to the northern hemisphere competition.

Chalmers claims to have been in talks with Super League officials over allowing the club into the league in its own next planned expansion.

http://www.sportinglife.com/rugbyleague ... Orcas.html