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Every promoted club look okay in their own league and in one off matches v SL clubs albeit I thought Haven were ordinary v us this season. The gulf between the two divisions is such that once their confidence gets beaten out of them they become cannon fodder week in week out. Not sure how but I favour promoted clubs being given protection for 2 or 3 seasons to enable them to tap into local youth development programmes that they should have set up and develop their squad. As Leigh learned their are simply not enough SL quality players available to ensure survival and prosper.

Workington were damn impressive playing one off matches v SL teams and had some fine players and were well coached. It didn't stop them. Likewise it did not stop Leigh and so on.

Wish I was wrong but ...

cpwigan posted:
I do not hold Robs optimism as regards the current players being able to do well BUT I concur with everybody that Cumbria is a place that should be cherished as a RL stronghold. I think they have wrongly been largely ignored in the clamour for expansion outside of areas traditionally associated with RL. Nothing wrong with consolidation and indeed it is badly needed.

I agree ang can't really see the point in trying to encourage areas like S. Wales where RU is in the blood.
on a related point aren't Perpignan being given a year to consolidate even if yhey get pasted in every game next season?

Really hope the Haven get there, as it's good to have a weekend away in the lakes. Agree, that staying up could be a problem and can see most Div 1 clubs holding back for next couple of seasons and push for a franchise if they can show stability in the lower league. Only other answer is to start the lower division a couple of months earlier, so at least the promoted team has a semi decent chance of signing decent players (rather than the dregs that SL didn't want).

cpwigan posted:
...Not sure how but I favour promoted clubs being given protection for 2 or 3 seasons to enable them to tap into local youth development programmes that they should have set up and develop their squad. As Leigh learned their are simply not enough SL quality players available to ensure survival and prosper.

I quite agree there, 2 or 3 years protection would help an awful lot and give the promoted side much more chance. Apart from the obvious problems Leigh faced with timescales they signed so many new players that had never played together then they were getting tonked every week and heads all dropped as you say.

I don't think an extra two months would make any difference as to signing players, however, it would make a difference to starting a full time team. One major difference between NL1 and SL is fitness levels and speed of play.

I'm not saying Haven wouldn't go straight back down again if they were promoted but I think sticking to the core players they have now and strengthening here and there they would stand a better chance of winning as a team that Leigh have done this year.