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Two more Betfred Super League fixtures have been postponed as clubs continue to flounder in the battle against the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

St Helens' home game against Huddersfield on Wednesday and Castleford's scheduled visit to Leigh on Thursday have both been called off, taking the number of casualties in Super League so far this season to 17.

St Helens and Castleford have not played since meeting each other in the Betfred Challenge Cup final on July 17 after experiencing Covid-19 outbreaks.

Saints have confirmed eight positive cases among players and staff following the latest round of testing and say that has led to the majority of the first team squad being forced into isolation.

Castleford say they are also dealing with a significant number of positive cases among their playing and coaching group.

The postponed round 16 fixtures will be added to the list for possible rearrangement, although the Super League table is to be determined by win points percentage to allow for the possibility of not all fixtures being fulfilled.

Clubs, who can seek a postponement if at least seven of their top 25 players are unavailable due to Covid protocols, still need to play a minimum of 18 fixtures to qualify for the play-offs but that may change.

Champions St Helens are currently six fixtures short of reaching the target and the first round of play-off matches are due to be played on the weekend of September 24.

So why, are these two clubs not forfeiting the last two games they have postponed?

They can’t keep cancelling games to be played at another time! There’s not going to be enough time left!

Surely there needs to be an investigation into these repeat out breaks at club. Ia not pointing blame at anyone as we are still in a pandemic (despite freedom day) but surely club Covid protocol have a hole that needs filling going of the amount of teams/players effected.

Caboosegg wrote: ↑Mon Jul 26, 2021 10:40 am Surely there needs to be an investigation into these repeat out breaks at club. Ia not pointing blame at anyone as we are still in a pandemic (despite freedom day) but surely club Covid protocol have a hole that needs filling going of the amount of teams/players effected.

its difficult because as far as i am aware, the players arent isolating from friends / family etc. so they have a normal life (or as close to it as can be) outside of training / playing. all it takes is 1 player to come into contact with someone who is carrying it, go into training, and before you know it there could be half a dozen players impacted through contact. There isnt enough money in the game to be able to isolate the playing staff from their friends / family for months on end, and probably wouldnt be good for the players to do that anyway.

what i do hope is that teams arent using it to keep their players fresh / rested as i am assuming these arent actual cases, but contact cases. It would be funny though if any team who has had regular games postponed dont make the minimum number required, and therefore unable to win the league or grand final

as with most things RL related, the inconsistencies are there for all to see

The way I see it there no way these postponed games can go ahead so maybe it’s time to draw a line under the current fixtures and re draw the magic weekend and the games to get some big draw type games,derbies galore rather than the dead games that litter the schedule at present.

The season has been compromised,it was going to be with the ridiculous amount of games being expected to play so to me this is the way forward

Top-of-me-head suggestion:

Award 4 points for a win, 2 for a draw, 1 for a loss. Then calculate percentage of points gained out of maximum possible.

This would give a small incentive not to call game off.

morley pie eater wrote: ↑Mon Jul 26, 2021 12:23 pm Top-of-me-head suggestion:

Award 4 points for a win, 2 for a draw, 1 for a loss. Then calculate percentage of points gained out of maximum possible.

This would give a small incentive not to call game off.

Or encourage people to bend rules and put more people at risk ?

Feel sorry for Leigh missing out on the gate revenue if the match can't be rescheduled before the end of the season. I wonder if the RFL/SL have a compensation scheme for those clubs that lose out on gate receipts due to opposition having to cancel due to Covid and fixtures being unable to be rescheduled?

Salfords next 2 games off as well . We will play fresh Wire Leigh and Salford teams in our next 3 games

Regards EW

This is getting stupid now they have to do something has to be done and soon there’s no way this fixtures ever get played