Grading question

[Mike]

Does anyone know how often the teams in SL will be adjusted after 2025? I thought one of the advantages in grading was supposed to be to allow planning time to move between semi-pro and full time leagues. Will the SL clubs in 2025 have a guaranteed number of years in the comp? I'm not clear on how that works.

[DaveO]

The grading is reassessed every year and only clubs with a Grade A rating are exempt from relegation.

Based on the current rankings, Toulouse and Wakefield, who stand 10th and 11th respectively, would be promoted back into Super League at the expense of 13th-placed Castleford and newly-promoted London Broncos. All those are grade B clubs.

There is no period of stability for a side elevated to SL unlike when Widnes got three years grace under the old franchise system. Now sides only remain in SL if they achieve grade A status or are the highest ranked grade B sides (assuming there are not 12 grade A sides already).

Castleford are moaning that their grading was wrong due to an oversight and if that is true and corrected then as it stands it would be Leigh relegated instead of Castleford.

I am not sure how Castleford are a grade B club never mind one potentially higher rated than Leigh. Bradford are 14th and I don't see how that is possible either.

In theory all five of the current grade B clubs could be relegated if there are five league 1 clubs who get a higher grade next time the grades are reassessed.

[Mike]

Given the tightness of the scores at the cut off, we could be looking at a few thousand social media followers being the difference between promotion and relegation every year then?

I'd at least do an exemption period for clubs newly entered into SL and a 3 year averaged rating so things change slowly and more predictably. Investment decisions at that B rated SL/Championship Boundry are going to be next to impossible.

[josie andrews]

The grading is reassessed every year and only clubs with a Grade A rating are exempt from relegation.

Based on the current rankings, Toulouse and Wakefield, who stand 10th and 11th respectively, would be promoted back into Super League at the expense of 13th-placed Castleford and newly-promoted London Broncos. All those are grade B clubs.

There is no period of stability for a side elevated to SL unlike when Widnes got three years grace under the old franchise system. Now sides only remain in SL if they achieve grade A status or are the highest ranked grade B sides (assuming there are not 12 grade A sides already).

Castleford are moaning that their grading was wrong due to an oversight and if that is true and corrected then as it stands it would be Leigh relegated instead of Castleford.

I am not sure how Castleford are a grade B club never mind one potentially higher rated than Leigh. Bradford are 14th and I don't see how that is possible either.

In theory all five of the current grade B clubs could be relegated if there are five league 1 clubs who get a higher grade next time the grades are reassessed.

Me neither! Both Castleford & Bradford are holes

[DaveO]

London have something like 8 points in the grading so it would take a miracle for them to survive in SL after next season.

Even if they won the GF despite the extra points that would give them they could still find themselves behind Wakefield and Toulouse and would be relegated.

It’s very unlikely London will win the GF of course and in future you won’t have a team on 8 points being promoted in the first place but the first season with this in operation has the potential to cause a lot of controversy.

[nathan_rugby]

The grading is reassessed every year and only clubs with a Grade A rating are exempt from relegation.

Based on the current rankings, Toulouse and Wakefield, who stand 10th and 11th respectively, would be promoted back into Super League at the expense of 13th-placed Castleford and newly-promoted London Broncos. All those are grade B clubs.

There is no period of stability for a side elevated to SL unlike when Widnes got three years grace under the old franchise system. Now sides only remain in SL if they achieve grade A status or are the highest ranked grade B sides (assuming there are not 12 grade A sides already).

Castleford are moaning that their grading was wrong due to an oversight and if that is true and corrected then as it stands it would be Leigh relegated instead of Castleford.

I am not sure how Castleford are a grade B club never mind one potentially higher rated than Leigh. Bradford are 14th and I don't see how that is possible either.

In theory all five of the current grade B clubs could be relegated if there are five league 1 clubs who get a higher grade next time the grades are reassessed.

Seems absolutely crazy given the season they have just had.

[Wigan_forever1985]

I thought success was a scoring factor so how are Leigh that far down while winning the CC

[medlocke]

I thought success was a scoring factor so how are Leigh that far down while winning the CC

Nothing to do with SL?

[Wigan_forever1985]

I genuinely thought success meant trophies but even so they didn’t exactly have a bad year in SL either!

[DaveO]

I thought success was a scoring factor so how are Leigh that far down while winning the CC

Very little credit is given for winning the CC. Maximum points for performance is 5 and you get 4 for winning the GF. Without checking I am pretty sure you get 0.75 for winning the league and so only 0.25 for winning the cup. I may be wrong on that but it’s definitely less than one point.