Limping out, more like. Lots of injured players to come back but will it be in time?

Whilst I don't think London and Featherstone have enough to gain promotion, the experience of being in the Middle 8's last year will only help them. London beat Salford away last and were probably our trickiest Championship opponent. So whilst as I said they might not have enough to threaten promotion they could come up with a surprise win over a SL team that costs that side their SL place.

both middle and super 8's look really good this year. why they want to change things I don't know

Agreed.



The only thing that needs tweaking for me is how you deal with magic weekend and the 3 games in a week which are hurting the quality of games in april/may. Would also be quite happy to see the cup final return to a may/june date.

yes I agree with all that.

Some people I think are just obsessed with changing formats and thinking it'd be better. Every team has stuff to aim for right now.



First past the post and 1up 1 down P/R? Would be boring right now as Cas have the LLS wrapped up already and it'd just be between Widnes & Leigh for bottom with everyone inbetween going through the motions. 8 team playoff would have people fuming that Wigan and Saints could roll up playoff time from 6th & 7th and challenge. People suggest a 5 team playoff but that would make the playoffs longer in an already too long season.



People complain that 7th and 8th don't stand a chance at the start of the 8's, but that's not really a flaw because you aren't, or at least shouldn't, have a format that gives teams placed there a chance with so little of the season left.



If the bottom 4 stay the same then of the 13 teams we've had in SL since the 8 format was introduced then 9 teams will have been in the Middle 8's and of the ones to avoid it, Hull, Cas and Wigan have been close to slipping in with a few weeks to go.

To provoke a bit of meaningful debate on here who do you all think will be in the Million pound game and which sides will be in SL next season?



I'll go for a Leigh v Hull KR decider and that no sides will be promoted from the Championship

I think Leigh, wire and Widnes could all be in trouble

Really not sure yet until fixtures are decided. Think Leigh have done ok this season and Jukes has moved them on a bit from Rowley's thuggish team but after Derek Beaumont's reaction and defence of Acton's stupid and reckless action yesterday I wouldn't miss that guy in SL.

After watching them yesterday, its Wire HKR, Wire are in some proper poo, everybody else looks to have some kind of enigma card to play that may or may not get them through, Wire just haven't got off the bus at all, the doors are stuck and its driving around in circles.

Gonna be tight I reckon. I think HKR might get promoted without recourse to the MPG leaving the two SL sides who've struggled most to score points, wire and widnes, to fight it out. And while smith's a good coach when his team's confident, he's very much been found out when they're not. Whereas Betts would probably be lost at the top end of the table but would be be very much in his element in the MPG. So I'll say HKR up, wire down.

Can't sell tickets to games you don't know are happening. Definitely can't sell corporate.



Also, as soon as next year we could be in a position where a semi-pro team need to organise 2 trips to france and a trip to Canada in 7 weeks with a weeks notice (The opposite side of that is that the likes of Toronto, les Catalans and Toulouse need to book up to 4 trips to England and up to 4 trips home within 7 weeks with a weeks notice)

Leigh are very bad, Widnes look better and Wire are better than those two and Les Catalans are tough to beat at home and are better than Leigh/Widnes and the lower division sides.



Hull KR are worse than they were last year and arent as dominant as Leigh were. My prediction no lower league side beats an SL side, Leigh v Hull KR in the MPG.

I wouldn't say Leigh are very bad, yes they occupy bottom spot but it's not like they're taking beatings. They also have experience of the Middle 8's. That's the key thing for me, Warrington and Catalans on paper should be fine, but it's all about how they approach it.



Also depends what the opening few weeks fixtures are, an early loss could send panic into teams. We were perhaps fortunate that we'd already qualified before facing two tricky games away to Hudds (which is always a dodgy fixture for us lately) and then Leigh. For example is Catalans and Warrington met first week, the loser might start getting very nervous and have depleted confidence.

Does anyone know when the structure for 2018 will be announced? Leeds have said season tickets will go on sale in August, surely we need to know what we're getting for our money?

I'll go for a Leigh v Hull KR MPG and think that Leigh will be too good for KR



As an interesting side note regarding the Middle 8's,If any SL clubs get relegated then all of the players contracts are null and void and they can be poached by rival clubs



Wolves must be very worried should they end up in the MPG with players like Ratchford,Hill,Clark,Currie and Westerman potentially up for grabs

Leigh are the first club to be promoted under the middle 8 system, and their only job this year is to stay up. I suspect they will be a different kettle of fish in the middle 8's.

You'd have to think that the more proactive CEO's would have already had discussions with the agents representing the better players at the SL clubs who will be in the middle 8's, just to sound them out. I'm not sure if that includes Leeds or not btw...



Whilst it's unlikely can you imagine the rage of Ian Leneghan should Wigan drop into the middle 8's and end up losing players as a result...

He'd always have the lucrative business as a look-a-like for Tim Wonnacott to fall back on.



He'll be fine.....

The constant flip flopping that the RFL insist on is another nail in the coffin of our sport. If the format is to change again it needs to be definitive. How many other sports change the way their sport functions every three years, it a complete joke?



The current format works and is interesting. If the league expands to 13 or 14 teams then I don't think a one up one down creates enough interest.

It depends on what you class as 'works. Attendances have fallen under this system despite the very reason for its implementation being to raise them. Similarly TV viewership has fallen despite the massive upheaval we went through to introduce this 'made-for-tv' system.



For me this system invented, then solved a problem that didnt really exist and unsurprisingly has had little in the way of success. For instance in the first year 3 of the 4 championship sides who qualified for the middle 8s suffered massive financial problems, last year 2 of the 4 were utterly embarrassed and finished a 7 game league with pts difference of -200+. And what does the middle 8's produce? lower attendances. People found the 8s a turn-off when it is supposed to be an attraction.



Even the million pound game and all the contrived steps we take to get there attracted only 6.5k. Hull KR averaged about 8.1k.



Thats before we even get to the practical considerations which have left League 1 not even a competition, the championship a competition you dont win and could as soon as next year see part-time teams needing to travel to france x2 and Canada in a 7 week period with a week to plan.

I agree scrap the Super/Middle 8's splitting the league farce.

I think if the RFL actually did some research rather than guessing they might just find that both gate receipts and to audiences might be falling because increasing numbers of supporters are having to make the decision to pay bills and buy food rather than pay for ground entry or sky sports subscriptions. Seems to be totally unappreciated by both the RFL and the Tory party.

Maybe clubs should lower ticket prices, German football tickets are much cheaper and I believe you can buy a season ticket for Bayern Munich for less than a Leeds Rhinos season ticket, same goes for most spanish teams

It's cheaper to go to NRL games too. Or at least it was a few years back, before the value of the pound plummeted.



Most rugby league is reasonably priced though, especially season tickets and for kids. For one off games £20 is a fair price IMO, clubs pushing £25 are taking it too far.