Re: Middle 8's a disgrace. Champ clubs will never compete wi : Fri Mar 27, 2015 1:27 pm  

I haven't done the maths but would 4 wins out of 7 get you in one to third spot in the middle 8's ?

Say Leigh beat (for example) Fev, Bulls and Halifax plus one SL club - would that be enough ?

Re: Middle 8's a disgrace. Champ clubs will never compete wi : Fri Mar 27, 2015 1:43 pm  

Tigerade wrote:

I haven't done the maths but would 4 wins out of 7 get you in one to third spot in the middle 8's ?

Say Leigh beat (for example) Fev, Bulls and Halifax plus one SL club - would that be enough ?

I don't think so off the top of my head.

8 points would give them a good shot of being 3rd but I think it's possible two teams could finish on 8 pts with points difference pushing one down into 4th.

Re: Middle 8's a disgrace. Champ clubs will never compete wi : Fri Mar 27, 2015 2:13 pm  

jesus-is-coming wrote:

The bit the super league fans are not grasping is it gives a clear passage for any club below super league to progress,its not a boom and bust its a steady growth were you can keep hold of your players,they grow and each year they know what they need to do to compete.the crowds increase bringing more money into the club which in turn means the club can sign up better youngsters thus improving themselves.if you ask any Leigh fan is it much of a reward to only end up in the bottom four of super league next year they would snatch your hand off.....cannot wait for the middle 8 games with Wakefield both hulls and Widnes playing at Leigh

The plus side is that there is a pathway into SL for Championship clubs into SL, which is good for the game and the possibility of promotion has re-invigorated the Championship.

As I mentioned earlier, the difficulty for any club that gains promotion, will be staying in SL.
Far from allowing steady growth, promoted clubs will have the uncertainty of the following seasons "qualifying league".

As things sand, most fans could predict the top half of SL (although Dr K may want to spoil the party), which leaves the other 6 clubs battling for 2 places.
The uncertainty that this causes has to have an impact on recruitment for next season and the top 6 (Saints, Leeds, Warrington, Wigan, Huddersfield and Catalan) have a massive advantage over the other clubs when it comes to signing players on long term deals.

IF Leigh and/ or Bradford gain promotion, they wont be in a position to entice the quality of player to allow them to finish in the top 8 an therefore they are likely to yo-yo between the divisions, which is one of the main reasons that the sport went for the licensing system in the first place (plus the ability of clubs to develop more home grown youngsters.

The 2 x 12, 3x8 structure will see the return of the merry go round of journeyman pros moving from relegated club to promoted club and back again, just as it was pre licensing and inevitably, some clubs will over stretch themselves financially, either chasing the dream or trying t survive in the top flight (not to mention the dual reg. debacle).

Re: Middle 8's a disgrace. Champ clubs will never compete wi : Fri Mar 27, 2015 11:45 pm  

Pumpetypump wrote:

It isn't a clear passage, it's dangling a forlorn hope in the naively grateful faces of Championship sides. The sort of steady progression you advocate would see you stuffed in every game, hell you'd probably struggle to get in the top 4 of the Championship. To have any hope a championship side needs to take a punt at a fair few players who are almost but not quite superleague class. Steady growth of your existing players isn't going to get you remotely competitive in the middle 8s.

And once you've made the decision to have your Lee Gaskell's and Moi Moi, you've probably got two good years at sustaining full time promotion chasing. Thereafter any decent players will leave and, in my opinion, the club falls back from serious contention.

I know everything is rosey in the Leigh garden, but at Bradford we know if we don't get up this time or next, we might never under this faux promotion system.

You missed the obvious point "We are able to keep hold of our players"..We are no longer a feeder club for SL..Bradfords scenario is completely different to a Championship sides scenario as your indeed finding out.

I'm sick of saying this,you were relegated from SL..The championship sides have been striving for SL many seasons..It's about time they were given a chance or a path that didn't have a closed gate at the end.

Re: Middle 8's a disgrace. Champ clubs will never compete wi : Fri Mar 27, 2015 11:53 pm  

wrencat1873 wrote:

The plus side is that there is a pathway into SL for Championship clubs into SL, which is good for the game and the possibility of promotion has re-invigorated the Championship.

As I mentioned earlier, the difficulty for any club that gains promotion, will be staying in SL.
Far from allowing steady growth, promoted clubs will have the uncertainty of the following seasons "qualifying league".

As things sand, most fans could predict the top half of SL (although Dr K may want to spoil the party), which leaves the other 6 clubs battling for 2 places.
The uncertainty that this causes has to have an impact on recruitment for next season and the top 6 (Saints, Leeds, Warrington, Wigan, Huddersfield and Catalan) have a massive advantage over the other clubs when it comes to signing players on long term deals.

IF Leigh and/ or Bradford gain promotion, they wont be in a position to entice the quality of player to allow them to finish in the top 8 an therefore they are likely to yo-yo between the divisions, which is one of the main reasons that the sport went for the licensing system in the first place (plus the ability of clubs to develop more home grown youngsters.

The 2 x 12, 3x8 structure will see the return of the merry go round of journeyman pros moving from relegated club to promoted club and back again, just as it was pre licensing and inevitably, some clubs will over stretch themselves financially, either chasing the dream or trying t survive in the top flight (not to mention the dual reg. debacle).

We are no longer a feeder club for SL...We don't need to entice quality players,we make them.

Re: Middle 8's a disgrace. Champ clubs will never compete wi : Sat Mar 28, 2015 1:52 am  

atomic wrote:

We are no longer a feeder club for SL...We don't need to entice quality players,we make them.

I may well have got an odd one wrong but I make it that Leigh have 8 homegrown players out of a squad of 30.

I'd imagine that's not the worst, but it's hardly amazing. Leigh's strength is from astute signings.

Re: Middle 8's a disgrace. Champ clubs will never compete wi : Sun Mar 29, 2015 2:02 am  

Him wrote:

I may well have got an odd one wrong but I make it that Leigh have 8 homegrown players out of a squad of 30.

I'd imagine that's not the worst, but it's hardly amazing. Leigh's strength is from astute signings.

Do you have a reserve side?

Re: Middle 8's a disgrace. Champ clubs will never compete wi : Sun Mar 29, 2015 2:06 am  

atomic wrote:

Do you have a reserve side?

Yes, they're called the Hunslet Hawks.

Re: Middle 8's a disgrace. Champ clubs will never compete wi : Sun Mar 29, 2015 8:12 am  

Tigerade wrote:

I haven't done the maths but would 4 wins out of 7 get you in one to third spot in the middle 8's ?

Say Leigh beat (for example) Fev, Bulls and Halifax plus one SL club - would that be enough ?

3rd place in super league are on 8 points after 7 games and that's in a league of 12

Re: Middle 8's a disgrace. Champ clubs will never compete wi : Sun Mar 29, 2015 10:09 am  

Sir Kevin Sinfield wrote:

3rd place in super league are on 8 points after 7 games and that's in a league of 12

Yes but that's in a competitive league where everyone is taking points off each other.

For Leigh to get 8 points and finish 3rd in the scenario mentioned you would need another SL club to slip up
somewhere.