Ok, let's stick with what we've got: a diminishing game getting no publicity as we diminish further. Why don't we try and get in another Nigel Wood and another Barwick and some more useless overpaid RL management cronies, then we can wipe our game off the map once and for all.

This was the opening post. Also, this thread includes views relating to the lack publicity with only one week to go before the season starts:

I take all the above points, but at the start of our season, why has women's netball featured on Sky's promotional reel and not SL? SL certainly has a bigger fan base, although women's netball could be the next big thing with participation being so high. Would it have really harmed Sky to add on another 5 seconds with SL?

Exposure/advertising of our big events has been non-existent and this contributes to the perception of our game.

As I say, I don't know the ins and outs well enough, but surely the RFL have more to do with the success of above than the chairmen, although there are links between the two. Why hasn't the RFL quizzed Sky on the promotional reel, and if it has, why are the RFL so inaffectual. Why does no-one outside our game know of the CC when it's held at Wembley, London?

It's time to stop the rot. I don't know what the answer is, but something has to be done before we end up as a truly peripheral sport and its too late for Wire to win a Grand Final! I'd have bitten Hearn's hand off to have his input- does anyone know why he ceased interest?

When it comes to the promotion of SL and getting SL on Sky's highlight reel, that's not the RFL's remit any more. The Super League clubs and Rob Elstone made it very clear that they wanted responsibility for that, so let's start apportioning blame in the right places.

As for Sky's promotion of netball, I'd suggest there are two big reasons for that.

Firstly, they currently have netball content to show right now. Their first RL content doesn't come until a day before the second month in 2019.

Secondly, Sky knows that women's sport is a big seller for an audience segment that it is trying to attract. It's the same reason why women's sport also attracts good sponsoship deals (Vitality with netball, NatWest with cricket, SSE with women's football and O2 with women's RU). Predominantly female sports like netball stand out from the market so when Sky is promoting its offering, it places it prominently. To the casual sports fan, RL doesn't stand out in nearly the same way (most probably still couldn't tell the difference between RL and RU).

Let's also not forget that Sky isn't our PR agency. It has no obligation to promote RL over any of its other sports, and they're probably smart enough to understand how RL content is received by its audience. Why does Super League deserve to be promoted any more prominently by any other sport Sky promotes? Why is it any more relevant than any other sport featured in its advertising?

Spot on, as I mentioned on the first page, what difference has Elstone made to promoting the start of the season? None at all yet we were hearing how much he’d help promote, market and grow SL. Seems all he’s done in the offseason really is pat himself on the back for introducing a shot clock and golden point extra time, the latter of which most fans aren’t keen on. The new advert/trailer promoting the start of the new season which came out today is really poor also.

Thanks for clarifying that up BramleyRhino.

Where do we go from here. Anyone know what happened to the Hearn interest.

In my view the "where we go from here" to start holding the clubs accountable. They wanted this to be their job, so now they need to step up - Elstone himself has said as much.

It's up to the clubs to find new audiences. It's up to the clubs to sell more tickets. It's up to the clubs to find new and better sponsors. It's up to the clubs to increase the profile of the players. It's up to the clubs to engage with their communities. In fact, it has always been the responsibility of the clubs to do these things, but they've always had convenient excuses to hide behind that the fans would fall for - the RFL and the Super Eight. That has now been taken away. I completely agree with the comments Hetherington made as the proposed 'split' came to light - as flawed as the eights were, clubs were using it as an excuse for their poor commercial performance.

The constant obsession with the RFL has created a culture where fans are asking "who can save us?" - this is what led to the obsession with Eddie Hearn. What hasn't been asked is "why aren't we saving ourselves?". This sport doesn't need a saviour. What it needs to do is what every other forward-thinking sport is already doing - thinking forward.