1) Super League restructuring
Something needs to be done to make every Super League game matter. By the time Warrington got to June last year, they were certain of a playoff place and so didn't have much to play for for the rest of the season and ended up turning in a string of disinterested performances, which is not all that surprising when there's very little meaning behind a lot of the games, particularly in the second half of the season. If there was a greater reward for finishing top of the league - an achievement which needs properly recognising in our competition - then the big boys would take every match seriously and we'd see far higher quality, more exciting matches with more at stake as the season progressed. My proposal is simple: give the winners of the League Leaders Shield an automatic place in the Grand Final. This a) suitably rewards the achievement of finishing top of the league, b) increases the desire of the big teams to finish top, c) gives some much-needed meaning to the League Leaders Shield and d) means that every game would matter for the teams competing near the top. We'd get better matches with more to play for and a closer competition, knowing that if you finish top you've got a pass to Old Trafford. It would then be up to the other four teams in the playoffs to battle it out for just one spot in the final, so would create more exciting knockout matches too, knowing that there was only one place up for grabs.
2) TV Coverage
Let's radically change how Super League is broadcast on television. I think Sky do a great job of their coverage of live games on Thursday and Friday, and I also really like their new weekly chat show. Things can be improved though. I would still have two live Super League games on Sky every week, on Thursday and Friday. Then, I'd make it so that every game that isn't one of the two being broadcast must be played on Sunday, with a 3pm kick-off. I would introduce a new show in the format of Soccer Saturday, probably to be broadcast on Sky Sports Arena, with roving reporters at every Super League, Championship and League One ground to bring us news of tries and scores, in the same way that the extremely successful Soccer Saturday does. Yes, there aren't as many rugby league fixtures as there are football fixtures, but there's more incidents of scoring to report on. Ideally, get Eddie Hemmings to anchor it.
3) Challenge Cup
The Challenge Cup is brilliant and the final at Wembley is still the sport's main showpiece event. However, I do feel that the early rounds of the cup are a little tedious for the bigger teams. For example, Warrington have drawn Wigan in the cup four years in a row - three times in the same round. I think the problem is that two thirds of Super League don't enter the Challenge Cup until round six, by which time there are only 16 teams left. For one of those teams, such as Warrington, it only takes two wins to get to the semi-finals, which for me takes away some of the sense of achievement. I would reset the Challenge Cup so that every club starts in Round One. For me, this would bring back the magic of the cup and significantly increase the chances of a team like Batley, Rochdale, Whitehaven or Hunslet, for example, drawing one of Super League's big boys. The reason why the FA Cup is so successful is that any team in the country has a chance of playing Manchester United or Liverpool. Let's bring that magic back to the competition and make it more of a challenge to win the Challenge Cup - you've got to win seven or eight games to win the trophy.
4) Exiles
Bring back the Exiles! For anyone not aware, the Exiles were a new concept in 2011. We first heard about them with some brilliantly cryptic images on the big screens at Super League matches, with a badge accompanied with the line 'they're coming'. For months people questioned who 'they' were, with some thinking it was a rebranded Widnes team, others thought it could be something to do with the England national side. It turned out that it was in fact the Exiles, a team made up of overseas players in Super League. They would play England in a wonderful encounter at Headingley in front of over 14,000 fans, the Exiles narrowly coming out on top 16-12. England played the Exiles four times in two years, with both teams winning twice. All the games were played in June or July and I think a series of England v Exiles matches would be a brilliant thing to have in the middle of the season. Imagine England's current team taking on an Exiles lineup including the likes of Lachlan Coote, Jackson Hastings, David Fifita, James Maloney, Sonny Bill Williams, Blake Austin, Peter Mata'utia and the likes. It would be electric and would really add something exciting to the regular season, as well as being a useful warm-up for England ahead of tournaments and give Super League's overseas stars a rare chance to play internationally.
5) Scrum
No but what the f**k is the point in the scrum? Seriously? The scrum is no longer contested and while they perhaps give players a (very) short rest, they serve no strategic value to the game. It is rare that anything of note happens at a scrum, in fact I can only think of two recent examples - Zeb Taia's brilliant try worked from a reverse ball at the base of the scrum in the Grand Final last year, and Declan Patton dropping the ball when trying to pick it up at the back of a scrum on Good Friday last season. They're a complete and utter waste of time which slow the game down. If they're not going to be properly contested, which they haven't been for most of the Super League era, then they should be axed and replaced with a quick tap.
6) Playoff games
This is something that Super League desperately needs to look at. Currently, playoff games are not classed as part of the regular season, meaning that for season ticket holders, any home playoff matches are not covered by season tickets. This leads to low crowds for the most important clashes of the season - Warrington drew a crowd of less than 6000 against Castleford last season despite averaging around 11,000 throughout the year. It simply must be changed as it's absolutely ridiculous that the biggest matches of the year get the lowest attendances.
This is something that Super League desperately needs to look at. Currently, playoff games are not classed as part of the regular season, meaning that for season ticket holders, any home playoff matches are not covered by season tickets. This leads to low crowds for the most important clashes of the season - Warrington drew a crowd of less than 6000 against Castleford last season despite averaging around 11,000 throughout the year. It simply must be changed as it's absolutely ridiculous that the biggest matches of the year get the lowest attendances.
7) Scrap the on-field call
This is a very simple one, but something which I think would greatly improve things. Scrap the on-field call. If the referee is sending something to the video ref, he's doing so because he's not sure. So why force him to make a judgement and influence the video ref's decision? Remember, the video ref can only overturn the on-field call if he believes there is sufficient evidence that he has made a mistake. There have been occasions where it's been obvious that the video ref has been obliged to go with the on-field call because of a lack of 'sufficient evidence' e.g James Bentley v Salford 2019. Scrap it. If the referee is going to the video ref, don't make him give his thoughts. Accept that he simply doesn't know, and we'll get an educated, uninfluenced verdict from the video ref. On the topic of video referee, there needs to be one at every ground for it to be a fair competition.
Daniel (@aloosewire)
This is a very simple one, but something which I think would greatly improve things. Scrap the on-field call. If the referee is sending something to the video ref, he's doing so because he's not sure. So why force him to make a judgement and influence the video ref's decision? Remember, the video ref can only overturn the on-field call if he believes there is sufficient evidence that he has made a mistake. There have been occasions where it's been obvious that the video ref has been obliged to go with the on-field call because of a lack of 'sufficient evidence' e.g James Bentley v Salford 2019. Scrap it. If the referee is going to the video ref, don't make him give his thoughts. Accept that he simply doesn't know, and we'll get an educated, uninfluenced verdict from the video ref. On the topic of video referee, there needs to be one at every ground for it to be a fair competition.
Daniel (@aloosewire)
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