Mild Rover wrote:So, as we head towards a new decade what are your predictions for 1, 5 and 10 years ahead?

1 year - Hull KR will have a new licence and an improved stadium. Widnes will have been elevated to SL and Wakefield will be demoted - possibly going bust and starting again. Where they'll play then is anyone's guess - looking very grim for them, atm. Cas will just be given the nod over Halifax. Wigan will retain their SL title, beating Grand Final debutants Warrington.

5 years - The gap between SL and the rest will be even more firmly entrenched and Rovers will have got another new license. The system itself will have changed though and SL may well be a different shape and size. France will have a second team in SL. If the HKR board keep backing the club in the same way and new fans are using the improved facilities in significant numbers, we'll have at least made a final. Otherwise, we'll be lower-mid table, operating a conservative model. Either way, more likely than not, we'll be in a post-Morgan phase.
The gap between the NRL and SL will also be bigger due to simple economics, but the gap between England and Australia will narrow - slightly - as more of our players test themselves over there. SL clubs will typically only have 2 or 3 pretty average Aussies each, as the quota is rendered irrelevant by Au$.

10 years - We'll be in an entirely new cycle. Economic gloom will finally be starting to lift, having claimed a couple of RL club casualties along the way - let's pray HKR are not one. France will have beaten England at least once. England will have beaten Australia just once. Hull KR will have won the Challenge Cup.
RU will again look more like League, stopping just short of the level of convergence required to make both sides stare reconciliation in the face.