CM Punk wrote:And yet was the highest attendance of the round.
IMO, the issue is that the Super League teams are entering the cup too late, so just end up with a potential 4th game against someone the fans are just bored of seeing them play.
It's fair to say that, with all the emphasis on the GF, the Challenge Cup has lost most of it's sparkle.
Although keeping the SL clubs away from the comp until the latter stages may help with fixture congestion, it completely ruins the chances of any smaller clubs reaching the finals.
IF a Championship club can make it into the last 8, they are likely to face one of the current top 8 into SL.
Zero chance of an "easy" run to Wembley and the cup is almost an additional play off comp, rather than a "romantic" run to Wembley (or Tottenham).
The Championship sides that competed over the weekend deserve huge, huge credit for not saving themselves for their league competition, with cup progress being "impossible".
Fev gave Catalan a huge scare and on Catalans home patch, a phenomenal effort.