BY JOHN DAVIDSON
Featherstone Rovers coach Paul Cooke has voiced his frustration at the lack of detail around Super League expansion, the impact on the Championship and how clubs are unable to plan long-term.
Super League is expected to expand to 14 clubs in 2026, but there has no decisions made yet on the future of the lower tiers or what the pyramid will look like.
Cooke, writing in his Forty20 magazine column, said: “I’ve been quoted as having a level of frustration with what’s happening – or not, in the Championship’s case.
“We don’t give ourselves a chance, in not knowing the full picture. With such a lack of info, clubs in our tier especially can’t make longer term decisions and the change is so immediate…
“I don’t think Featherstone are in a position off the field to go into Super League right now. It would just be a short-sighted way for the club to have some success and profile by taking an invite or being voted in by people who don’t understand the running of the club and the difficulties owner Paddy Handley faces, he is immensely frustrated.
“I don’t understand where we are going with this as a sport nor how it is supposed to work beneath the top flight, with no firm decisions made and suggestions asked for…
“The frustration comes from the unknown. Clubs near the bottom don’t even know if there will be the planned ‘eights’ or if there is any need for it now; probably not.
“Again, the sport appears to throw itself on the ground and then kick itself.”
Read the full column in the August issue of Forty20 magazine.