Ben Cockayne on BBC really slating the concept of the Million pound game - players of the demoted team may lose their jobs / take a salary cut.

Surely if there is a straight relegation system then the outcome would be the same?

You could argue that on Saturday all 34 players know what's at stake - their futures are in their own hands.



What are your thoughts on this?

Players knew at round one what the rules were and what could happen. It's been in place for two years at the end of this season and for the first times it's got two SL teams involved it's bad for the game?



1 v 8 as it is but points restarted with 1 getting 7 down to 8 getting 0. 9 v 12 play each other twice (3 to 0). 1 v 4 in championship playing each other twice (3 to 0), 12th down and 1st promoted automatically and super league elimator between 11 v 2 home and away.

SL teams have had it too good for too long.



Every now and again you have to shake things up and separate the weak from the strong, for a long time now we haven't had this and any team from a lower division who has had ambition has been frozen out by the SL cabal.



Is it harsh? yes.

Is it fair? Maybe not, but as teams have glibly said to us all season, the table doesn't lie and you deserve to be where you are.



We have let weaker teams hold this game back for years and seem to be levelling down rather than up.

They've had 30 games to make sure they weren't in this position. That's a lot of chances to avoid losing your job.

But isnt any P+R a matter for levelling down rather than up? Its a competition not to be the worst rather than to be the best.



The MPG exacerbates this, its a battle of the s, a final to find out who is the 12th best team in the country. Not only that, we see clubs like Wakefield this year declaring job done by being the 8th best team in part of the season, and Leigh celebrating being the 2nd best team in a 7 week comp and nobody really caring about them being the best team in a 23week comp.



As for Cockaynes complaints specifically, it doesnt really make a difference what P+R based structure we have as that risk is always there, though i can see having it concentrated every year can be a whole lot of pressure on a player.



I think the wider point about player welfare is an interesting one when you look at what kind of career the game actually offers. A top flight player has a short career, and an even shorter one where they can earn real money. Most players arent earning good sums, and almost all bar a lucky few will need to enter their work life with a knackered body, fewer skills, and a decade or so behind their peers. And thats probably best case scenario for most players.

Just his opinion. Have no interest in Salford and HKR.

I suspect that there's a culture shock waiting for any player leaving the game, whether that be through age, injury or losing the MPG. Comes to them all in the end though.

The middle 8's level up as any promoted club does it against 4 clubs from a higher division

I'm surprised Cockayne is so protective of his playing career given the number of dumb choices he has made that really ought to have brought it to an end some time ago, regardless of relegation.



Jobs are always at stake in all spheres, especially if your performances are not up to scratch.

So relegation and therefore promotion are bad for the soul? Grow up.



Professional sports are a competitive arena, that's the whole point. Is he suggesting a closed shop mentality like the nrl and American sports? Thing is, even with that people lose their jobs if they are not good enough. And that is what this comes down to, being good enough to compete at the top level.



I have a great deal of sympathy for both people with mental health problems and people with financial problems but it looks like they ate being used as sticks to beat the rfl here.



Would he be making the same comments had kr not finished in the middle 8s?

quite

that cctv footage of him doing what he did to that lad was far more disturbing and distressing to watch for that kids parents & family than this weekends million pound game will ever be to both of the competing clubs supporters



i find it quite hypocritical of cockayne that whilst he feels threatened for his livelihood that he has gone to the media to vent his opinions and then to top it off he has the audacity to throw the mental health card into the ring



as if he ever cared about the mental state of that poor kid or his family

I hope cockayne gets shafted.