Robert Elstone ready to lead Super League overhaul but Leeds hit out at plans

New Super League chief executive Robert Elstone has been given the task of leading another restructure of the domestic game.

That will mean the end of the Super 8s after four years but promotion and relegation will be retained, most likely with one up and one down between the top tier and the Championship.

That was the upshot from a 55-minute press conference at Warrington to unveil the former Everton chief executive, a long-time Castleford fan who is returning to his first love after 13 years in football.

Elstone said: “The job starts with building a positive working relationship with the Rugby Football League and that’s recognising Super League’s responsibilities to the wider game.

“We will look at a competitive structure that really isn’t working effectively that provides too much uncertainty.”

Elstone, 54, who was employed by the Rugby Football League in the mid-1990s, appeared alongside Wigan owner Ian Lenagan, St Helens chairman Eamon McManus and Warrington co-owner Simon Moran, three of the protagonists behind the major shake-up.

Elstone has been given the task of improving the attractiveness of the game in time for the next television deal at the end of the 2021 season. That will start with the scrapping of the late-season competition in which the top two divisions split into three sections of eight.

Salford and Hull KR have been relegated in the first three years of the current format but it is possible up to four clubs could be relegated at once and the challenge from the Championship is especially strong this time.

“We’re terrified of the prospect that we could lose four Super League clubs this season as a result of the Super 8s,” Lenagan said. “That’s not a sensible proportion.”

Lenagan said a new structure being planned for 2019 is likely to comprise home and away fixtures with an extra six “loop” games to bring the total up to the current number and any Million-Pound Game after this year is set to include only promotion-chasing teams.

The proposals were immediately criticised by Leeds chief executive Gary Hetherington, who called on RFL chairman Brian Barwick to take strong action against the “rebels”.

“Today’s announcement regarding plans for next season appear to be an absurd grab for power for the game by a small group of men who think they own the game,” Hetherington said.

“Leeds Rhinos are not party to this and are totally against the creation of a separate Super League executive.

“The game is in need of strong leadership from Brian Barwick and his board of directors at the Rugby Football League, the game’s governing body, and this announcement should bring a response from everyone connected with the game.”

Elstone, who began his job eight days ago, says he will meet with the RFL to work through the planned re-organisation.

He was appointed by the Super League clubs following an extraordinary general meeting last November when they voted RFL chief executive Nigel Wood off the board, but Lenagan insists it did not amount to a breakaway.

The Wigan owner says the leading Super League protagonists undertook a “vow of silence” until now and dismissed fears that funding to clubs outside the top flight would be cut.

“I’m really pleased now that we’ve put our heads above the parapet,” Lenagan said.

“We have committed to the high figures of funding to the Championship and League 1 at least to the end of the current television deal which has three and a half years to go, not a penny less than currently.”

He added: “What we are doing is taking responsibility for the commercial and operational activities of Super League to give the top tier the focus that it should have.”

Lenagan said clubs voted 9-3 to seize control at the EGM and that Leeds are now the only dissenting voice.