With the inclusion of so many new franchises next year, the ASRL Board has decided that Premier League will be expanded to include eighteen teams as of next year. This huge step means that the promotion and relegation system will be reworked.

Now, this does not mean that the sides who would relegate will get off scott-free. Au contraire, they'll have to earn the right to stay in Premier League.

So, the new system will work as follows. I'll use the current ladders as an example.

The System
The top two Division Two sides at the end of the regular season promote (Brisbane and Capetown). The bottom two Premier League sides (South Melbourne and Christchurch) relegate.

The third last side (Adelaide) are set for the wild-card fixture. The Division Two finals are played (with Brisbane and Capetown competing as normal). Now, the Grand Final winner will go into a wildcard game against Adelaide. If Brisbane/Capetown is one of the winners, then the runner up goes to the wildcard match. If both Brisbane and Capetown contest the final, the third placed side (Fairfield) would advance to the wildcard fixture.

Let's assume, regardless of the side, that Adelaide earn their right to stay in Premie League.

The 2003/2004 Premier League would look like:

Gold Coast Crusade
Wellington Cougars
Central Coast Falcons
Perth Taipans
Manly Cannons
North Sydney Newbloods
North Melbourne Maulers
Parramatta Vikings
Carnarvon Grizzlies
Darwin Cyclones
Central Phoenix
Surfers Paradise Punks
Wollongong Destructors
Adelaide Attitude
Brisbane Bulls
Capetown Ravens

Here is where the final two spots will be decided.

The two relegated clubs (Christchurch and South Melbourne) will play the teams who finished the season ranked 3 through 8. (If for some reason one of these teams has promoted [i.e through the wildcard game], then the 9th placed side gets a shot.

The tournament will be played in knock-out finals style, with the relegated teams occupying the position of first and second.

Now, instead of using the Division Two end of season table, the table used for this tournament will be based on finals performance. Let's say Cairns win through to the Grand Final, lose to Brisbane, and then lose their wildcard match. They would enter this torunament ranked THIRD (behind only South Melbourne and Christchurch) and occupy third position for the purposes of who they play and how likely they are to miss out.

Yes, this does mean the relegated sides are guaranteed of not crashing out in the first week. That was intended, they may have finished last in Premier League, but they've also proven at some point that they're better than Division Two clubs. This is their last chance.

The two finalists will play off for a cash prize, as well as both sides promoting to Premier League to fill the 18 team quota.

This is big news, so if there are any questions or problems, contact me ASAP.

Chris