By Dave Woods

Danny Brough consoles Castleford coach Terry Matterson

It is time for Super League to bite the bullet and do what everyone knows makes sense - expand.

Relegating Castleford will be like cutting off one of the game's limbs.

They are a terrific club with a near-perfect record of attendance in the top flight throughout their proud history.

But this second relegation in three years might just lead to the extinction of the Tigers.

They do not deserve their fate - and if they were to curl up and die as a result of being ejected from league's top table, then the deep reservoir of talent that the area has produced over the years may also dry up.

If they were dropping into a league in which they could keep their squad together and build again for the year after next, then fine.

And if they had just been a bunch of also-rans all year, then they would not deserve any sympathy.

But after competing all season with the likes of Bradford, Leeds, St Helens et al, they now have to slash wages from �1.7m to around �400,000.

They have to rip up all the good work of the last 12 months and start again from scratch - and there has to be a huge question mark over whether they can bounce back in those circumstances.

If two more clubs were brought in and then a two-year freeze on relegation was instituted you have the chance to create far more stability in the game

You cannot, though, suddenly turn round and tell the likes of Hull KR and Widnes that there is no longer a place for them in the top flight.

They deserve to have their crack at the big time as well.

And if you stifle their dream, you risk cutting off the life blood to rugby league in those areas, too.

The solution would be to enlarge the Super League, bringing up one or even both Hull KR and the Vikings.

But there is one reason it will not happen - short-sighted greed.

The Super League clubs share the TV revenue 12 ways - to add another one or two clubs to that equation reduces the cash they get.

But that really is a short-term view of things.

For a start, if selfism is an issue, just about every Super League club should look at the experience of this season and note that the playing field is so level now that just one bad run of results or a freakish injury list could see them at the cutting edge of relegation.

Shaun Timmins is now unlikely to play with Castleford next season

If two more clubs were brought in and then a two-year freeze on relegation was instituted, you have the chance to create far more stability in the game.

A 14-team league would offer greater variability to the fixture list than we have now, with two fewer rounds of matches each season allowing for representative games to take place.

And over those two years, instead of splashing the cash on overseas journeymen, the top teams could concentrate much more on developing their own youth policies.

The clubs outside Super League who wanted to get in could put in place a proper two-year plan to invest in their infrastructures as well as their playing pool.

Super League has just returned record crowd figures for the 2006 season gone.

More people are watching the summer game in the top flight than ever before.

But that does not give an excuse for complacency.

Surely the Rugby Football League and, more importantly, the clubs themselves can see that relegation this year would not be in the best interests of the game at large.