RUGBY League chiefs are looking to increase the number of fixtures for Super League clubs next year.

A total of 30 league games is being talked about, that's an increase of seven on this year, but I am not in favour of playing so many.

I think it would be a retrograde step for the game because I believe the game is all about quality and not quantity.

Obviously clubs need revenue and I appreciate the season is short now with the switch to summer. There are massive gaps in our cash flows due to games not being played between October and January.

But instead of increasing the number of games to bring in extra revenue I say it is up to the money men to bring in more commercial revenue in relation to sponsorship and via other avenues.

There has been a big change in the game. It is a change in the culture of the game and a change in how the game is being projected. We've got to make sure we make the adjustments off the field as well as on it.

Our most valuable commodity is the player. We've got to make sure we protect the longevity of players' careers but we will be shortening players' careers by asking them to play three times in a week.

Because there is talk that there will have to be midweek games to fulfil the fixtures. But playing on a Wednesday after a Sunday is a nonsense.

We know how hard it is now. We had a Sunday game at Bradford and this week have a Friday game at Sheffield and I have got players who are struggling to back up from Sunday with only five days' recovery. It's a near impossibility.

It is very hard for players to back up week after week and at a time when all clubs are reducing the numbers of players in their squads. Players' demands for wages are getting higher but on the whole our budgets aren't getting any bigger so we have to reduce the number of players in the squads in order to stay within the perimeters of the budgets.

So by going up to 30 games in a season it will put us under a lot of pressure. I appreciated with having an extra club in the competition next year - Gateshead - that it would mean two extra games but I never expected it to go up by this extent.

But if it happens, it happens and we will just have to accommodate it but the squads and teams will be under enormous pressure.

I believe it will lead to more coaches being sacked over the next few years. Players will have injuries and their teams will lose as a consequence. Everyone will become disenchanted but they won't look at the root of the problem - it will just expose the coaches and players who have not been able to perform under the intense pressure that will generate from extra games.

Next season will start early too in order to accommodate the end of season Great Britain tour of Australia.

There will be tremendous pressure on the British players who will have played 30 league games compared to the probable 20 that the Australian players will have played. It is another negative to increasing the fixtures as it is the international game which gives Rugby League its profile and exposure.

And what about 'on the road games'. We're looking to increase the number of franchises in Super League next year so I believe we should be playing games in those possible franchise areas like we have done this year. It isn't clear yet if any of these are to figure in the 30 games.

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