Should Super League scrap relegation? Discuss.

There's only around 600 words to play with in this column, so we're not going to even touch the surface.

In their current position, scraping along that imminently opening trapdoor, Wakefield would certainly agree the drop should be, well dropped.

Now Bulls boss Steve McNamara admits he is beginning to feel the same way having witnessed at first hand the vibrancy and competitiveness of Super League XI.

As it stands, his side could be the ones who send those nervous Wildcats crashing into the relative abyss of LHF Healthplan National League One by inflicting defeat tomorrow night.

But McNamara will do so with a sense of regret.

"I probably would have been in favour of relegation in the past but the more and more I think about it now, I'm not sure," he said.

"What the salary cap is doing is evening out the competition. Whichever team finishes last this year it will still be a strong side.

"It's not like in the past where the bottom club has won two games all season; you can't argue with a team like that going down. But now Wakefield are bottom but probably only three wins away from the top six.

"That's how competitive Super League is and the more and more it gets like that, relegation will become a bigger issue."

Whoever goes down this time, they will do so with the biggest points total in Super League history.

Leigh may have been vanquished with just two wins last season, and Halifax crashed out with only one in 2003 but, as McNamara rightly argues, the competition has grown far stronger this term; Wakefield have eight scalps, Castleford, who went down with six wins to their name in 2004, currently have nine yet still aren't out of the woods and the same goes for Harlequins, who after beating Bradford last month were talking about play-offs.

Clubs' on-going battle to avoid the drop, allied with others pushing for the top six - sometimes being one and the same - has meant there has been real interest in just about every fixture heading into the penultimate weekend, pointing to a healthy competition.

Yet McNamara says: "But then there are sides like Hull KR underneath who are making great strides too"

Bulls second-rower Brett Ferres reckons the obvious answer is to increase the number of teams battling it out.

"It's good having relegation as it gives clubs like Hull KR, Whitehaven and Widnes the chance to come up," he says. "But we're going to lose a good team like Wakefield - who are proud and traditional - at the same time.

"They should keep relegation but maybe expand the competition."

A 14-club Super League could be the answer. McNamara continues: "If you could get Hull KR, a strong Cumbrian side and then maybe Widnes, then you could argue for that.

"But teams are finding it hard now to recruit quality players with 12 clubs in the competition. There's not enough.

"Throw in another two clubs and that's 50 more Super League players. We're probably not quite there at this stage."

That would equal more average overseas players swarming into the country and there begins another debate Meanwhile, the Bulls will have to do without Jamie Langley tomorrow night.

He misses his first game of the season due to a groin injury meaning Ferres is likely to move up into the loose forward slot.

Brad Meyers will come off the bench into the second row with Matt Cook in the frame for a call up to the 17.