WITH the welcoming of a new year, here are my top predictions for 2019.

It goes with saying that it is a very important year for rugby league and I sincerely hope that it proves to be a success.

I do not believe the league format imposed by the RFL and Super League clubs upon the Championship and League One clubs is an improvement, far from it.

I think it is designed to protect underperforming clubs, but we have got what we have got. Our sport needs a fantastic year.

I think the Championship will be an outstanding competition with teams genuinely competing with each other and no one team running away with it.

As has been speculated before, in Toronto, Toulouse, Widnes and Leigh together with Featherstone and Halifax we have plenty of excellent opposition.

There are other well established Championship clubs like Batley, Dewsbury and Sheffield so it promises to be a highly-competitive season. Strap yourselves in for a roller coaster ride.

Speaking of roller coaster, I predict that our Saturday fixture at Summer Bash, when we lock horns with Halifax, will be a humdinger, colourful, loud and edge of the seats stuff.

I expect Bash itself will grow this year and deliver a better attendance than in 2018 and I am sorry to say I think the reverse will happen at Super League's Magic Weekend, where the clubs have collaborated to bring us the magic of Wakefield v Catalans and Salford v Hull KR.

On Magic it will be interesting to see how the NRL imitation of the concept goes.

Most of the copying in the world of rugby league seems to be the British game slavishly mimicking the NRL, but this is an example of the reverse, not that the Australian media will give it a nod. On balance the Championship clubs will make sure it’s a great season for the sport.

I wish I could say the same about the Super League. The sport absolutely needs a vibrant elite competition with everyone beating each other, everyone playing in front of big crowds presented in modern and comfortable facilities.

Then we truly would have a competition worthy of the name 'Super' but it looks a long way from that.

I am afraid the changes made to the competition will have a negative effect, fans will quickly tire of the repetitive match-ups that the loopy fixtures provide and no amount of PR spin about a new beginning will deflect knowledgeable rugby league fans from the essential truth.

It will take a lot more than the recently-announced superficial copying of the NRL with such gimmicks as shot clocks and golden point to get the turnstile clicking and the money rolling in.

Regrettably on the field, the race for the title will be helped by some good overseas signings by the usual clubs, this time with Leeds leading the way and we can expect Catalan to give the league a much better dig than they have done for the past few years. Having won the Challenge Cup, winning the league is the ultimate test for the club and if I were a betting man that is where my money would go.

They are going to have to do it soon as well, because in the current cockamamie world of Super League I predict the other 11 clubs will soon start eroding the Catalan terms of membership financially in any way they can. It’s that straightforward, the law of vested self-interest and now these kinds of tactics will become common.

My third prediction is that Harry Potter will ask for his invisibility cloak back from Brian Barwick and the RFL Chairman will be laid bare to public scrutiny for the antics of the last 12 months.

Brian has certainly led from the back and, despite repeated requests from my fellow Championship club chairman, has singularly failed to set out a plan or vision for the future of rugby league in this country.

The strategy that had become all too apparent appears one of simple personal survival, whatever concessions he has to make to power-hungry club chairmen.

His Board, and more importantly his chairmanship, have presided over a deep and divisive civil war with a league format imposed upon the Championship against the wishes of the majority of Championship clubs.

Weighted voting leaves a bad and bitter taste and will probably take a regime change to clear this.

I do hope that Barwick spends more time at Championship rugby league matches than Anfield this year.

My fourth prediction is that the England national team will continue its upward trajectory under super coach and Bulls friend Wayne Bennett. His move to Souths puts him into an A1 position to manage the workload of three of the nation's finest and he will no doubt continue to have a very close look at the England players competing week in week out in the NRL.

Speaking of which, our very best wishes go from all at the Bulls to former junior John Bateman. He is widely regarded in either hemisphere, while some point to a lack a size, there is no lack of heart at all and we all hope he follows the many British players who are bringing credit upon themselves week in and week out Down Under.

Finally, my last prediction is that you will be watching the eventual winners of the Yorkshire Cup this weekend at Odsal.

This is a modest but very welcome re-introduction of a historic competition instigated by a few like-minded club chairmen, brought together during the adversity of last year.

All proceeds are being shared, in a demonstration of the kind of real and genuine collaboration that used to be one of the founding pillars of rugby league.

Obviously I hope and believe we will be in the running for it, and make no mistake, Halifax are a very good strong credible Championship team and title contender.

With Featherstone, York, Dewsbury and Batley in the competition, it is a good field. Let’s us hope it is a great success.

Of course, like the masses on the terraces and the stands at Odsal, we all hope that 2019 is the Year of the Bull.

Get along and support your team as the Yorkshire Cup kicks off this weekend.

Round One – Yorkshire Cup: Today: Tetley’s Stadium, Dewsbury: York v Hunslet Parkside, kick-off 1pm; Dewsbury v Featherstone, 3.30pm.

Tomorrow: Odsal Stadium, Bradford: Batley v Hunslet, 1pm; Bradford v Halifax, 3pm.