IT was almighty effort to be proud of by Raiders last weekend, but unfortunately phase one of the Toulouse Super League project was eventually completed.

The Frenchmen secured promotion to the Kingstone Press Championship with a 32-22 victory in the League One play-off final.

Eze Harper's early try gave Barrow the lead, which they managed to hold until the last minute of the first half. Toulouse made the most of a two-man advantage to take control in the first 20 minutes of the second half and it was game over at 30-4.

To their credit, Barrow didn’t give up and Chris Fleming and Ryan Fieldhouse crossed the whitewash late on, but it was too little, too late.

Every Raiders supporter knows that if it had been a trip to Rochdale instead of Toulouse, like it should have been, we could have been celebrating promotion this week instead of reflecting on the injustice of having to travel to Toulouse twice in a month. Apparently water was in such short supply at half-time, the supporters had to go to the supermarket to get some.

Next season the RFL need to be pragmatic and put their sensible head on as Toronto Wolfpack have morphed into the new Toulouse – and we don’t want to be flying to Canada twice in a month.

Paul Rowley and Brian Noble are in charge at Toronto and they have made some significant signings lately; the latest being the experienced Bob Beswick, from Leigh Centurions.

Toronto are odds-on favourites to win the league with the same ease Toulouse did, so let the winners gain automatic promotion and only have a play-off system for the second promotion place.

An even easier solution would be to radically change the league structure altogether, with the possibility of creating Super League One and Super League Two, and a Championship division with at least 16 teams, so 30 games are played by each team.

The remaining half a dozen or so fledgling clubs could enter a development league, which would allow them to grow in a more sustainable semi-professional environment. Should any club that can’t muster at least 200 supporters be funded by the RFL?

Teams like Barrow can’t survive on 10 or 11 home games, it is absolutely ridiculous. No disrespect to Hemel Stags and Oxford, but who wants to pay £15 to watch Barrow put 60 points into them? We should be part of a revamped Championship.

I the RFL do nothing, it’s another season in League One and it is going to be even more difficult to escape.

Apart from Toronto, there will be old rivalries rekindled with Whitehaven and Workington, and there are still Keighley, Doncaster, Hunslet and York (if they survive) to overcome.

With Raiders bidding farewell to Cameron Pitman, the retiring Liam Harrison and Swinton Lions-bound duo Chris Hankinson and Anthony Bate, they are pushing ahead with recruitment plans to fill those departures. It was great to see the signing of classy half back Lewis Charnock this week – a real statement of intent.

David Sharpe is keen for Paul Crarey to stay on as head coach and I would agree with that.

“I think for Paul, like myself, it's unfinished business,” said Sharpe. “We want to prove ourselves and he can be very proud of what he has achieved.”

Absolutely, Paul and his coaching staff have done a tremendous job and they must give it another year.

The youth structures have been a great success it was great to see Furness Raiders, under coach Darren Carter, win their first competitive game at Loughborough this week.

Yes, I am disappointed, but significant progress has been made on and off the field.

Time for a break, see you next season.

TONY COLYER