I ATTENDED an RFL meeting last week which was more of a workshop for the clubs about how to improve their media and commercial performance.

The RFL talked about how they are improving their engagement with fans through a targeted approach. They presented lots of figures about how their OuRLeague app was growing and the streaming opportunities it presented for the Championship.

They presented figures on the number of fans watching weekly podcasts, looking at try of the week and lifestyle and review features. The numbers were very modest, but they seemed proud of the growth.

They presented more figures around increased attendances in the Championship although skirted over the big drop in League One. Even I could see that the promotion of Bradford and York has helped one and hindered the other.

I don't want to sound too critical, but frankly I was unimpressed. They seem to be producing numbers for numbers sake.

Don't get me wrong, I love numbers and you can't improve something that isn't being measured, but do they actually understand what their process is trying to achieve?

Is it more sponsorship? Bigger crowds? More people playing? I'm not sure. There doesn't seem to be a coherent strategy.

However, I do know things that directly affect our club, like there is no TV broadcast agreed for the Summer Bash. This is delaying the production of tickets for the clubs to distribute because we haven't agreed kick-off times.

We take in all the money from our own sales, but the only ones currently available are on the RFL website. Please hang fire if you intend to go and buy them from the club.

There is also no sponsor for the Summer Bash and not one piece of ground advertising has been sold. This is a big event in the Championship calendar. All of the clubs' representatives in the room could have sold some.

Moving onto the 1895 Cup; again, no TV deal. They are negotiating with the BBC. They are not sure if the semi-finals will be a double header with TV or home and away advantage. Again, they have no sponsor.

This is for a cup with the final at Wembley. Okay, it isn't the Challenge Cup but it will get decent exposure.

There is no prize-money for the clubs, but they say we can have ticket sales from Wembley once they have their £100,000 staging costs back.

Can they confirm that because I can see 10,000 from Barrow going at an average £40/ticket generating £400,000? Erm, no, we'll get back to you.

They then proudly tell us that Coral have signed a two-year deal for the Challenge Cup but then mention they can pull out after one. In my eyes, that’s a one-year deal.