One of the consequences of the changes to the structure of Rugby League for 2015 will be an increased interest in what is happening in the Kingstone Press Championship.

Not only does the second tier of the game now boast two recently relegated Super League sides, Bradford Bulls and London Broncos, but the top four placed sides at the end of the first sequence of fixtures will be thrown into a Super 8 competition with the bottom four Super League clubs.

It looks like the Championship will be a massively competitive division with the potential that up to four sides in the current Championship could be playing in Superleague in 2016. At the end of the Super 8 stage, the top four sides will join the Superleague eight to form next season’s top division of twelve.

Championship fixtures start this coming weekend starting with Dewsbury v. Sheffield on Friday night.

There are four fixtures on Sunday with Batley entertaining Workington, Leigh welcoming the Bulls, London Broncos playing host to Doncaster and Halifax making the journey to Cumbria to play Whitehaven.

Round one completes on Monday when Featherstone play Hunslet at Post Office Road.

So who are favourites for the top four?

Bradford are the clear favourites to finish top of the pile and many bookies have them as odds-on, but London Broncos are only third favourites at far longer odds. Leigh are also heavily fancied and could give Bradford a run for the top spot, making this weekend’s opening fixture an early four-pointer.

The fourth spot is likely to be occupied by either Featherstone or Halifax, with the bookies leaning towards Andy Hays’ Featherstone Rovers.

Whether you support a Superleague, or a Championship side, you are likely to spend the 2015 season with a keen eye on what is happening in the games second tier.