Last updated 17:52, Friday, 11 April 2008

I’D love to see a Cumbrian side in the running for a Super League licence for 2009, but you cannot win a race if you ain’t in it.

Talent: New signing Saia Makisi is clearly phenomenally strong

So in the absence of a Cumbrian contender, Super League bosses could do worse than hand a three-year licence to Welsh contenders Celtic Crusaders.

Haven fans will get a look at last season’s NL2 champs in League One action tonight at the Recre.

No one can be certain how Super League bosses will assess licence applications, though I’d be surprised if the Bridgend-based club are not major contenders to land a prized slot next year.

In the past, I always preferred the RFL to focus on the game’s Northern England heartland, rather than look further afield.

But there is no doubting the decision to hand Perpignan-based Catalans Dragons a top-flight slot has worked well, and the French national side will be all the stronger for it in this year’s World Cup in Australia.

Why not now cash in on the Welsh fervour for the oval ball. The Wales RU team are on a high, with a little help from coach Shaun Edwards, the former RL star.

A Crusaders official this week told me that league is tightening its grip in the Valleys, and that it’s common to see youngsters walking around in Super League shirts, with Wigan particularly popular.

It’s been a statement of intent to field a 25-strong full-time squad in NL1 this year. Youth development is improving, with plans for seven home-grown squads of 24 players, aged 12 to 16, spread throughout Wales, unveiled last week.

New Conference National side Crusaders Colts, Celtic’s feeder team, won their opening game 66-12 at Dewsbury Moor. The team included 16 Welshmen.

The Welsh are clearly serious about this sport.

The forthcoming Millennium Magic weekend in Cardiff, with a string of top-flight derbies to delight fans, should be another great advert for the 13-a-side code in Wales.

If the 12 current Super League clubs are awarded licences until 2012, I reckon it could come down to a contest between Celtic and Widnes for a top-flight slot.

Salford are surely certain to scoop the other licence as the RFL will want a top-flight presence in Manchester.

Widnes, world club champions less than 20 years ago, have history on their side, but Celtic may be the braver option.

Now for getting a Cumbrian contender up and running for a Super League bid next time around.

• The small minority of Haven fans critical of import Saia Makisi after his opening few games of the campaign should have known better.

Admittedly, he looked rusty after being thrust in to action without the benefit of a full pre-season programme, but in recent matches he has shown a marked improvement.

Stan Martin recommended the Tongan Test centre to Haven, and the former club coach would not have highlighted Makisi if he’d been a duffer.

Stan always had a good eye for a player. It was he of course who brought in Aaron Lester and Leroy Joe from New Zealand, and perhaps the best of the lot from Down Under, Siose Muliumu.

‘Soss’ had been the leading forward in Stan’s Junior Kiwis side before being recruited for Haven. So he arrived at the Recre with a huge fanfare.

His first game was against Huddersfield, off the bench, and on his first drive he skittled defenders left, right and centre.

After that initial burst, he failed to impress for several games, while he came to terms with a new team and a new country.

But he went on to the best forward I’ve had the pleasure to report on at the Recre. Sadly, he left after Stan’s departure and never fulfilled his massive potential.

Makisi has virtually no chance of ever reaching Muliumu’s Herculean standard – few have – but if he continues to progress, he may yet prove a cracking signing for Haven.

He’s clearly phenomenally strong in the tackle and his shoulder charge has plenty of venom behind it. Something like big Soss in fact.