Around that time I didn't have a job so didn't go to any games or have Sky so can't comment on what it was like. Would you say that the quality is better or worse than what it was when Hull first joined Super League.

Hard to remember, it's certainly peaked, though.

Top of the league, in the semi of the challenge cup and wigan are a laughing stock as usual

Im loving super league,

No. The salary cap doesn't seem to be working in the way we'd hoped as it seems teams are going backwards almost across the board rather than going forward. Leeds and Saints are not as strong as they were two years ago because of a lack of competition. Bradford, FC, Wigan, Warrington and Catalans are all going backwards and as predicted the two new teams are propping up the table. The 'Kear Magic' has ran out just like it always does. Huddersfield are having the decent season they seem to every couple of years before they'll slide back down again. The only real bright spot is Hull KR but I think their improvement has as much to do with the other teams stagnating/going into reverse as it does them making great leaps.

Huddersfield and Hull KR are the only teams to make substantial progress off the pitch in the past year and that's on the back of a giveaway and glory-hunting now they're beating FC again. There's still much talk but little action on the stadium front (yes Salford, Cas, Wakey, Bradford that means you).

This season has seen some of the dullest and least skillful RL I've seen in SL since it started (even Eddie & Stevo seem to have reined in the 'Best SL ever' guff they normally spout) and we're still a good decade behind the NRL in every respect.

There are no 'must-see' Aussies over here at the minute and no real 'wow' players. The only positive point is that there are some good British prospects coming through at the minute but few if any honestly match up to their NRL counterparts.

All in all no I'm not happy with Super League at the minute because to be frank it's completely boring.

What is that supposed to mean?

I'm happy.

For me, the most important aspect of the salary cap is not to even the competition, but to stop clubs sending themselves bust striving for success.

Regarding playing standard, I would suggest that many of the top end clubs could bemoan a lack of star talent in their squad campare to 6-7 years ago, but what it means is that our coaches are having to take the players they've got and concetrate on coaching them to the top of their game.

Whilst we may not have the star players, teams such as huddersfield are showing what a proffessional, workmanlike gameplan can accomplish when executed. I would also say that the slight void created by a gradually decreasing number of overpaid foreigners is seeing a larger number of promising british youngsters get their chance. I reckon in 3-4 years, we'll have a better depth of quality players to pick for England than we do currently.

Saints are top and Wigan are 10th. Seems right to me.

SL is struggling though, it's being ignored by the media and has been swamped by club Union. As mentioned in the other thread I don't think the format of the competition is at all conducive to putting any effort in for a lot of the teams, which results in the stale and boring competition we have at the moment.

Nothing new there, then.
Club RU isn't having a great time itself. The clubs are under a lot of financial pressure having to carry a larger squad and now having to compete with the cashed up french clubs.

"Rugby league? Does that even have its own tab on the BBC sports website, or is it in other sports?"

Said my mate on saturday.

lol

Huddersfield.



That's another sign all is not well. Union has gone from being behind us to being well in front without any real improvement in the entertainment on offer. They sold out the Millenium Stadium and Crowe Park for two semi-finals ... it has been a few years since we sold out Old Trafford for the Grand Final.

How blinkered are you?

Your beloved Leeds team would be fine in either scenario...probably more so if we scrapped the salary cap...but then you'd revert back to how it was 5 - 10 years ago...with an even wider gap between the big guns and the other teams....now that truly would be boring!!

I'd absolutley love to see a GF that didn't involved Leeds or Saints...but until the other teams can build a core of good players that keep beneath the salary cap regularly then it won't happen.

There is no way in any perception you look at it that we're better off having an overseas player in for an English player. No way. Your argument is that we were embarrassed in the World Cup and can't win anything other than a one off test...but we need time to develop the next core group of English players that will match the Southern Hemisphere on a regular basis. Tony Smith hit the nail on the head when he stated we need tougher matches otherwise we'll always get smashed by NZ and Aus.

The fundamental problem for Super League is that the majority of the best English players are with Saints or Leeds...times are changing now, but it'll take time before the other teams have a fair enough share of the player talent. But bringing in more quality Aussies or Kiwi's will do nothing but damage our national team...however it may get a couple more bums on seats at the GF.

to be honest i don't care one bit for international rugby, all you hear is 'imports are damaging our international game' ???
International Rugby League is a joke anyway lets just concentrate on the league and if you're good enough you'll get in the team the quota system is fine as it is

The international game is a joke because we can't compete...and I'd say the majority of people do care about the national team. I agree the quota system is fine now, as it focuses on clubs bringing youth through and the fact we did away with relegation gives these players a chance to prove they are quality.

Why do we expect the media to take SL seriously when the vast majority of it is clearly a pre-season tournament for the playoffs at the end?

They can just cover the playoffs and be done with it.

In the football Premier League, every single Man Utd victory or defeat had serious implications for the season. Every time Liverpool won or Man Utd dropped points, it was something to talk about, something to speculate on, something exicting.

Even though the final result was predictable.

Furthermore, even when the title chase had finished, we still had the excitement of the final day watching to see who'd be relegated.

In SL, everyone knows that Leeds can just keep pulling out the medicre performances, it being irrelevent whether they catch Saints at the end. The 8 team playoff system is a cheap mechanism to make money/ create excitement with the lack of relegation.

I don't care if tb thinks that the 'playoffs are traditional'. The way they are currently set up is an absolute joke. It needs to be top 5 at most, and the league leaders should qualify directly for the final, with the others going straight into semis.

If you finish second, you can't complain; you should've finished first. And I'm a Leeds fan.

Declaration...are you saying that the Leeds performance on Saturday was mediocre

...jesus wept! god help everyone else when you really play well


To answer the original poster......I am delighted with SL. Quins sitting 5th, even after getting tonked by Leeds, with 3 less points than the last two seasons total and 10 games to go. Our team is shaping up pretty nicely and the young London lads are coming through.
Apart from Saints and Leeds (and let's face it, they both have pretty fantastic youth development programmes) other clubs like Wigan, Wire and Bradford are being left behind, whilst clubs like mine and teams like Castleford are reaping the rewards of not going for broke, but simply "building" a team within our budgets.

As for those who carry on moaning about relegation...get over it. If the frogs had been let go in their first year they would have folded. As it is, 3 years later and we are all gushing about the great even t in Spain last weekend and hoping we can have a spanish magic weekend........make your friggin minds up.
Lastly, if anyone here thinks any player at their club gives less than 100% every time they walk on the park then they need their heads looking at. This is the most brutal of sports and we pay to watch men knock lumps out of each other. I have never seen a "dead rubber" of a game. Just because Bradford v Celtic is a nothing game because they can't make the play offs doesn't mean that the players won't try their hardest.

IMO to make Super League better we need a more traditional approach.

now where did i leave that flat cap

Yep. And beer should be 1p a pint! Progress my @rse

Clearly you do not know much about the Giants. never mind

Play-offs to decide the title? And no relegation from the professional league into a separate league run on a part-time basis? That's pretty traditional. In fact, it's wholly traditional.

Was just an immature dig at Quins.

Leeds to compete with NSW and Queensland? That is the most pathetic comment i have ever heard.

if they played like they did at Quins then they could easily compete

Now this comment is even more pathetic.

Wouldn't say pathetic, just confusing.