Depends what you determine 'level up' or 'level down' as.

In terms of competing teams the league as a whole has gone up. Every team inside the top 10 still have an optimistic chance of making a stake for the Grand Final. In terms of quality on the field it looks the same to me. There's still a fair share of imports around but the only difference is, is that every team is more or less even now.

Then when you look at the club's attendances you can safely say that the majority of SL teams have made some great improvements over the past couple of years.

Possibly but we haven't had to sack half the backroom staff in order to fullfill inflated wage demands

FFS Here we go again.(Dobbin Hull F.C. mode).Derail thread alert.This thread is about the current standard of Superleague.We all know you love us but give it a rest man.

the standard has definately gone up. it may not be as 'entertaining' for some people but that is because all of the players are fit and fast. half backs get far less time to attack the line and tackling techniques have improved so much so that we see fewer off loads and fewer quick play the balls were teams can attack the opposition on the back foot. its all about people understanding where games are won and lost nowadays, fans of the days of old far to often dont recognise the work that goes on in the contact and around the ruck.

this has all come about with the era of super league and full time professionalism,not so much the cap. as for hindering teams with a good youth system, i think not. utilising your youth system properly is identifying which players you want to bring through, and having a balanced first team which enables you to do so. its also about making those big decisions (see Wayne Bennett's BBC article last month) about releasing senior players in favour of giving a young player his big break. i dont think the salary cap has hindered leeds exactly has it...

Excellent post.

The league has levelled up, yet Hull FC have levelled down!