Re: Uninspiring : Thu Nov 13, 2014 8:59 am  

tigertot wrote:

I'm not sure what your point is in relation to my post. I was suggesting that over the 35 years I have been watching, & for the last 15 that has been Leeds more than any other club, there has never been a golden period of RL. There have obviously been dominant teams with a host of WC players - Wigan, Bradford, Saints, Leeds - during that time, but usually at the expense of other clubs chances of making a fist of it. If that's your bag, fine. But we have a more level playing field now than any other time in that period. And I don't buy the claim that a number of clubs are cruising or not trying until the end of the season. The standard of RL in late 70s, early 80s, was absolute garbage in comparison. But I still loved the game as much as I do now.

Your post said "Eight evenly matched sides full of world class players" - I simply asked who the world class players were you had at Castleford?

I wouldn't consider Leeds evenly matched with Wigan, Saints, Warrington so I am struggling to see how you would consider Castleford to be on a level with those sides?

Re: Uninspiring : Thu Nov 13, 2014 9:10 am  

broadrhino1 wrote:

Is it just me or, so far, is there little to encourage me to buy a season ticket for next year?

1) The squad is the same as last season bar Cuthbertson (up to now, with 3 out and 1 in - and uncertainty surrounding Aiton)

2) Home games last year were, by and large, pretty dull.

3) The new shirt is nothing special and the prices have gone up again (with a name and number you're talking £60+)

4) Festive Challenge tickets (and no doubt pre-season friendly tickets) are over-priced.

5) The South Stand beer is both expensive and awful.

Looking at the above I think I've talked myself into picking and choosing the games I'll attend next year.

Am I being a negative old fart or do I have a point?

1) If new signings is all you care about, jog on to football. There is plenty of new signings, twice a year in fact that should capture your attention span.

2) If you drank less at games, maybe you could concentrate more on the on field action.

3) The shirt a team plays in influences your season ticket decision? Then why don't you just support a different team each year based on who's shirt you think is the besterest!!! Then you will never be disappointed.

4) This has nothing to do with the regular season. This point is redundant.

5) Stop drinking at the ground then, you might be able to concentrate on the rugby that's going on in front of your face.

Southstander.com is becoming a place of moaning old farts so you fit in perfectly. Why bother picking and choosing your games at all? Just don't go and watch from your armchair while drinking cheap beer and shouting at the telly "t'wer better in my day!" "call that a shirt" "why's he still playing he's crap?" Sound's like you'll have much more fun.

Re: Uninspiring : Thu Nov 13, 2014 9:30 am  

_dyl_ wrote:

1) If new signings is all you care about, jog on to football. There is plenty of new signings, twice a year in fact that should capture your attention span.

2) If you drank less at games, maybe you could concentrate more on the on field action.

3) The shirt a team plays in influences your season ticket decision? Then why don't you just support a different team each year based on who's shirt you think is the besterest!!! Then you will never be disappointed.

4) This has nothing to do with the regular season. This point is redundant.

5) Stop drinking at the ground then, you might be able to concentrate on the rugby that's going on in front of your face.

Southstander.com is becoming a place of moaning old farts so you fit in perfectly. Why bother picking and choosing your games at all? Just don't go and watch from your armchair while drinking cheap beer and shouting at the telly "t'wer better in my day!" "call that a shirt" "why's he still playing he's crap?" Sound's like you'll have much more fun.

Southstander is simply reflecting the frustration of fans who are experiencing a significant dilution of quality whilst still being asked to pay the same price if not more. What should have happened was a building on a foundation created from 2003-2012 with standards increasing - sadly the reverse has happened.

Re: Uninspiring : Thu Nov 13, 2014 9:38 am  

Sal Paradise wrote:

Southstander is simply reflecting the frustration of fans who are experiencing a significant dilution of quality whilst still being asked to pay the same price if not more. What should have happened was a building on a foundation created from 2003-2012 with standards increasing - sadly the reverse has happened.

I disagree and think the quality is increasing and it's becoming harder to win every game. With top class players being enticed to Australia and NZ (when in the past have we had so many go over and play at the same level as our antipodean cousins?) our pool of talent is growing every year.

10 of the 12 Super League coaches are British, where as 10 years ago it was 2. Building quality takes time and I believe we are now seeing the benefits of the last 10 years with more clubs producing players, some even coming from the championship and making it.

I for one will be renewing my season ticket and enjoy the rugby on show, win lose or draw, because I'm a fan of Rugby, England and Leeds. Yes there are problems to work out. Yes every game is not edge of your seat, going down to the wire, mouth watering style on display stuff, but what sport offers that week-in week-out? If you think that's sport then your are deluding yourself.

Re: Uninspiring : Thu Nov 13, 2014 9:48 am  

_dyl_ wrote:

I disagree and think the quality is increasing and it's becoming harder to win every game. With top class players being enticed to Australia and NZ (when in the past have we had so many go over and play at the same level as our antipodean cousins?) our pool of talent is growing every year.

10 of the 12 Super League coaches are British, where as 10 years ago it was 2. Building quality takes time and I believe we are now seeing the benefits of the last 10 years with more clubs producing players, some even coming from the championship and making it.

I for one will be renewing my season ticket and enjoy the rugby on show, win lose or draw, because I'm a fan of Rugby, England and Leeds. Yes there are problems to work out. Yes every game is not edge of your seat, going down to the wire, mouth watering style on display stuff, but what sport offers that week-in week-out? If you think that's sport then your are deluding yourself.

You must be watching a different game to most of us - the general view was that 2014 was the worst season for quality for many years - I don't see standards rising - I am also failing to understand why having British coaches without any experience of the best competition in the world is a good thing? Losing our truly elite players to the RU and the NRL and an inability to recruit quality players from the NRL has impacted the quality on the field - even you must see that?

Re: Uninspiring : Thu Nov 13, 2014 10:14 am  

Sal Paradise wrote:

You must be watching a different game to most of us - the general view was that 2014 was the worst season for quality for many years - I don't see standards rising - I am also failing to understand why having British coaches without any experience of the best competition in the world is a good thing? Losing our truly elite players to the RU and the NRL and an inability to recruit quality players from the NRL has impacted the quality on the field - even you must see that?

I'm sorry but Southstander does not represent the whole of rugby. Go do some scientific research on public opinion and I might agree with you. But, if your formulating your general view from people on the internet, you must also believe the moon landings were faked and that 9/11 was masterminded by the United States government.

Also, if you're comparing 10 years of data to one then this is not a logical comparison. Come back in 2023 and compare 2003 - 2013 and 2014 - 2023, this would then be logical. Yes, I do see having more British coaches as a good thing as it means they get experience of coaching at the top level.

My point is we shouldn't recruit more top quality players from the NRL, we should export them as we are so they gain experience of playing in the best RL competition. They then return home and share said experience and increase the quality of our own competition.

I think you will find there is one "truly elite" player that has gone to RU, not players. The rest of the players that have gone to RU have been chances taken by the RFU and most of them have failed. What other "truly elite" British player has gone to RU in the last 10 years?

The only way you increase quality is increase the pool of talent you select from. In 2003, only a few clubs had academy's feeding their 1st team. Now there are more. These lads are not going to be world class now but if the increase in academy products continues, I believe in 2023 we will be looking back saying "Wow, what a 10 years of amazing sport we've seen and that player and this team and England are now competing on a world stage". If I'm wrong, may you quote this post in 10 years time and prove me wrong.

Re: Uninspiring : Thu Nov 13, 2014 11:01 am  

Sal Paradise wrote:

Your post said "Eight evenly matched sides full of world class players" - I simply asked who the world class players were you had at Castleford?

I wouldn't consider Leeds evenly matched with Wigan, Saints, Warrington so I am struggling to see how you would consider Castleford to be on a level with those sides?

That was my point. There aren't, & never have been 8, or even 4, evenly matched teams full of world class players. Last season was the most even season I can remember with Leeds having dropped to the level of the rest. I'm still struggling to see the relevance of how many world class players Cas have though. But seeing as you seem to be fixated on it, at the moment only Shenton is arguably world class.

Re: Uninspiring : Thu Nov 13, 2014 11:16 am  

'World class' players are a class apart - if every team has several 'world class' players then they can't actually be 'world class' players because there are so many.

It is the thing going on in football punditry at the moment (the Guardian has had a few articles in the last year discussing this) - how because pundits so regularly call players 'top players' (or suchlike) that they now also have 'top, top players' and (for some pundits) 'top, top, top players'.

Whereas the reality is that if they were just more selective on who they applied the 'top' or 'world class' monickers to to start then these issues wouldn't happen in the first place.

There is nothing wrong with just been a 'solid' or 'good' player in a professional sport; it seems to be a commentator's thing at the moment though to emphasise how spectacular those we watch are which then ironically renders such terms useless as 30 - 40% of people within every top flight team are labelled as such!

Re: Uninspiring : Thu Nov 13, 2014 11:42 am  

World class for me is a player who has the ability to stand out amongst others even at the highest level.

In SL right now the players i would regard as WC are: Roby,Hill,Hall,O'Loughlin,Hardaker,Todd Carney,Clark,Sarginson and Walsh.

Re: Uninspiring : Thu Nov 13, 2014 11:50 am  

I think there should only be 13 players called world class each year. The best in that position. All others a good, solid, talented etc. Like said earlier we don't want to be getting to a "world, world, world, world class" player.