More competitive than ever or just a poorer standard? : Sat Jul 06, 2019 6:18 pm  

On paper this is the most competitive SL ever, with 10 points seperating 3rd from bottom and just 4 from 7th to bottom. And with the exception of Saints and to a lesser degree Wire who are a step up in class so far, I beleive anybody can beat anybody.

Can't decide if that is simply due to the Salary Cap hitting full impact after all these years or if we simply have more players who aren't capable of playing well two weeks in a row. My own club Hull have been the extreme example of this, looking top some weeks and error strewn and out of sorts the next. Several others clubs are having this same up and down form though so it can't just be down to coaching methods at one club.

A good choice of Marquee players such as at Saints and Wire has seemed to provide an edge, but Leeds have spent big and got little return so not convinced marquee players has been the difference to how things where 5, 10 or 15 years ago.

Finishing top has been devalued and that could be a reason, as in theory you can still finish 5th and be Champions so there isn't as much of a need to perform every week. Maybe bigger financial rewards for where you finish in the regular season would help fix this.

Frustratingly for the game the TV games have seemed to feature one in form and one of our form team a lot of weeks, ive been quite bored watching some of the 'neutral' games as many seem to be blowout scores quite early. Hard to tell if there have been more of these games or i've just forgotten some of the bad ones from seasons past!

Re: More competitive than ever or just a poorer standard? : Sat Jul 06, 2019 6:25 pm  

Think it’s 3 teams that are key to what is an unusual season.

London not being whipping boys like people expected and what we usually get from whoever is bottom in any given season. If they were on 6/8pts now like most would’ve expected then no real fight and teams above strolling towards the end of the season.

Leeds and Wigan falling backwards for various reasons. If they take recent form into next season then the top 5 will look more of the usual.

It’s not going to be every season you’re going to have a really competitive team in 12th place nor have your 2 main champions for over the last decade have issues.

Re: More competitive than ever or just a poorer standard? : Sat Jul 06, 2019 6:37 pm  

The SL standard has been falling for some while, it just happens to be close in terms of points between a number of teams.

Re: More competitive than ever or just a poorer standard? : Sat Jul 06, 2019 7:09 pm  

For me the interchange rule and cleaning up the PTB has created a shift towards the more athletic mobile side rather than the power teams. Castleford, Warrington and Saints usually play that style and have only needed a small adjustment to speed up attacking play, I should imagine Castleford would have been knocking on 3rd place if they didn't have that horrendous injury spell.

A couple of teams like Leeds and Wigan have recruited badly whilst Salford are being stripped of there best talent mid season. The rest are just too inconsistent and can't get a decent run of form.

Re: More competitive than ever or just a poorer standard? : Sat Jul 06, 2019 7:32 pm  

When you think of the quality of Hudds Leeds Saints Wigan and Wire teams at the start of this decade. They’d all win comfortably against the current top 5.

Going off my team, Wire’s 2011 and 2012 side would put 50 on this current Wire side. Saints are cruising at the top this season yet they’d get a hammering of their 2006 side.

Re: More competitive than ever or just a poorer standard? : Sat Jul 06, 2019 7:35 pm  

The standards are as high as they've ever been, however, changes to the rules and the introduction of the 'wrestle' has tipped the balance too much in the favour of defence overall.

I do think reducing the number of injuries is one of the biggest challenges that the game faces

Re: More competitive than ever or just a poorer standard? : Sat Jul 06, 2019 7:45 pm  

Charlie Sheen wrote:

The standards are as high as they've ever been, however, changes to the rules and the introduction of the 'wrestle' has tipped the balance too much in the favour of defence overall.

I do think reducing the number of injuries is one of the biggest challenges that the game faces

I don’t know about standards being as high as ever.

From my example above, I’ll make a XIII from the 2011 Wire side and the current Wire side(*):
1 Bret Hodgson
2 *Tom Lineham (over Riley)
3 Matt King
4 Ryan Atkins (of 2011)
5 Joel Monaghan
6 Lee Briers
7 *Blake Austin (over Myler)
8 Adrian Morley
9 *Daryl Clark
10 Gareth Carvell
11 Ben Westwood (of 2011)
12 Louis Anderson
13 Simon Grix
Int. Ben Harrison; Paul Wood; *Chris Hill; Michael Monaghan

Re: More competitive than ever or just a poorer standard? : Sat Jul 06, 2019 7:55 pm  

10-15 years ago most of the best British players played in Super League.

Today that would see:
Sam Burgess
Tom Burgess
George Burgess
Josh Hodgson
Jon Bateman
Elliot Witehead
Ryan Sutton
James Graham
Gareth Widdop
Ryan Hall
...all, or mostly all, playing in SL

At one point around 2005 we only had one British player in the NRL.

Re: More competitive than ever or just a poorer standard? : Sat Jul 06, 2019 7:57 pm  

Judder Man wrote:

Salford are being stripped of there best talent mid season. The rest are just too inconsistent and can't get a decent run of form.

Whose left them mid season apart from Lui and that’s just 2 games and they wouldn’t have won at Wigan with him anyway.

Leeds’ form isn’t too bad under Agar with 4 wins from the last 6. Hell we’ve even been 7 wins from our last 13 in total. It was that horror start of 1 win from 8 that was significant and of those 8 we had Saints, Wire, Wigan, Hull and Catalans all away.

Re: More competitive than ever or just a poorer standard? : Sat Jul 06, 2019 8:01 pm  

Psychedelic Casual wrote:

10-15 years ago most of the best British players played in Super League.

Today that would see:
Sam Burgess
Tom Burgess
George Burgess
Josh Hodgson
Jon Bateman
Elliot Witehead
Ryan Sutton
James Graham
Gareth Widdop
Ryan Hall
...all, or mostly all, playing in SL

At one point around 2005 we only had one British player in the NRL.

But if they were what real impact would it have on fans feelings of the current game. Can’t remember people tuning in to see Ryan Sutton play and even though Bateman got individual praise for his showings it wasn’t like people enjoyed watching Wigan when he was there so there’s a more overall affect than just players. People enjoy watching Cas on form over the years but it hasn’t been a team of superstars that could cut it in the NRL.