As a fan who lives soooo far away from his beloved Fax I rely on the reports in the Courier and from the reaction to matches from all of you. My last full season was the 2005 one, although I have seen the odd game when back in Blighty since. However, despite Fax's rise, I cant help feeling that the league has become somewhat watered down this season, absent of the likes of Cas, Hull KR, Salford and dare I say it Celtic. To me these teams added quality to the league and made it a tough place to compete.

So, putting emotion to one side and fully opening both eyes, what is your honest assessment of the standard of the league from what you have seen so far this season and in comparison to the last few?

My honest opinion is that, this Fax team would compete against all them sides at the time. This is by far the best and most proffesional team we have had since SL. We look so big and strong compared to most teams in this league.

The stadard of the league hasnt dropped due to the othere teams leaving. There are still good players dotted about the other teams.

Yet as good as the team seems to be playing, the games against Widnes, Barrow and Haven have been close affairs. Widnes are having it tough, Haven look like a one man team and Barrow are new boys. I dont think from this far away that we are way ahead of the pack, only marginally in front.

In past seasons there has been a couple of stand out teams who had a chance of competing at SL level. My concern is that our improvement has come at a time when standards in the league are not as high as previous seasons. Reading reports on matches for all teams, mistakes (eg poor completion rates, slack tackling, etc) seem to be more plentiful than they should be for an improving league.

(btw. before anyone has a dig about me being a doom merchant, all i am looking for is an honest assessment)

The standed at this level from the top sides as come along way when we played up at Barrow we stayed over night and on the way back on the sunday we stoped off at Oldham vs Workington the difference in standed and speed was leagues apart at our game.

To be quite honest i think the answer to the question is that it is too early to say. Although i think we are a good side, the sides around us that are contenders ( Widnes, Leigh, Haven & Barrow ) in this league are either rebuilding or are still a couple of years behind us in terms of settled squads and coaching staff. I have to admit also that Haven blew us away in the second half last week and we had no answer to them, which was a big surprise for me because i thought that wouldnt happen this year, i also think that the reason that it happened was because the front row were second best to Havens. Said and Frank looked very average in the second half and we really missed James when he got injured.
Time will tell, but i also think on a positive note that we have lots of improvement left in us and once we stop losing possession so easily and putting ourselves under so much pressure we will be hard to stop when we get a roll on.
Lets not get carried away just yet but the signs are good.

I saw Catalans v Bradford in Perpignan Live recently and was shocked how poor the tackling and creativity from both were. Both seemed to make easy metres but then lost ideas in the last 20. I would think Halifax, Barrow, Widnes and maybe Toulouse now would give both a tough game home or away. Barrow ran Wigan close in the Cup and were unlucky to lose.
I do not think standards have slipped more than games are more competitive. There is some real class in the Championship- Mcnally, Mcgilvary, Black, Gleeson, Catic, Liam Harrison Andy Ellis etc who from the SL games I have seen on TV and Live could step up to one of the lower to mid table SL teams. Some are happy to be part time - Dave Larder and paul Smith are a couple for a start whilst others maybe would prefer to play in a winning team rather than one stuck at the bottom of SL.

You aren't a closet Bully are you?

NO WAY!!!! had a meeting in Perpignan and managed to watch the game. Was willing Catalans on- the French certainly made plenty of noise!!

The major difference I can see is that sure us, barrow, Haven could run a SL club close once but to do it week in week out is different. Consistency is key.

Lets not forget the salary cap in The Championship is far less than SL so imagine the extra strength if the top Championship could strengthen to this level.

i think we'd struggle in your league at the moment

I think it has improved since 2005 as if you remember Black was slicing through defences at will and scored tries for fun this time maybe he has lost some pace but he doesnt score nearly as many tries.

Damian Gibson < Shad Royston
James Haley < Lee Paterson
Andy Kirk < Jon Goddard
Anthony Blackwood = James Haley
Rikki Sheriffe > Rob Worrincy
Dean Lawford < Mick Govin
Ben Black = Ben Black
Andy Hobson < Matt James
Ben Fisher < Mark Gleeson
Jason Boults < Dana Wilson
Dave Larder = Dave Larder
Damian Ball < Paul Smith
Pat Weisner = Bob Beswick
Subs:
Jamie Bloem < Penky
Andy Spink < Mark Roberts
Ryan MacDonald < Said Tamghart
Chris Birchall < Frank Watene

This is the Castleford 2005 Play off Final Eliminator team compared to what i believe is our strongest team at this moment in time

Would probably agree with the above - would think Worrincy is a better player than Sheriffe even though he is in SL. Think the main difference is that the players that are better are not just marginally better - most are far better than what we had in 2005

I cant agree with that. Rikki was top class and scored a potful - he would walk it in this league. His weakness was defence, same as rob.

The major difference is the pack and the strength of the bench these days.

Guess we will have to agree to differ - at the time he was ok for us but couldnt catch or defend - imo Rob is better in these departments - also when he came back to us and then played for Doncaster he was awfull.