Quote ="Sweaty Betty's"Excellent post. I am with you, the game is going backwards. The only thing that is improving is speed, size and fitness which in no small way is down to sports science. The way rugby league is being run we will be lucky if we are still have a sport to watch in 20 years time.'"
Good post burt I would disagree with you about the speed of the game. If anything its slower than eight to ten years ago especially the play the ball.
Unfortunately some aspects of the game will and are going backwards. We dont have the same spending power as the Aussie clubs because of their increased cap and the static cap in SL. We wont attract the better players from the NRL anymore and if anything some of our better players might decide to go over there rather than stay in SL. The only chance that any of top players will come over from Australia in the future is beacuse they have screwed up (e.g Greg Bird and Monaghan) and nobody wants them. The smaller numbers that will be signed will all be either NRL rejects, because they aren't as good or looking to boost thier pensions in an easier league.
As an earlier poster has written a few years ago Smith wouldn't even be considered a good signing by either Wigan or Saints but I guess that there's so few players available in certain positions at the moment.
