It snowed!

While Briers was here there were two wonder kid half backs on our books, ten years ago it was Jamie Durbin and five years ago it was Gareth O'Brien.

I think you are right and your figures suggest that too. The 'first past the post' league structure is only an incentive for teams that are in the hunt for the title, which is fair enough at the moment as there are a lot of clubs around the same level at the top but if we went back to an era where there were say 2 or max 3 teams contending for the title then what would the other teams have to play for? In football first past the post works because there's a battle for the title, then there's the battle for top four and Champions League places, then there's the battle for European spots, and once you are out of that its more a case of mid table vs being in the relegation fight. There is so much money at stake that league position is at a premium.

The problem with the current format is I think 8 is too many teams, for the strong sides you know you will make the top 8 even if you have a bad season, so its only really an incentive for the likes of Widnes, Salford, Hull KR, Wakefield fighting for a playoff spot.

I think what really drives the fans is the product on the pitch and the glamour of the players. For years people said there are too many Aussies here, if there were fewer we would get more of our home grown players coming through the ranks, but now because there is more money in the Aussie game and the exchange rate has gone against us that has limited our access to the NRL market better than any overseas player ruling could have done, and it hasn't improved our game. Yes we get to see more of our own players get a chance, Evans, Ormsby, O'Brien, Currie, Laithwaite, and so on but these players do not bring the crowds in. If we were signing Thurston, Inglis and this kind of player then it would increase the gates, guaranteed. In the old days Super League used to get guys like Allan Langer, Adrian Lam, Andrew and Matty Johns, Jason Smith, Jamie Lyon, Adrian Morley, Matt King, these were players that got fans excited about our game.

Lots of reasons for attendances falling...

In no particular order

Money...If anyone I know has had a wage rise in the past few years the are keeping it quiet. Yet season tickets go up in price

Performance ...The team has been hit and miss in big games all season. People start watching (and stop watching) based on the performances in the big games.

Unimportant games - the message from sky is that the only games that matter are the play offs - so everything else is perceived as low importance games - this carries through to the coaching and selection too

SKy scheduling....Monday, Thursday and Friday games would be ok if they were local derbies....but if there is travelling...the away support is wiped out

Sky.....so much negativity...Stevo in particular... they are driving people away

Marketing....seems to have gone very complacent and sleepy

RFL(and parochial self interested clubs) - no vision...no common goal for the sport. Clubs do not work together at all

The match day experience needs addressing, offering something that people are interested in and is relevant to the game. Dancers, bands and competitions are tired and don't really offer many fans much to get them in early and give them something they don't get through TV.

we waited long enough for Lee Briers to play well and take us on to success. He also played alongside the two greatest scrum halves the world has ever seen and still we won nothing.

I'm sure we can afford Gareth O'Brien a bit of slack and maybe another year or two? after all his halfback partner is a centre turned stand off, and sometimes a utility player that has never really held down one position, add to that he has a full back that is not an extra pivot like Briers' team mate Hodgson was..........

sometimes we forget how we were with Briers in the team week after week year after year

player of the season, MOS and best No6 in superleague though..... dont forget that. if he plays we win, if he doesnt were rubbish

after all his halfback partner is a centre turned stand off,
II thought it was the other way round. Didn't Bridge start of as a stand off and move to centre because Briers was occupying that position?

He was a centre, turned half, back to centre and now back in the halves.

I must say ,the attendance figures quoted seem a bit dodgy to me , i can't recall London averaging 9 thousand plus attendances.....or Bradford or Cas or Huddersfield.