As you so rightly say this has been the BEST finale to a season in years , far far better than the play off system, we at Leigh knew the rules and accepted them it's no use complaining now because results have been what we expected ,for me these 8s have been a learning curve, before we started a game a fair few Leigh fans were saying MOST of our current Squad were good enough for SL standard and how we might go through the 8's unbeaten,well it's been a severe wake up call, a good percentage of our Squad are not up to the week in week out SL challenge which is why Derek feels the need to Strengthen next year.As for the Conspiracy Theory by the RFL ,I think not .

why should you "of"

beaten them just out of interest?

Its been brilliant season thus far and whilst the results in the 8's haven't been what we'd have wanted I'd take this over the previous 10 or 11 seasons of closed shop RL.

Me too. At least there's been a chance (and still is) of a Championship team getting promoted. Previously there has been a zero chance.

Just a few slight tweaks will make this structure even better, in future seasons.

I don't expect any club to gain promotion but it has added a bit more purpose to the season. Can see some clubs gearing up to try and close the gap but that will further distort the Championship.Some reappraisal necessary.

www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/sport/ru ... -1-7467820 Wakefields troubles could throw a big spanner into the chances of both the Bulls and Leigh. Halifax have a huge chance to beat them this weekend based on the above report. A Fax and Leigh win will leave Wakey, Fax, Bulls, and Leigh all on 4 points going into the last weekend

www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/sport/ru ... -1-7467820 Wakefields troubles could throw a big spanner into the chances of both the Bulls and Leigh. Halifax have a huge chance to beat them this weekend based on the above report. A Fax and Leigh win will leave Wakey, Fax, Bulls, and Leigh all on 4 points going into the last weekend

It's a Yorkshire conspiracy I tell thee!!

Spot on Charlie we need to just learn lessons and admit that we haven't been good enough in these eights its that simple. You only really need to beat the 3 championship teams and you would be in the 1m game though its not over yet and we could scrape in.

I'm sick of hearing the excuse of the cap, Halifax didn't sit around worrying about status or cap and have been competitive throughout especially playing against us spending 1m as a FT professional club with all the trimmings they out coached, out enthused us and kicked our ass.

Also these folk calling for increased cap without any understanding of how a clubs finances operate need to remember the cap is there for a very good reason to stop clubs going balls out, poop or bust for Super League spending money they don't have. We have been there many times before and would hate to see us make the same mistakes again......

Ive lost count of the number of SL clubs going bankrupt in a salary cap world and its certainly not resulted in more teams winning trophies, both of which were 2 key points at implementation stage. Get rid of it completely for me.

Many clubs went bust every year and set up as new co before the salary cap era. You will never eradicate bad business practice across a whole sport and most will find ways of spending outside of a cap anyway if they so wish.

Salary cap is a control measure rather than a preventative.

Id love to see it in all sports including football you would then find out who can actually coach and manage and who cant and just really on big signings and quality of personnel.

Ste as you know I'm a Marwan fan ,but I don't agree with some of his opinions,regarding the Salary Cap for a start,if you agree with it or not you can't just ignore it ,it's there to be adhered to and if we DO break it I'm sure the RFL will make sure we are penalised. Marwan got his wish for the Marquee Player rule to be passed but as far as I know it doesn't apply to Championship Clubs, I also know at the present moment Leigh are not a Championship Club, but we soon could be tomorrow.
I remember the Dark days of the Blackpool Mafia ,Keith Bell and Jack Hart,and don't want similar things to happen again,it's only maybe 2 or 3 years ago we couldn't pay our players ,till Derek and the current BOM stepped in,along with a couple of others who have since moved on,I want what's best for Leigh Centurions and I don't think all this talk about ignoring the Salary Cap will help us,we agreed to the rules at the start of the Season, let's stand by them.

Maybe not but its managed to do away with one horse races and periods of dominance from clubs that just spend more than anyone else like what happened with Wigan in the 80s and early 90s.

The comp as a whole in SL is competitive with smaller clubs able to compete and in HKRs case reach major finals. As Cas have shown with patience and professional management team, a ambitious coach and a long term development ethos bringing through talent year on year you can be competitive at the highest level without breaking the bank or being a so called "big club".

Andy I agree 100% with every word you say , we don't want to go back to the days of Wigan winning 8 CC Finals on the trot ,even some Wigan fans got bored with that , look at Cas last night ,Darryl Powell has showed what can be achieved .

If it were up to me Daryl Powell would be coaching England mate.

He had a period of dominance in the Championship with Fev then picked up the mess Millward left behind at Cas and quickly turned it round. Despite having some of his better players cherry picked every year by bigger clubs he keeps them competitive and the brand of RL they play lives up to the name "Classy Cas".

some fair points but little clubs where busy winning titles and challenge cups before the salary cap into fore not just competing.

Halifax and Leigh 2 clubs who won the title in the 80's.

Featherstone, Hull KR 2 clubs who won the cup in the 80's.

During Wigans dominance Widnes won the league more than once.

Salary cap just hasnt worked at any level.

At the elite level its helped to force star players out of the game.

In Wigans dominant period we had the most competitive national side and more publicity nationwide as we have ever had.

Players were household names...

You say we haven't been good enough,so really, we need better players which would cost more.

Then you're saying you are sick of hearing excuses about the salary cap. A bit of contradiction there.

My point is that the salary cap should be increased in the leagues out side of SL to make a bit more of a level playing field. Also the transfer deadline should be looked at.

I agree. In the current system promotion to SL is just an illusion, a scrap thrown down by the RFL to try and make the competitions mean something at the back end of the season.

There's a live cap system in place to prevent clubs overspending. Why not take the average salary of the bottom 4 SL clubs (as although the have the right to spend £1.8 million, I'm not convinced they all are) and allow Championship clubs who can prove they have the income to support that level of salary be allowed to pay that much.

Also, the signing deadline needs to be moved to much earlier in the season, I'd suggest around May time as that will prevent clubs signing a brand new side the week before the middle 8's start and produce a more level playing field come the middle 8 competition.

Can't argue with that.

Derek , maybe the Salary Cap should be increased ,nowt wrong with that what worries me is if we blatantly ignore the Cap and sign whichever player we can , it's great for the Fans to get to see the best players but you can't just ignore the rules, look what happened at Barrow when Dessie was ruling them, he overspent .the Club was punished ,the rest is History, I wouldn't want that for our great club.
And what would happen if we were allowed to overspend,then heaven forbid for some reason Derek decided he wanted out,who would pay the players large contracts then?I admire Derek for wanting the best at Leigh, I've already mentioned some players to you, but at what price?

=#FF0000Richard Marshall at Fax with less than half our cap spend and without FT staff and players has managed to equal our achievements in the eights so far and turn us over also. Not heard him bleating about our significant advantages we have over them he's just got on with it.

=#FF0000In summary and in my opinion we have haven't been good enough on the whole in this eights series and im pretty sure Derek and Paul know this and id suggest with or without reinforcements must improve next year if we want to do better surely?

=#FF0000The answer in life isn't always to throw money at a problem.

=#FF0000With the above said win tomorrow and remarkably we still have a chance!!!!

=#FF0000PS I agree regards the transfer deadline.

Just a point on the salary cap, no where in the article in the MEN does Derek say we will break it nor is he quoted. Re-read what is actually written.

Well said Ste, And also for SRW1996, I never mentioned breaking the salary cap in my post either.

I never said you did pal.

No you didn't. You just said you was sick of hearing excuses about the salary cap. What excuses?

Quote ="Cokey"[size=150No you didn't.[/size You just said you was sick of hearing excuses about the salary cap. What excuses?'" Thanks for clarifying that. sportinglife.aol.co.uk/rugby-lea ... n-reaction "The Super League club's finances have a bit to do with it but it's proving an impossible dream at the moment for Championship clubs."

Quote ="Cokey"[size=150No you didn't.[/size You just said you was sick of hearing excuses about the salary cap. What excuses?'" Thanks for clarifying that. sportinglife.aol.co.uk/rugby-lea ... n-reaction "The Super League club's finances have a bit to do with it but it's proving an impossible dream at the moment for Championship clubs."