Eddie, Stevo, and Cas loving Phil Clarke will have us all believe that SL is getting better by the week, what a load of S**T.

St Helens, and Leeds even though they are good, are not a patch on previous seasons, the bulls and Hull are shadows of their previous levels, and all that's happened is it looks like everyone else are catching up, catching up my ar@e.

The top try scorer in SL this season may well be Menzies, a 35 year old back rower in a struggling team

that shows how we are improving.

without menzies the bulls would be no where near the position they are in, morrison is another who's been missing for them too

Must agree the game has flattered to deceive this year.

Each team playing very similar Aussie (but not as good) style tactics.

It shows when Menzies a 36yr old can play 80 mins week in week out and score the number of tries that he has this season.

The current format of the cap rewards mediocrity and lack of ambition, while the cap remains in its current format the quality of the game will suffer.

I disagree. I don't think Saints and Leeds have been firing on all cylinders this year, and that is where most of the "quality" comes from. I think the other games, those mid-table clashes, have been superb at times though.

And anyway, if teams get closer, the games will seem less expansive, as teams will start to cancel each other out. Quality is always more visible against less effective teams. Give me a Hull KR-v-Warrington grand final against Leeds and Saints any day.

It's a debate that crops up mostly on the Wigan forum, which usually translates as "why can't we win anything when we have got all this money. It's not fair", as Wigan fans seem to equate the quality of the game with other so-called lesser teams having a chance of silverware when they don't. When Wigan fans want something other than the opportunity to bankrupt the game and turn it into a contest of who has got the most money, I'll listen to them. The only plus I get from Wigan getting to the semi-finals is that a win at Wembley might saddle them with Noble for a few more years.

Also, seems a strange analogy to say that the game is less good because we are getting more Ausie-like, as that is the supposed benchmark for quality.

I dont think we are anyway near Aussie style rugby league. The game is not as good as the Sky clowns will have you think. This week I watched Cas live and Wakefield live, and the standards on display fell far below top quality elite class rugby league. The defensive reads by the majority of the players fell in the pathetic catagory.

I challange you on the teams getting closer = cancelled out matches. I cant say I have seen a boring Aussie game this year. I like a few did not like the NRL of the past few years, but they are playing super fast, super skillful, and unlike SL every team do not play to the same game plan. The skill factor is higher, and so is the risk factor, they now do try anything, and it looks like they dont want to be robots anymore.
I believe the Leeds team from 5 seasons ago would wipe the floor with any team in SL, so would the Saints team of 4 years ago.

And they did then too, so it is hard to argue that it has got worse.

We have played some tripe this year at times, I agree, but that is more to do with us than the game as a whole. I just think it is distorted because some of the so-called bigger clubs haven't been playing as well, allowing the lesser mortals some time near the top.

I think the point Eddie and Stevo make (other than "keep on paying"icon_wink.gif is that more games are harder to call. If you look at the recently-televised games over the last two weeks (KR-v-Wire, Giants-v-Cas, Giants-v-KR and Cas-v-Wire), could you have comfortably picked a winner before the game. They were all fifty-fifty games, and on recent form, the Celtics game for us was a fifty-fifty. Can you guarantee a Leeds-v-Saints final? You could last year, even mid-season. Not this year, and I think a new boy will get there.

I don't know if its just me or not but since the scrapping of P and R there dosn't seem to be the same intensity. Everygame I used to go to my heart was in my mouth and there always seemed so much at stake. If we had a 12 team league yesterdays game would have been like a cup final. For us to win we could have taken a step to safety and Bradford to loose would have been looking at relegation.

Yesterday I wasn't really looking forward to the game, I didn't get a buzz about being there and I thought it was a bit of a non event. I also think the players may be feeling the same and are just going through the motions.

In a nutshell for me.

We haven't managed to learn the trick of going from playing for your lives to just playing to win. There was a complete lack of urgency on the field yesterday - and has been for us for 2 months now since the Adam / Leon stuff wore a bit thin and the contracts came into the equation. There are very few who you could say are genuinely 'towing' for Wakefield right now!

Is the termination of relegation behind such apparent apathy?

I can't quite understand, as a Cas fan, why we have slipped so badly; unless indeed there is a decided lack of pressure on teams.

don't know about you guys but I'm sure our fans would be far less gruntled with our distinct mediocrity if it was a form of success (i.e not being in the bottom two).

I think that's a good call.

A true Trin fan would always bite their nails at the end of the season.

Relegation battle after battle would keep you on the edge of your seat, heading to every away ground thinking 'this could be our last visit to Saints, Headingley etc.'

I'm trying to say there is NO excitement in Super League at the minute. Is the franchise to blame? Are there too many places up for grabs in the play offs now?

I didn't see the loss at home to Huddersfield due to a holiday but yesterdays spectacle at Bradford was just awful.

There's more entertainment watching Sharlston Rovers.

Agree with the commnts about bringing back promotion ands relegation. Unless we the fans make this view clear then the next time it is reviewed th RFL will all slap each other on the back and saywhat a great sucess the franchise system is. Terrible move to rid SL of promotion and relefgation truly terrible.

Too strong and not fair in my opinion.

I think we are forgetting that the club has had an incredibly challenging time this season. Emotions peak and trough in situations like this. You can't just do the "play for Adam" call every week and to be honest the grief that some of the players have had to face may still be hidden and causing many problems in the club. It doesn't just go away in a few weeks.

Lets remember we are "Supporters" who support our team in tough times and good not just "Fans" who like to see a winning team.

The emotional reprecussions of this seasons tragedy are very clearly still showing in the players and staff.

It shows how fit Menzies is at 36 to play 80 minutes.

yes it does, and down under there are a huge amount of back rowers like Waterhouse, Hindmarsh, Parker, Myers, ect ect ect, the list just goes on who cant get a sniff at state never mind internationl rugby.

I just cant stand to hear how good SL is by the sky clowns, I dont want to knock our game, but before we can move foward and really improve, we need to recognise our weaknesses, and not just blow sunshine up our own @rses.

Agree, they seem to try to convince us more competitive games means a better standard which is not the case. The unpredictable nature of the league this year has been great, but i would like to see the standard, skill, pace and style of play improve as well sadly i do not think it is nor has it for the last 3 years.

spot on with every word.

Have a little patience. The increased competition will naturally lead to improved standard, skill, pace and style of play as teams have to improve to be successful. Remember it's not been long since the 50% rule that was holding some clubs back was removed.

yes but for the unity of the club striving to achieve something special has been lost with the more recent antics, very unprofessional,
you can't make promise's and then put up performances like they have, in my opinion you can say just do this Adam/Leon call every week it what puts fire in the belly and is what is needed to bring the players together.