I agree with this. Also think Wigan have a better all round squad man for man on paper than Cas. A huge amount of the plaudits and praise has to go to Powell and his coaching team for where they have got this group of players to where they are at the minute, and the style they have done it in is even more impressive.I Wish more sides in the league were coached in such a way, SL would then become a very watchable product again across the board.

Pains me to say, but although i agree with everything you say, the best team of the whole SL era was the 2006 Saints with Lyon at his peak- Sculthorpe, Long, Pryce, Wellens, Cunningham etc.. - Huge front rowers and a young Graham and Roby. Despite all our superb sides i don't think we ever got a year that would topple that team.

Guffaw, chortle, s

I can't make my mind up about the current Wigan side.
Tomkins's - both a shadow of their former selves
Burgess - ditto atm
Lealuai - ditto
Manfredi - great player, who knows how he will come back
Gelling - too stupid for words
Gildart - great prospect but too small to be world class
Williams - great player, needs a half back coach
Forwards - Bateman - brilliant. Farrell - SL workhorse. O'L - great leader/player, how long has he left?
None of the others are up to much. Some good prospects, but that's all they are atm.

I'd rather have the Leeds squad on balance.

Wigan are tired. For nearly a decade now they have been focussed on physicality and they just arent strong now.

People say the SC has been a leveller and it has undoubtedly brought the big clubs back to the pack, but i think people underestimate the effect of how many games we are playing a lot of teams just look spent far too often.

Yes but we were in a bit of transition year 2006, they were great side but a year later on with practically the same squad and on course for a successive treble we whooped them in the grand final. and the next 2 years as well. our squad in 2007 was much better than out average 2006 squad only hull challenged saints that year. our 20078-2009 squad was better than saints squad 2007-2009 which was mainly the 2006 squad minus lyon from 2008 onwards.

Really? Leeds 2006 was not transition and was pretty much the same squad in 2007 and 2005 for that matter, infact we had added JP for 2006. we were just not good enough and got mugged in the play offs first against Wire iirc.

Lets not forget 2007 saints won the LLS shield again and again in 2008, i think 2008 they had like a 22 or 23 match winning streak, that was a great team and we did fantastically well to win 3 in a row over that lot. I still believe 2006 was it's peak though and was the best side SL has seen although it would be close between the Bulls early 2000's and our 2007/8 sides.

In 2006 Saints scored 48 points and 2007 it was 38.

Leeds were 38 points in 2006 down to 37 a year later but teams did play a game less, so seems more a case of Saints dropping back a bit.

Whilst no real change in points we won the additions of Kylie and most crucially Webb in 2007 were big. Add in Donald settling after a poor debut year and Peacock after being switched between prop and 2nd row in 2006.

Rubbish, the NRL is the strongest it's ever been.

Is it balls. You obviously haven't watched it over years.

When precisely were the halcyon glory days of the NRL that I missed?

'99 Bulls team got 51 points albeit over 30 games. One of the most ruthless sides I've seen in SL but they got knocked out of the CC in the semi final and got beaten in the GF... scary for Cas fans

Dont know what you have been watching, since they reduced the interchanges in the NRL there has been a lot more ball movement and I think the actually quality of the games is as good as I have seen.

I think the NRL has kept its standards. Ways of playing have changed, it hasn't got better, it hasn't got worse (well, it has got a bit worse as a spectacle because they can't shoulder charge or scrap any more, but that's nothing to do with quality of actual play). That's the NRL in general, but Melbourne this year are the best RL club side I've ever seen.

The Melbourne V Brisbane game this morning was pretty poor, some absolute howlers with the commentators trying to convince the audience it was still a quality game.

Get Craig Bellamy a microphone...... and a bleep machine.