You make some good points but would the crowds be better is the games were more competitive or if you had a 10 team SL they play each 3 times to get the 27 games? As to how you get the players used to the intesity required to play Australia I am not sure - perhaps if we had more players in the NRL they would realise these guys are human after all.

It's all very well saying reduce the SL to 10 teams but can those 10 teams afford to have fewer games? Personally I think 10 is too few, I can see aim is to increase the quality of games but even this year's top 8 play offs showed some embarrassing one sided scorelines so a 10 team league won't solve many problems.

The only way to improve things in RL is to improve them from the grassroots up. Get more people playing the game and better coaches and more players of a higher quality will come through. The more widespread the game the more money comes in through sponsorship. It'll take time and effort but there are no quick fixes.

I do believe you're right.

There are massive problems with both coaching and attitude at the junior amateur level over here. It seems to be more about winning each individual game than preparing the kids for the future.
Far too often do junior teams have one or two big, fast and hard kids that are simply used to use their size and strength to overpower smaller kids/teams. Rather than nurturing skills and team play, it's a case of 'give it to the big un'. The smaller, slower developing kids often end up packing the game in.

One thing I have noticed over the years is that rugby union amateur teams generally teach their kids skills to a much higher standard. I'll pretty much guarantee that if you did a test of skill ie passing the ball both ways, general handling skills - the union kids are better. However the league kids will be better at the physical side of the game - tackle busting, ball and all tackles etc

Next season we will have:
Burgess
Ellis
Graham
Reed
Widdop
Heighton

All playing fewer games by playing NRL. I think to truely compete in terms of intensity, we should seek to get as many players playing NRL. We can't hope to generate a series of matches as intense as State of Origin, but at least by having a significant group playing at a higher level will help us.

One of my mates had an interesting view on something which may or may not help would be to hold the WCC challenge before the 4 Nations in the country its being held in, at a pre-defined location. I think that would help with the intensity of the game, and allow a reasonable percentage of the players to acclimatise when we go over there. THe WCC at the moment is not taken seriously, and I think this would add to it, plus be a decent prep game for some of the squad

You've forgotten Burgess (snr)

The game in this country is light years behind Australia in every aspect from junior development right through to the professional ranks. I don't expect this to change significantly enough during my lifetime. Deep down, even the most ardent supporter of Super League would concede that it's a deficient competition where the ordinary is often defined as greatness - where a mere handful of game-defining scoots in wide-open space by a one-trick dwarf is enough to secure another championship title.

England's only saving grace last week was the disgraceful performance of the video ref who ruled out two perfectly good tries to Australia whilst laughingly awarding a penalty try to England for an offence which ought to have been only a penalty. Otherwise the game would have been done and dusted at half time. I appreciate that we are desperate to beat Australia in a game that really counts but it shouldn't be at the expense of such blatant biased officialdom. Thankfully, class told in the second half in the form of green and gold.

Keith Swiftcorn never fails to deliver (with his painting-by-numbers posts). I just wish the same could be said for his performances for Royal Mail. We live in hope.

Straight onto this thread and the WCC thread. Bearing in mind he's probably been composing those posts in his head during his flight back from his jollies I expected better.

One can learn much from Ryan Bailey.

His work-related performances have involved painting by numbers since 2004.

Don't forget to order extra ginger with your curry order on Friday.

I'm hoping it's more authentic than some of the whitey places the poster formerly known as AP used to take me to.