Mathern
Calderwood
Walker
Senior
Bai
McGuire
Burrow
Ward
Diskin
McDonald
Furner
McKenna
Sinfield

Ali
McDermott
Poching
JJB

Vs

Hardaker
Minikin
Webster
Shenton
Eden
Roberts
Gale
Millington
McShane
Lynch
McMeekan
JSL
Milner

Moors
Cook
Springer
Massey

B#llocks. There's no player in that Cas side close to Farrell, Newton, Sculthorpe,Cunningham, Long, Lauititi, Senior, Sinfield, McGuire (2004), Harris, Vainakolo, Hape, Fielden and a load more.

Fact of the matter is that if they'd have been coming up a decade later with the real-terms cut salary cap and the improvement of competitor competitions 90% of them would have gone to the NRL or started off in Union without even touching League.

There were some stars in the competition back then, no doubt. However, the standard outside the top 4 was horrendous.

Surely Bailey over McDonald in 2004. Bailey was probably at his best for us in his early days too, gaining GB caps around that time.

You're right, although I think Bailey got his GB caps in 2003.
I remember McDonald being superb in 2004 also. A case could be made that our props now, are better than in 2004. On paper at least

Anybody who thinks there is a team around now who could compete with the mid 2000's teams are seriously on something dangerous.

Bailey got his GB caps in the 2004 tri nations after our GF win.

I would say it would be a split for me regards props from then and now. I would take Bailey and Mcdermott from the 2004 team and Cuthbertson and Garbutt from now. Prop wasn't our strongest area back then though.

The Saints, Bradford, Leeds and even Wigan and Hull teams who won little were very strong from 2003-2007, even though i think this Cas team could compete at times it wouldn't get a sniff at silverware.

All opinions of course. Cas can only beat what is in front of them right now though, and so far they have run away with the league playing top notch rugby and you can't do much more than that.

They are playing top notch rugby in comparison to the competition they have, and therefore a joy to watch. As you say they can only beat what is put in front of them, but all that competition is absolute dire in comparison to years gone by. Forget the attacking quality, even if these poor teams played with the sort of desire and intensity in defence that teams were doing in previous years, then that quality attacking game of Cas wouldn't really be happening.

The (not so) great thing about threads like this one, is that they can never be resolved. Short of a back to the future style intervention, Cas 2017 can never play Leeds 2004, I bet it'd be a belter of a game though. The important things for mine is that 1) Cas have been the stand out Team this year and as others have said a joy to watch (unless they were playing us) and 2) There appears to be a consensus that Super League is going backwards. If 2) is true, it doesn't bode well for the future of the sport we love.

It isn't only Super League going backwards. The game as a whole, including the NRL is going the same way.

Even if you could what rules do you play it under? The ruck, PTB's, 3/4 men in a tackle etc, so much different from 2004.

Perhaps a better closer comparison would be Warrington 2011 vs Castleford 2017. Both played great attacking rugby, scored points for fun, won their 1st LLS, got knocked out of the cup in the QF by the eventual winners and just like Cas are going to do Wire lost a home playoff SF when everyone thought they were nailed to reach Old Trafford

I think the difference between this Cas side & other teams from earlier years, even the better Cas team of c1992, is that this one is better coached. The Leeds, Bradford, Saints, Wigan teams were stacked with great players who played a far more off the cuff style with plenty of individual brilliance. Cas have improved as a team & as a squad over the last 4 years, but there are only probably a couple of players who are shoe-ins for England, Aus or NZ. I reckon Hull have easily the top squad in SL, but Radford lacks attacking nous as a coach.

It not even close, firstly Cas have not even won the grand final or got their yet and even if they do, the 2004 side would wipe the floor with them, there are simply not players in super league like senior furner and Ali, especially Ali, that before we mention the golden generation. Cas have assembled a good side out of misfits average players and upstarts and produced a good unit. the Leeds 2004 side was a great unit and team but backed up by some sensational individuals. the 2015 Leeds side is also way better than this Cas side. they may have lost more games than 2004 but when it came to peaking and big games they were unbeatable.

for the record i think the leeds side from 207-209 3 in a row was the best team/squad over a sustained period. that was the golden generation at the peak and only saints could get close.

It is a largely impossible comparison, since the competitions are so different.

I would however make the point that Leeds in 2004 had to contend with the nucleus of the unstoppable Bulls team of 2003 (that beat us five times), a Saints team that had the likes of Long, Sculthorpe and Cunningham in their prime (before the betting scandal hit later that season), and a Wigan team that were repeatedly breaking the salary cap in that period or had exemptions to do so.

In contrast, the nearest competition for Cas in 2017 seem to be a Leeds side that came close to finishing bottom of the table in the previous year...