Yes, what a victory for the CC... four mediocre teams contesting the semi-finals of the cup... a giant leap forward in quality...

What makes it mediocre is that the Giants side is a decent side and nothing more. Standards have equalled out but the quality on show today is poor compared to the standard of 10 years ago.

Would you imagine that side holding out the Saints of Milward, Wigan over 10 years ago and the Bulls of 5 years ago. Whilst the cap has made each match a game where most results are not for gone conclusions, the standard of play has paid a heavy price. Lets put it this way. the great Saints side that Milward hade would have hammered both sides. As the ball retention of both sides was very poor and i think at one point in the second half it was mentioned that Giants completion rate was 60%. Might be wrong but im fairly certain of that.

And last night two of those mediocre teams played again and produced a game of poor quality and poor entertainment value, while Leeds humiliated Castleford 72-16, a perfect example of the level playing field at work. Yet more victories for the CC...

Saints of 2002ish would have scored more points but not as many as you think. They'd also have conceded more.

The Wigan of 10 years ago would have been held out.

The Bulls of 5 years ago would have produced a similar game.

Infact its is all related, we have been ran poorly yes, we have struggled with the salary cap yes. So we can blame both, technically.

The salary cap was in place for the Millward side of a few years ago, and for the Bradford side of five years ago. So this post doesn't even make a tiny bit of sense.

Agreed. Madness.

We have always been told by cap supporters that its effects would take a number of years to be felt, that the level playing field would arrive one day. Some have said that this season is the one that the cap has "finally" levelled out the competition (though try telling that to Cas fans after their record defeat at Headingley the other night!)

And yet when it suits you (when facing arguments about the long term damage the CC is doing to the sport) you say that the CC's effects should be felt quickly... hilarious and yet so disappointing.

This is typical of the faulty reasoning of CC supporters.

If you have an argument with any merit it is difficult to see it beneath the urban myths, anti-Wigan bile, logical non-sequiturs etc.

A perfect example of the anti-Wigan bile I was talking about, thank you.

Actually Wigan - if we had a decent coach and backroom set up - would be well placed to do very well under the CC.

The Wigan club has many advantages over rival clubs when you look at things in the round - the strong amateur tradition in the Wigan area, the excellent facilities, the big crowds that any player would want to play in front of and of course the biggest brand name in British RL.

In the long run I expect Wigan to be one of the most successful clubs under the CC. I think IL will deliver that over the longer term.

Arguably the abolition of the CC would put Wigan at a disadvantage since in IL we have a conservative owner who wouldn't splash the cash on big signings. It would however be better for the sport as a whole, that's why I support it, because unlike the narrow minded my club first people who make up the majority of pro-CC fanatics, I am an RL fan first, even before my own club.

For the record I'd like to see financial controls on clubs remain, just not the CC in its current form. RL clubs have shown over the years that they can't be trusted with freedom of spending, that I think everyone can agree on.

I would like to see a system where clubs submit business plans which are then independently audited at the start of each season and the clubs forced to stick to that budget. That way we could encourage clubs to grow their incomes, start playing players a bit more if it can be afforded instead of cutting players' wages in real terms and have proper financial controls to stop clubs getting into financial difficulties (which the CC has failed to do e.g. Gateshull, London and Bradford to name but three examples). At the moment we have a dumbing down system that removes any incentive for clubs to grow their revenue and encourages all to settle at the lowest level. Where other sports (RU for example) have had caps they have said at the outset that the plan is to raise them as clubs incomes grow. We have the opposite mentality in our game, that small and poor is best. Its pathetic.

Well said, I get the impression the RFL have "manipulated" the competition this season. We are seeing the top 4 being dragged down into the "middle of the pack" instead of the other way round. I also think the reffing has been very contentious this year giving a disadvantage to the more skilful sides. We have had teams scoring more trys from speculative kicks than at any other time so far.
As its been said the RFL have "dumbed down" the season.