Hi guys i've never realli used the message boards properly but do troll through them regularly

...anyway as part of my A-levels im doing a EPQ project and have decided to look at the salary cap and its influence on the game. I've spoke to various people around the game but i thought it would be interesting to get some of the fans views on it. If any of you have any view points on it that you wouldnt mind sharing, such as 'good idea, bad idea, too low etc', it would be much appreciated!

Thanks in advance

Well.....almost!
There is also the problem that the England players who are really good enough, you know, tho ones who would break into SL and the England team regardless of how many imports were playing in the UK, would be the poorer because they would lose the quality of opponent that improves their game.

The upside would be that all the players who aren`t, and never will be, good enough might actually get sufficient first team action to be good enough for a starting spot in NL1.

Not too sure what you mean by mediocre.

I can remember, before the cap, or at least, before it had chance to fully do its work, the Bulls beating Salford by around ninety points and Warrington by eighty odd. There were a few similar results around at the time. We, as fans, [iexpected[/i the team to win every game except perhaps Wigan and Saints, and even now we have fans who regularly, though quite unbelievably, moan that things aren`t like they were then. This was though, pretty mediocre entertainment, to be honest. For sure it`s better to win than lose but there has to be an element of doubt involved or it just gets tedious after a while.

Of course the change has come about by dropping the standard of the top sides to bring up the lower ones. The Bulls, Wigan and Leeds don`t have internationals in the A team like they used to and we now lose to Wakefield and the Crusaders and Leeds go to Salford and come out second best etc etc. I think there is a danger of mixing up being down because our club isn`t ruling the roost as it once did and thinking that the game itself has become worse. The cap has been very successful and hopefully when HMRC get to grips with all the image rights and Singapore parachute nonesense we will get a more level playing field and the game will improve again.

As a matter of interest, the Aussie league, which by general agreement, is the best league in the world, doesn`t have a big four, five or six. In fact it is often won by `mediocre` sides which were in the bottom half of the table the previous year. In fact the winner is often just making a `cameo` appearance. This unpredictability is one of its strengths not a weakness.

Spot on IMO

Did you actually read my post and the one that it was answering - you know, the one that stated that we'd miraculously broken up the top four? Yes, the one that I disagreed with. I.e. I'm all in favour of a BETTER competition, its what you define as better....

With regard to that then you have answered your own question and agreed with me"reduction in overall standards" - a levelling based on dragging excellence down into mediocrity. Ok, the scores are much closer whoopydo!

As for your point about the Aussie league I don't see its relevance as they do not have the same problems and constraints as RL faces in this country, e.g. limited player pool, media coverage (in fact they've recently had rather too much for their liking!), a long season, etc.

We are coming from the same area of viewpoint on a few things but I can`t really agree that standards have dropped because some teams aren`t as strong, vis a vis the competiton, as they once used to be. The self same number of top quality players is still there. They`re just not all playing for the same four clubs.

Incidentally, much as you`ve highlighted a supposed "quote" from me that "overall standards had dropped" that isn`t what I said. I actually said that the standards of the top had been reduced and the standards of the bottom had been raised.

There is actually no such thing as levelling up or levelling down; you just level. What we have is the natural consequence of that levelling, and much as the Bulls have probably suffered more than most in the process, for me it is undeniable that the league is actually stronger for it, and this is entirely due to its more competitive nature brought about by a more even competition. The fact that supporters of ALL clubs now go to games feeling they have a good chance of winning is something to be celebrated not denigrated imo.

You have touched upon the things which need addressing if we are to improve the overall standard, the player pool, for instance and the RFL have taken the first steps towards spreading the game wider, but clearly this will take time and, of course, may never work anyway. To be honest I give up on the media over here, though the now, apparently thriving, university league may go some way to redressing the balance. As a bare minimum the next generation of reporters should now have no excuse for ignorance.