Wire 2011

Not sure how to define 'decent', but there hasn't been a 'great' side for a long time. The salary cap seems designed to specifically prevent us ever having great sides, because apparently great sides are bad for the sport - they win too much.

It might even be preferable, to all fans in general, to have it the way it is today ( very difficult as a Wigan fan to give a 'neutral' perspective ), but at the same time, nobody should expect to ever see a truly great side appear under the current salary cap regime - you'd have to get unbelievably lucky with masses of instantly ready world class youngsters appearing in the same season. Then you'd have to offload most anyway. So even then, you'd be 'great' for one season only, which is probably a contradiction anyway.

Mr Eve was listing decent SL sides, not ones that can't even beat an opponent [ithey[/i have chosen to play against.

Yes, I agree, but we won't get there just by lifting the salary cap. We could engineer the early arrival of a 'great side' by other essential rule changes:

1) Teams must play in their traditional ( i.e.pre-1990s) colours
2) Wage levels, squad sizes and allowed overseas signings will naturally be proportionate to this colour scale
3) Teams who play in all white will have the lowest allocations on this scale
4) Teams who play in red and white hoops will have the highest allocations on this scale
5) Leigh are excluded from the above

This! it was cringeworthy, and as already said, the reason our sport will never be taken seriously.

I liked it. It made for a dramatic moment.

There's simply no incentive to coming top with the current structure. From 98-2001 we had a top 5, the league leaders featured in all 4 GFs, winning 2. From 2002 - 08, we had a top 6, only once did the league leaders not feature in the GF, and it it was won by the league leaders 4 years out of 7. Under the current system, the leage leaders haven't featured in the GF for 3 seasons out of 5.

Coaches have worked out that simply doing enough to ensure reaching the playoffs and peaking at the right time is the way forward. Last season was the nail in the coffin for this structure for me. After watching Wigan lose 7 of their last 9 weekly rounds to then click and win 3 games to be crowned champions, it was obviously great as a Wigan fan, but the resulting apathy to the weekly rounds in 2014 is obvious.

Absolutely right.

Cant wait for next season when we go from Jim Bowen "come and have a look at what you could have won", to Paul Daniels with "every second counts"
What utter B******s.
Our sport is no longer sport, just entertainment for Sky TV and unfortunately this isn't going to change any time soon.

Even the new expanded WCC does reward coming top of the league. GF finalists can come from anywhere. Only 3rd place is guaranteed a place or has there be some kind of annoucement from the RFL that 3rd place means the highest league ranked losing semi-finalist from the play-offs. I suppose that would fit in with finish top and dont make the GF you still get to go.

What are you saying? Firstly, NOBODY, except arguably the long-suffering Mrs. Aardvark, who is unlikely to view it as a prize, has "won" me.

Secondly, is referring to me as "sweet" the equivalent of Hardaker's homophobic kiss-blowing?

I shall write to the RFL immediately.

I define 'decent' sides as 'of an acceptable standard but nowhere near great or class'. There hasn't been any great or class sides during the SL era, just a handful of decent sides... Bradford & Saints circa 2000-2003, Leeds circa 2004-2005, Saints 2006... nothing decent since then... playing standards downhill ever since and particularly so since the franchised 14 team, top 8 play-off SL structure was introduced.

Sadly, I agree with you Re: effects of salary cap. We are stuck with mediocrity and lack of class teams and genuine world class stars for the foreseeable future due to financial issues. Short of an influx of sugar daddies willing to spend big, this is what we are stuck with.