Agreed. Injuries plus the problems at perennial challengers such as Wigan and Leeds.

Injuries are the biggest threat to our game I believe. It feels like every game is tainted by the amount of quality out on the sidelines. It's having a massive effect on the outcome of games.

We know how you love an argument but no we are not stripping him away he's finished with at Wigan and therfore surplus to requirements. Jackson Hastings is hot property therefore wanted by Wigan.

Rob Lui quality required by Leeds, Tui whatever he's called is your dirty washing.

See the difference ?

Not sure if you know, but its only the premium beyond the upper limit (either £150k or £175k can't quite remember) which is not counted towards the Cap.

Mentioned by many, Hastings and Lui probably the best half back partnership in Superleague 2019 it annoys me that Leeds in desperation to stay up have broken that partnership and offered the "booby prize" as part of the deal.

Lui was leaving at the end of the season anyway. Easily avoidable if Salford could afford to keep them, should other clubs just stay away from these players just because the club they’re at can’t pay them as much?

Wanting players to stay at clubs where they won’t earn as much is very selfish given how short a RL career can be and how RL players don’t really earn as much as their efforts deserve.

We'll never know who is correct, as the concurrent seasons aren't going to change any time soon.

Cant imagine why anyone would want to watch a sport where the result could go either way because the sides are evenly matched and there is jeopardy accross the league (either in qualifying for the play offs or avoiding relegation.
Of course their is disparity between SL and the NRL, primarily down to the gulf in revenue and salary cap.

Much of difference in "quality" is due to Leeds and Wigan being "average".. If they were competing with Wire and Saints at the top of the pile, this thread wouldn't have been started.
The return of relegation has meant that, with Saints being nailed on for the LLS and London being competitive, much of the focus has been on relegation rather than the GF but, this will shift back to the GF later in the season.
Finally, although there have always been injuries within the sport, there does appear to be way more injuries in the last 2 or 3 seasons then in the earlier years of SL, which has left many sides playing with "half a team" which will also cause a drop in quality and it's no coincidence that both Saints and Wire have been relatively injury free for most of the season and it's hard to know just why there appears to be such an increase.
Many of the sides in mid/low table have regularly had 6-8 players missing from their first choice 17, which is huge.

I'd say, having spent a decade over here watching the NRL after nearly a decade watching SL, that the games are light-years apart and whilst I don't believe the NRL has improved, SL has gone backwards.
The reason for this, IMHO is the constant tinkering with systems, start-up clubs not being supported/welcomed, the threat of relegation and duel registration.......put plainly, the NRL "does exactly what is says on the tin", whilst SL is whatever it thinks SKY TV want it to be.
If we want players to stick with League, give them security, no relegation, mandatory youth and reserve sides and if SKY insist on the insanity of Thursday games, then make them bloody pay more....there's NOT ONE SL GAME this Saturday or Sunday......how insane is that?

Is no games on Saturday or Sunday really down to Sky though? They show 1 game on Thursday and 1 on Friday (providing Catalans are away)....the other 4 games come down to the preference of the clubs, Leeds barring the 1 or 2 games always usually prefer Friday nights for home fixtures regardless of Sky. Others prefer Saturday/Sunday but are either away this weekend or just have gone for Friday instead.

If they’re evenly matched because both are top draw then yes, if both are even because one team is being held back by the cap and dragged back to smaller clubs level then no.

Wimbledon is on now, do you think in the first round or two more people were interested, both in attending and watching on tv) in a match between guys ranked 28th and 30th in the world or Federer vs a guy he’ll cruise past in 3 sets?

I agree the salary cap is a key difference between SL and NRL but i’d also throw in there they play less games. Now I don’t follow the NRL too closely but I don’t seem to hear stories of 5/6/7 clubs at a time having huge injury lists of 8/9 first teamers out for a long period of time like you do in SL nowadays. Is our fixture list too long and not giving guys too long a break between seasons to rest, recovery and get fit and fresh for a new season, as well as a longer preseason to work on individual and team skills.

What about your so often lauded junior production line.
Not content with hoovering up the "best" of the local talent, Leeds have to plunder their rivals to try and keep their SL place.
The cold facts are that Leeds recruitment has been mickey poor and just as so many times in the past, it's now time for their cheque book to do the talking
As for Salford, unfortunately they appear to have become a selling club, relying on unearthing good players in the hope of making a profit.
This is great, whilst ever they can keep finding the talent but, should they make some poor choices (like Leeds), they will likely come unstuck.