The salary cap is pointless if clubs spend nowhere near the allowance.

But it caps the tops clubs, if it wasn't there then teams like Hull, Wigan, Leeds and Warrington would just spend what they liked and the other teams would be even further apart, a bit like Wigan in the 80's.

I don't really understand this thread surley ever league in every sport has teams that are better than others and split into invisable tiers?

There are simply more better players in the NRL. That means every club can be competitive on its day, and accelerates the capability to rebuild a side. It doesn't mean that the Sharks stand a cat in hell's chance of winning the competition this year, but they aren't so far off in playing terms that they can't become genuinely competitive within say 3 years if things go right for them.

My own feeling echoes vbfg - it looks very much to me that SL standards are improving, driven in large part by a focus on home-grown players, combined with the salary cap which stops the likes of Leeds and Wigan snapping up every young player who looks to have potential. That focus on developing young players is being driven by cap limitations, gradual painful quota reductions (combined with unavailability of star Aussies) and the stability brought by franchising.

Huddersfield to me are the prime example of a team that through a gradual but continued commitment to youth, have got better almost year on year. With no salary cap restrictions, would they have been able to keep the likes of Cudjoe? With no franchising would they have even dared go down that route in the first place?

The one thing that I would like to see change is the mindset in SL that losing - to anybody - by 30 points plus is in any way acceptable. Not saying it can't happen - it does in the NRL as well although less frequently - but in my opinion too many sides throw in the towel ridiculously early. Maybe if standards even up we'll see fewer blowout scores, but I can't help but think there are mental issues as well.

Top 8 Super League - Franchise based with applications every 3 years

Catalans
Huddersfield
Hull FC
Leeds
St Helens
Warrington
Wigan
Bradford/Hull KR

Top 4 playoffs, followed by a Premiership style end of season competition

Division 1 - Bottom team relegated

Castleford
London
Salford
Wakefield
Widnes
Bradford/Hull KR
Leigh
Featherstone
Halifax
Sheffield

Top 4 playoffs

Division 2 - Champions promoted

Batley
Dewsbury
Hunslet
Keighley
Swinton
York
Oldham
Rochdale
Barrow
Doncaster
N Wales
S Wales
Whitehaven
Workington

Top 6 playoffs


Divisions 1 and 2 play in NRC

Until the lesser sides can keep hold of their better players then the league will probably continue to be like it is. In recent years salford have lost 2 quality british halfbacks to warrington, now that inturn pushes warrington right into the mix but really knocks salford for six. Same at wakefield losing players like murphy,george and brough to huddersfield, the sad thing is murphy should be playing everyweek in superleague, yet hes rotting away kind of in the reserves. cas appear to have thrown all their eggs in one basket keeping hold of chase and at present that tactic seems to have backfired.Widnes were always likely to struggle this year forming a new team plus we all know last years widnes were poor even in the division they played in, so the local lads theyve got in there, will take a year or 2 to get used to superleague.All clubs need money men not just the select few sadly this doesnt appear to be happening at present.

What happens to the work done at Skolars

.......... with some spending above it, but having clever accountants.

This.

Let me preface the next part by saying I wish Super League had addressed parity to a greater degree than it has but there's no doubt in my mind it's been a success overall.

Super League has had 4 different teams win the championship. In the decade preceeding Super League two different teams had been champions.

In the 10 years prior to Super League there were three teams that won the challenge cup. In the first ten years of super league six different teams have won the challenge cup.

We assume you mean HKR as they are the club you clearly have most knowledge of?

Yes, but what goes around comes around. In the early years of SL Warrington similarly lost Paul Sculthorpe and Iestyn Harris to richer teams - that certainly knocked Wire for six. Success is to some extent always cyclical. In the 1970s Salford were a real force and there is no one thing you can point to that saw them slip from Champions to strugglers over the next thirty years. Check out Bradford Bulls' more recent history for another example.

I think until the RFL owns all the teams and all the teams are run for the good of the game, the game won't grow, and won't be even.

This would be the same Huddersfield who signed promising Bulls academy products Patrick and Wardle? Who have a very wealthy owner, who I suspect if there was no cap would be sorely tempted to spend rather more to buy success?

Do Bradford spend to the cap? It's not a dig, it's just a general question.

With a third of the season gone, it looks like the current top tier of the Super League (and therefore the often quoted ‘Big 4’) are Hull FC, Warrington, Huddersfield and Catalan Dragons

That’s the problem with the Super League, all too predictable