Hull FC, Warrington x 3, Castleford, Catalans x 2, Salford.

On 8 occasions these other teams have been there with a chance and each time it’s the same. On 8 occasions they just happened to have “not quite hit he mark”. It’s fundamental. Never happens.

Warrington x4

It's strange that 6 different clubs have topped the league over the last 10 seasons, yet the same old 3 clubs keep winning the title. Leeds have won 8 titles but have only topped the league 3 times. Hmm.

It’s like there’s some invisible barrier which goes beyond ability, that these other teams can never overcome.

Didn’t realise it was that bad. No title in over half a century and 4 grand final losses seems to be too much baggage to overcome.

It reminds me a bit of that line from The Simpsons: “The road to the Super Bowl is long and pointless”

When the Champions were the side that topped the league, the end of season Premiership had much more cachet than the LLS does. You wonder about the extent to which the better teams are sort of going through the motions during the regular rounds, saving themselves for when it matters.

Craig Harrison said recently that he’d been talking to a SL player thinking of trying their hand in Australia. As well as the money side of things, the player admitted that it is just hard to ‘get up’ for some SL fixtures.