Funny how these threads are usuall started by fans of teams who are not doing as well as their egotistic fans expect. Such has been their boasting through the years they can't bare it when teir teams form blips. So rather than man up they try and spin a negative on the game to cover their loss of kudos - oldest trick in the book.

Last season Hull, Cas, Wakefield and even Salford for a while played some great RL all season - not there fault if others didn't. People couldn't ecept a bit of a power shift though luckily for there own sanity Saints and Leeds made a late push to 'normalize' the season a little.

Up until that point it was Saints fans in particular deriding the game, funny how they an't doing it now.

This season has startrd off like every season I can ever remember. Tight edgy stop start games with the better reams grinding out results untill they find their true form.

So nothing to see here other than a sad and bitter moaner.

Give what a rest the ability to think? Ah SL is great because Wakey are now competing. Maybe just maybe thats a lagging indicator and says more about game than is obvious.

The best games I have watched this year was fax v Toronto , the bulls v York game via live stream or the fev lions challenge cup match on bbc. The sl games have been poor so far this year

Games at the start of a new season have historically been arm wrestles due to the cold, wet conditions. Many new players will still be finding their feet or working up to match fitness, and teams with new signings are still trying to gel in competitive games after a preseason run of meaningless friendlies.

I don't see any reason to panic.

Whilst some teams were putting on some champagne stuff which was a joy to watch, I think on the whole the basic skills have gotten worse and the error count is higher. I can't prove any of that of course but it seems more stop start these days which is leaving me feeling a little bored when watching over the last 3-4 years.

I think this is somewhat linked to the decline of the amateur game, the messing around with summer / winter leagues has meant there are less teams and less players playing, meaning theres a smaller player pool going from juniors to open age. Thus there is no defined player path to pro level.

I myself have left playing league (i do play some summer games) and now play union, the set up in union is much more professional, leagues are defined way in advance, support form the RFU is clear. The RFL need to really sit down and consider the game as a whole, get the junior, amateur game in order either in winter or summer, set this in stone and increase player participation, then the player pool will be larger, better players can be picked up by pro clubs and eventually this will work up to pro level.

I don't doubt that's part of the problem - but a much deeper issue is the parlous state of the grassroots game; junior clubs are run on the goodwill of enthusiastic amateurs, so attracting players and training them properly is a matter of luck and happenstance - and most of them compete in a stupid league structure that eschews player development for a win at all costs mentality that favours competitive dads, but leaves behind small lads, late developers and those with subtle skills that are less useful in an amateur setting, where bash and barge by the freakishly big lads wins the day. Add to that the toxic atmosphere at many junior games, and you have a recipe for a diminished player pool of academy ready young players - with the ones who do make it through often needing to be deprogrammed of all their bad habits and retrained in the basic skills of the modern game.

And that's before we even get to the way the sport has been hijacked by the boring, unedifying tactics of some Aussie coaches - such that we're now in an arms race; the only way to disarm is unilateral, because if one team decides to play fairly and avoid wrestling, slowing down the ruck, begging for penalties and all the other horrid things we can thank Messrs Maguire and Brown for, they'll get battered by the ones who do.

So I'd say that yes, RL is losing its sparkle; it's fixable, but it requires some visionary and transformative leadership at the RFL - which I don't see Ralph Rimmer having either the desire or the ability to deliver.

Most sensible post I have read on here for a long time, Just about hits the problem square on. Just add one fact that everyone seems to miss the dramatic drop in the numbers of kids that are of the age to play. that's down to mine & my kids generation not breeding fast/often enough.

Because it's the truth so it never needs to change - I stopped reading your drivel after that.

Except it isn't the truth in the slightest. Keep delluding yourself about it, but no Leeds or Wigan fan is nervous about nor jealous of Wakefield.

We have smaller crowds, less amateur talent, less money in the game, less interest from sponsors and broadcasters and we're imposing pay cuts on our players. By any definition, that a race to the bottom and the smaller clubs have been engaging in it for the best part of 20 years - and dragging the top clubs into it is the only way they can keep up with them.

Apart from football, most sports are going through similar difficulties, particularly with regard to attracting more youngsters.
Do we need to work harder on the image of the sport, who's only press seems to be players getting arrested or failing drug tests.
SL has for a while been happy to take some of the "bad boys" of the Aussie game and perhaps we should be trying to clean up our act ?
Also, maybe we should be more selective about who gets in front of the camera/ talks to the press & TV.
Everything in the modern world is style over substance and when you look at some of the stuff that has been made popular, it's all about hype.

No it's you who've chosen to interpret it that way - I've never said any such thing. The real problem you have and those similar to yourself is that you just don't like people disagreeing with you - it's that simple, you're like spoilt children.