I wondered how long it would be before someone proclaimed we needed licensing back.

What next? Change the playoff format....again!?

I don't buy into the doom porn on here but it's clear the game is going through a difficult spell after having a great first decade of super league, what with the style of play (thanks Maguire) and salary cap/economic issues.

I think we'll come out off the trough and move into another upward spiral within the next decade, we'll get new leadership at the rfl, a different (hopefully more attractive) style of play will emerge and the pound/general economy may start doing better allowing once again good quality imports.

sadly I agree with every word

The Warrington teams of 5 or so years ago played an expansive and entertaining brand of rugby that had everyone talking. Unfortunately they seem to have regressed into a side more obsessed with dummy half running than anyone else in the League so maybe Smith is part of the problem and boring himself out of a job?

I do agree that a lot of work needs to be done on RL improving its image and its a huge task. Unfortunately we get no help from the public school network in the press and the BBC who would rather push utterly unwatchable (& unwatched) garbage like women's football, cricket and yawnion ahead RL in the sports headlines.

Compare and contrast with Australia where yawnion is rightfully dying (despite its own old boys network there) as RL thrives. Its possible, a different area entirely and I don't want to start a political bun fight or give any endorsements but Corbyn showed you can make gains even in the face of a hostile establishment if you act outside the box.

Wish statements are made clear that it's Rugby League in Europe which is finding it hard to find growth.

Secondly one problem we have is that super league continues to lose its best talent and we don't have enough quality to come in and replace these guys.

Until the sport over here grows the talent pool we are gonna be in mess. It's clearly evident that super league getting worse. Compared to 3-5 years ago I feel not just the quality of matches is poorer but the intensity in most games just doesn't seem to be there.

We were told that the new format would be for the better but I don't see it.

So we blame the structure , and not the coaches and players who cheat

Well Cas don't seem to have a problem producing exciting RL , Similarily Leigh a couple of years back

Maybe , just maybe we need the rules to change to encourage that style of RL , rather than the borefest initiated by Mr McGuire at Wigan , and now copied by others

Quote: GUBRATS "Sorry but what exactly is he unhappy with ? , because it really isn't clear'" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3WAB8FbH8Uk Seems pretty clear, here.

Quote: GUBRATS "Sorry but what exactly is he unhappy with ? , because it really isn't clear'" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3WAB8FbH8Uk Seems pretty clear, here.

When McGuire was at Wigan yes he changed the style but no way Wigan were boring to watch. Okay they were not like Castleford of the last few years but calling them boring. Sorry guys but that's ridiculous.

Wigan played some great stuff.

And how comes when I watch the NRL I am still seeing some great football being played and over there and they love the importance of the wrestle.

We just don't have enough quality in the competition.

Are we still pushing this public school line? The influence of the press is getting less and less every year. There are new media, free from editorial influences, that are much more powerful and yet we're still blaming nasty public schoolboy press? Maybe the clubs should actually work out how to use the media and marketing tools that they have properly?

The BBC has more RL content than it has for some time, and the production values are much better tush the days of Ray French.

I'd look at the standard of coaching before players.

The problem with the Maguire legacy is that what's left in SL is mostly the dull stuff. Wigan did indeed play high quality, albeit very structured RL under Maguire. Watching them over time its like the memory of how they did that is fading and we're left with a mere shadow. Leeds never really had a "style" as far as I could see, and we still don't - the difference now is that we don't have the players to make whatever it is we're trying to do work. Sts will take a while to bounce back from too long under Cunningham. Warrington have the ability and could easily bounce back next year. Smith probably stayed a year too long at Wire, but I've no doubt he could do a really good job elsewhere, and he produces teams that are generally good to watch.

In the meantime Cas are a breath of fresh air. They don't have the best players across the field but they are wiping the floor with most opponents because - shock - they play really good attacking RL. Sports tend to try to imitate success, so it would be good for the game IMO if Cas win the GF in style, as hopefully other clubs would try to copy the way they play.

Anyway, from whatever perspective you take, Wane and McDermott have done very well at their respective clubs. But I personally would love to see a bit of a sea change at both Leeds and Wigan.

It may be Cas against the Storm in the WCC.
That would be a good game.
A flamboyant team against a team that can be as flamboyant as any team but also have defensive structure to kill off most attacking teams.

Could be embarrassing if Cas play Storm at the Mend the Hose Jungle, the NRL would see the version of "Back to the Future" as far as Rugby League Stadium is concerned.

Some of the coaching methods have made it less interesting, with the game all about slowing the ruck. Wigan fans would agree because of their methods. Saints fans would agree because they had a coach who coached the dull way. Tony Smith used to coach attractive rugby but stopped being able to do it and win stuff.

Players must take some responsibility, because they are constantly trying to blag penalties. The lowest point for me is when the Salford player threw the ball forward into the grounded Huddersfield man, safe in the knowledge that he will get a penalty.

Is it boring though? No, I don't think so. Seen some cracking games.

It's frustrating - because a lot of the free flowing, unpredictable nature of RL has been removed by coaching methods that focus on 'game management' i.e slowing down the ruck to ensure that the defensive line is set; with the inevitable result that the slowee tries to get the slower penalised i.e milking penalties. In both instances, it's cheating, dressed up in fancy terminology, and negatively impacts the spectacle, making it unattractive.

For me coaches and the administrator are equally to blame - players will broadly do as they're told, and what they're coached to do; and if one team decides unilaterally to take the moral high ground and stop the spoiling tactics, they'll get hammered. So the obvious conclusion is for the administrator to restate how the game will be reffed - make it clear to coaches - who should make it clear to players - and then instruct referees in no uncertain terms that they *will* ref the game to the new standards. Coaches will quickly adapt if their players get penalised out of a game.

It doesn't seem that difficult to me - so one can only conclude that the RFL are happy with how the game is evolving; not many fans seem to agree though.

frankly I think we need to make sure that players are able to pass the ball and catch the ball before we address any of the other issues.

The amount of just awful forward passes or throws in to touch, the amount of dropped ball under little to know pressure is just awful. At least once a game a dummy half will simply fail to pick the ball up without dropping it. Our basic skill level is embarrassing.