At the start of licencing I tried to get dialogue between the 20 Championship Clubs to start to work together for the common good , the response I received beggared belief , considering we had clubs that needed to build off field to ever stand a chance of entering SL rather than winning matches on the pitch , it was truly depressing how stupid their opinions were

That's really depressing and is something that annoys me intensely. I can sort of understand how clubs can end up looking inward and get stuck in a rut of doing the same old thing but when someone is actively there to help but they can't be d to listen just annoys me.

Given that at that time we had effectively 20 clubs going nowhere except within the 2 part time competitions , not competing for massively differing amounts of central funding , all desperate to increase their income streams in a new environment , and I had club owners saying they wouldn't work with another club because of an on field incident from the previous season , or actually suggesting they received things ' free ' from suppliers

From a Wigan perspective, injuries have played a massive part this season to make us as dull as dishwater. Sean Wane has his critics for being defensive, but there's a degree of sympathy of what else can he do with the disruption. Leeds fans will no doubt say the same, Huddersfield too, whether it's just been a freak year, or there are other reasons for it who can say, but straight away there are three of the top four sides from last year dulled down. Being optimistic, next year all three could field the same squads and look back to their best.

Otherwise, you look at Saints, and they've never really rebuilt to the strength of their great sides of the 2000's, but they've got a young squad improving. 2-3 additions and they won't be far off, and if Warrington/Hull continue to improve, then potentially next season could be very competitive. Throw in Cas and Catalans, and potentially you have eight strong sides.

The biggest problem for SL though has always been the disparity between the top and bottom halves. Commercially, too many clubs are living in the dark ages and don't seem to have any desire or wherewithal to improve and grow themselves. Too happy to just stand still and complain, usually about the RFL, instead of being proactive to try and increase their fanbase and income. That's not to say the RFL aren't without criticism, there doesn't seem to be any strong leadership or plan, but I do think ultimately it is up to the clubs to improve themselves, or wait and get surpassed by the likes of Toulouse and Toronto who are a breath of fresh air when it comes to positivity. Too many clubs remind me of those grotty pubs that complain about the smoking ban killing the pub business when you'll have a pub down the road which is packed out with families. Life moves on and evolves, businesses have to adapt to what the demand is. You have to work hard to get people through the doors, and that takes initiative as much as money.

That said, the RFL certainly need to up their game on marketing and exposure. I know we're locked in with Sky now, but getting a game each week on terrestrial TV would work wonders. The amount of times scrolling through Twitter during a Challenge Cup game you see comments from Union fans saying they never thought they'd enjoy league, but it's great, or football fans watching their first game in ages and loving it, it makes you wonder if they really comprehend the potential of the game, especially when they can't sell out a showpiece match like the CC Final at the national stadium (I mean, just hawk the tickets around London at £10, you'd easily fill it, and godforbid, pick up new fans)

I love the idea of a golden age pre 1996. Utter ballhocks but a lovely idea.

The failure of Catalans to live up to its early season to mid-season promise -- partly as a result of terrible injuries, and partly as a result of poor coaching decisions -- has destroyed the early novelty and excitement of this season. Had star No. 6 Todd Carney not been crippled with injuries, and ace centre Krisnan Inu not been brought down early with a season ending injury, and thus had Catalans remained in the top four until now, then people would be celebrating the quality of the rugby league on display this year.

Top Catalans teamAnthony Gigot

Jodie Broughton, Krisnan Inu, Vincent Duport, Fouad Yaha

Todd Carney
Richard Myler

Jason Baitieri
Glenn Stewart, Justin Horo
Remi Casty, Paul Aiton, David Taylor
[/i
InterchangeEloi Pelissier, Julien Bousquet, Louis Anderson, Gregory Mounis [/i


That is a team that could beat any other Super League team. It is a dazzling array of talent. But I am not sure that those 17 have ever played all together.

Course they would

It's simple , coaches coaching players to play disruptive RL quite often outside the rules is making our game look messy and boring , giving problems that the refs could stop , if the RFL allowed them too

But all we ever hear is coaches complaining about the officiating

Absolutely spot on - and it's been a slow creep for a number of years; I seem to recall that Nathan Brown started the rot at Huddersfield, closely followed and massively expanded upon by Maguire at Wigan - and then it became an arms race, wherein every coach and club became obsessed with wrestling, gang tackling, slowing down the ruck and milking penalties; to the point where many games are almost unrecognisable as RL and are certainly dour, niggly, stop start affairs, with little to excite the spectator.

Aside from that general decline in the way the game is played, this season is no worse than any other - that's just something that Leeds fans started saying, in response to their poor season.