Some observations from this weekends fixtures against NRL opposition.

1. All Superleague clubs looked fit, strong and fronted up well down the middle, very few line breaks against our teams over the 3 matches.
2. The NRL clubs are better disciplined and make very few errors. If they make an error they front up and seldom get punished.
3. The NRL half backs have a lot more skill and accuracy with the boot.
4. A lot of tries conceded by Superleague clubs came from quality kicks.
5. The NRL forwards share the workload, drive the ball in straight and hard and dominate field position.
6. The NRL clubs are more enthusiastic chasing attacking kicks and their players seem to know when and where a kick is going.
7. Superleague’s biggest weakness for me is that our half backs aren’t in the same league as the NRL’s. We are never going to realistically get better than them them unless we start developing far better quality half backs. Too many years of NRL reject half backs playing in Superleague and not enough British kids being coached to the required standard. Take Widdop as an example, would he be as good as he is if he hadn't been coached in Australia?

All the Aussie sides were relentless to the end. Probably because they need to be in their comp.

The biggest difference for me is £1.80m v £3.50m.

I think all are true points inc the difference in salary cap , them seem much quicker in thought and action and defensively much better . The competion in the NRL is much tougher than ours , Warrington and Wigan both played well but couldnt get past on paper mid-tabel NRL , i always thought Saints could get embarrassed and sadly they did , no lack of effort but totally outplayed in every dept .

Does anyone know what the average yearly wage is for a super league player.

At a guess, I would say the average at a club who is operating at the top of the salary cap is £1.80m divided by 30 man squad so £60k per annum.

I take it not every player will be on 60k each, some will be on less in order to pay the elite players more?

I know the benefits of rugby league having a salary cap but that cap will eventually be more detrimental to the sport than the positives it brings, League is a brutal sport and a players career can be short so tell me why should the elite players put their body on the line week in and week out for £60k a year when they can play union or NRL for £120k a year. I therefore agree with John Gilbert Red that the single biggest difference between the two competitions is the salary cap.

I would imagine the younger members of those 30 man squads will be on something in the region of £20-30k. This would ensure the elite players are therefore earning circa £100k+.

Just increasing the cap won't make the players any better, unfortunately the pool of talent in the UK is limited as the game is limited too certain geographical areas.

Remedy this and we will start too catch the NRL up, if we don't we tread water with the odd win along the way.

Sorry I disagree. Take Theo Fages for example, top player rising star and has the potential to big one of the best players in the game. The French RFU who are struggling at the moment international decide to scout rugby league for the best French players and offer Theo double what he earns now, he would be daft not to go. Surely the pool of talent is limited because the best players go where the money is not because of where they live?

I think going forward a lot more emphasis has to be put on the importance of a top kicking game. I think it has to start at grass roots level with junior development. Kids should be encouraged to practice the accuracy of their kicking game much more. Perhaps training needs to be adapted and tailored with more time dedicated to kicking drills for young half backs.

Maybe the RFL could invest in some special regional Junior development centres, just for kicking development? It astounds me how often you see a professional player kick the ball straight into the arms of a fullback despite having a big wide pitch full of empty space to aim at. It's absolutely criminal.

I disagree. If the cap in Super League was bigger would the Burgess brothers and Tomkins still be in Super League? Also, would Chris Ashton, Kyle Eastmond and Sam Burgess be plying their trade in union. All of those players would make Super League a stronger competition. The more money you can spend, the better quality of player you can retain. As it stands at the moment, Super League becomes weaker every season when the best young talent deserts the competition. Joe Burgess is doing the same at the end of 2015.

I fully understand your point but what if our elite players were offered equal money from the NRL or Union? They could still potentially leave and base their decision on wanting to test themselves in a different competition or they could simply want to experience a change of lifestyle.

I totally agree, you’re always going to get an element of players wishing to try playing either another code or living abroad but you can bet at the moment the biggest factor in them moving is the significant contracts that they’re being offered.

As things stand at the moment, whilst those players are playing well we have no chance of getting them back over here as we cannot compete with the wages.

The Burgess clan, Graham et al are lost to SL. What's important is making sure the next wave of players, the Percival's, Watkins, Suttons etc stay in the league. This can be achieved (at least financially) with the rules the rfl wants to bring in - and have brought in for the championship - without needing to chase "marquee exemptions" and massive cap increases pricing out half our competition.