I'm afraid some have realised what I realised 4 seasons ago. This has been my fourth season without a season ticket having held one for many years previously. I started as a kid with likes of Brian Bevan, Harry Bath and the rest...We stood in the Railway End as kids open to the elements and regularly getting wet through and loving it along,sometimes, with 17,000 others. In my last couple of seasons at the HJ I found myself leaving 15/20 minutes before the final hooter....I was bored rigid with the modern formulated method of playing the game. I could close my eyes for a couple of minutes and pinpoint almost exactly where the ball was on opening them. The skills which attracted me to the game had gone...Dummies, sidesteps, change of pace...Half the game back then was based on kidology....Skills honed in the schoolyard playing tick, avoiding being touched.We'd play tick rugby under the streetlamps in winter and contact rugby in the local park in the summer. I still follow the game on TV, especially Wire games but rarely last more than 15 minutes, it grows more boring with each passing season.

I remember Willie Mason saying how he was bored playing the game 'stand here at this point then move there then run there etc etc' he said. The game has been coached to death and if players are bored playing then god help us spectators. Union beats us on everything bar the on-pitch product yet even that is under serious jeopardy at the minute. Drastic rule changes needed.

What was designed to be a fast open sport ,especially since 6 tackles were introduced in the 60s , has descended into forward play with 3 or more players involved in tackles ,then moving away slowly when their team mates are back in position. The ball only seems to get to the backs at the tail end of sets when it is usually too late to do any good & we have wingers doing the work of props too. Perhaps the powers that be should think about reducing to say 10 a side to let the ball get more space & get the backs more involved. They could even increase the number of subs to compensate for player fatigue.

I didn't renew my membership this season because I got tired of the same boring tactics and strategies. Five drives and a hopeful kick. Remembering the Smith years now with fondness for the free flowing rugby we played. Never won the Grand Final,but what entertainment we had. Sad sad sad[

All the major sports were invented 100-150 years ago. The number of players was determined as was the pitch size. Players are now fantastically fit, quicker and bigger and surfaces absolutely perfect.

If football/soccer was 9 aside and League was 11 a side it would create the space and style that is missing as there’s no chance of increasing the pitch size. I can’t watch soccer anymore, bores the life out of me and League is fast becoming the same even when compared to 10 years ago

I’d introduce 3 points for a try where there’s a kick involved in the tackle and 5 points for a ‘non kick ‘ try. This would encourage the half backs to be more creative with ball in hand, rather than a hopeful high kick to the corner which invariably is a lottery with the ball bouncing anywhere and an age to review on the screen.
Old school half backs with run-around moves, Andy Gregory style, the first step to providing more entertainment.It might also encourage old style wingers who were speedsters rather than battering rams in the corner
It would also bring a different dimension to the game. Do we go for the 3 points or 5 points?
What do others think?

Worth a go, perhaps two points for try involving a kick and four without.
Either that, or nothing for a try involving a kick. Anything to try and reintroduce some rugby back into the game.

The product across the league is, frankly, e. I walked away from Old Trafford last year 100% convinced that a mid-table side from 10-15 years ago would've won that Grand Final easily. The lack of flair, creativity, and skill is just.... embarrassing.

Lol there's nothing wrong with a good accurate kick to the centre or winger to score a try. Sandow to lineham vs Wigan was worth more than 4!!

Also interesting to know how many trys from kicks are scored that are not on the last. I don't think there will be many. Our issue is we give our wingers the bal on 1-2 then our forwards are getting the ball 3 4 n we are letft with one play to create somthing. It's fundamentally flawed especially when the opposition restrict our first few plays. Tackles 3-5 we need to look to create somthing.


If we're going to make changes to trys scores I would be more for 6 point try if starts from within your own 40

I personally feel the rfl needs to stop messing with the rules, it's like an admission that the game needs improving but it's turned out worse for all the changes.

Set the rules in stone, make them more simple so the mick poor referees have a better chance of no balling it up every match. Dummy runner make the game far more interesting but they've largely been rendered useless. For me if a defender tackles a dummy runner it's their problem, if a dummy runner runs in to an attacker or deliberately blocks a defenders path then penalty. Just talk to the clubs, referees and the fans etc, sort out some of the problematic rules (messing in the ruck, forward is forward, stepping back off the mark etc) and leave them be for 10 years or so!

Thank you for your comments everyone. Its not just me then!!!

You are all right, I actually fell asleep the other week watching a Super League game.

I have no idea what has happened, some say coaching etc.

I watch Championship Rugby and I must admit its still got that excitement, flair, off the cuff plays. It takes me back to the old 1st division in the 80's

Being a Leigh fan, we played differently whist in Super League 2 years ago than we did before and after life at the top.

Never mind things might change

Oh yea good luck for the rest of the season

It's certainly not. It's dull as ditch water. Even Sky, which has paid money for the TV rights, has dumped it onto their back water channels. God knows what the next TV deal will bring.

I hope the RFL and Super League note the sentiment amongst the fans.

i think there are a number of things that have brought us to this dull game we now try to watch.

* The game has become massively sanitised, which has removed alot of what people loved about Rugby League.. the shoulder charge being the main one..
* The slowing down of the game - a tactic only really seen properly since Maguire at Wigan came in with 'operation roadkill'.. cannonballs, leg twists etc... that started to become a bit of a staple all around the league then... like diving was to football, this new side to RL was like a cancer to the flow of a game (and to a players health, which we saw only too often)... a dark art designed to win at the expense of rugby league.
* Aussie salary cap increased while the dollar got stronger against the GBP and we couldn't contend when it came to pinching their best players (like we used to)
* play acting... players trying to milk penalty s... players cry arsing to the referees all the time.... yes its true it takes real men to play RL.. but these latest ones arent half a bunch of women.

stick all of the above together and we now have a game, which the highlight of, is usually a winger diving 5 yards over a corner flag and smacking the ball down with one hand.

pathetic.

It’s even got to the point now that Carney is trying to ‘drum up’ discussions and call out the other pundits on certain subjects before & after games. In the ear days, he was always quite impartial Carney didn’t say much about certain aspects of the game or players, where as now he’s not afraid to stir up argument and call out statements with the other pundits.

Phil Clarke is still as biased and absurd as ever...