Quote: lothlorian "There are 6 good teams in this league, the rest just make up the numbers and that is not said to disrespect but a sad fact. The league is not more competitive but the top 6 is. Tonight was a strange game. We were untouchable in the first half but with the injury to Bentham, a commanding league and one eye on the cup quarter final next week it was expected. Wigan will turn up next week for 80 mins and a fancy a Wigan win by 10-12 points'"
Disagree. There a 7 good teams who can all beat each other but some are just more consistant than others. If you look at it that way it is much closer than we have ever seen this league really.
The standard of the bottom half is shocking though. Bradford and sometimes Hull KR can match the big boys for periods of the game but will always get beat if those top 7 teams are on their game.
No shock to see the these top 7 teams are also the top 7 clubs with the best academy systems, best stadiums, best coaches, while also being the teams who seem to spend to the cap. This comp needs all teams to spend to the cap, because we will never have a full league of teams who can compete untill that happens. Being able to spend to the cap should be the main criteria on the super league application in my opinion. Getting to a NRC final or consistent 9th place finishes in super league shows nothing really.
An example is Fev, they can do well in the lower division and in one off games agains SL opposition, but in super league they wouldn't last because they couldn't be sustainable spending to the cap. This is why the RFL would probably rather have another French team in Toulouse for example to come in and spend to the cap and potentially be a good top 8 team.
