I agree absolutely.

I said in an earlier post that RL is poor now even compared to the game of 10 years ago, let alone the game of the 90s.

Have a look at our squad for the 2002 season and tell me that the one we have now is better, because it ain`t. The 2002 squad was skilful and had flair and characters in the team and with a few notable exceptions the 2012 squad didn`t. And that goes for most of the teams in Super League.

The RFL have lowered the standards of the game in their quest to make the game more competitive and have succeeded in making it for the most part boring and uncompetitive.

In the seasons before Super League our Boxing day home match would draw around 30,000. Whatever the rights and wrongs are of summer rugby, we've certainly missed a trick in abandoning the competitive fixtures around Christmas.

Saracens get about 6000 to vicarage lane. The RFU play to its strengths, giving freebies to the CoL sponsors for Twickers and Wembley events - makes a great story to sell sponsors/broadcasters.

It's called being sensible.

I agree, RL doesn't play to its - thats why the game is ripped apart and will not reach its potential. Our market is Soccer not RU fans. I would love to see Quins playing in East London for example.

The whole RL "package" needs freshening up and improving.

The salary cap needs a substantial increase - I`ll bet the wages of the staff at RL HQ have not remained at the same level for several years!

And why shouldn`t we import players from the NRL and RU if it improves the game as a spectacle - it`s that which will get people who are not going to the game interested again and it`s that which will interest new players and spectators.

And look at the SKY presentation of RL - it`s the same old, same old tired programme season after season with Wiggy and Baldy trotting out the same old platitudes. Boots n All - what an embarrassment that is. Barry and Terry - is that the best we can do? And Stevo and Studd - what`s all that about?

The whole business needs modernising - out with the old and in with the new. And sooner rather than later. Please.

Sky has brought in some superb changes with SL but the next stage needs to be more radical. With just 3 x 10 mile hotbeds ie Wigan, Leeds and Hull the game will go backwards. As much as expansion hasnt worked to date it has to going forward.

Darts has revolutionised itself, so has cricket(with more one dayers even against the traditionalists view), RU is growing both internationally and domestically (both at home and internationally). League crowds are creeping up domestically whereas internationally we seem to be standing still

Whilst the game stays northern we will never get massive sponsorship like union gets

Completely agree with this . Personally I would love to see the salary cap scrapped completely, let the clubs that can afford the best players in the world sign them. I remember watching wally Lewis and peter sterling playing against each other at belle vue, at the time arguably the two best players in the world.

sL at the moment can only be described as very average by comparison ,it's a strange kind of progress that we have made.

The RFL have plenty to do, but so do the broadcasters of RL.

BBC - The Challenge Cup coverage is decent, and Clair Balding presents it very well (although I believe shes going to C4?). The problem with the coverage is the commentators, French & Davies. Despite playing league to a very high level, Davies is a voice associated with RU & I don't find him that knowledgable about the sport. French is getting on, and again, I'm not sure he knows what he's talking about anymore. A poor commentator and his voice gives off the stereotypical Northern image.

BBC - The Superleague Show looks cheap, they spend waaay too long chatting in crap jumpers and it's on at a daft time throughout the rest of the country. Follow the MOTD model, highlights of each game followed by some expert analysis. Also, don't air it on a Sunday afternoon when half of the round's games are still to play and therefore we never get to see the trys.

SKY - Eddie & Stevo are unfortunately the face of RL, and do brilliantly to enhance that Northern stereotype. Time for a change.

All well and good, but who pays?

I agree with the Superleague show whoever produces that needs shooting, it's akin to watching Breakfast with Frost when your aged 10, bores the life out of me, needs re-vamping big time but that's the BBC for you.

Ideally we need a 5 to 10 year plan of getting RL higher up in the estimation of RL fans and the general British public e.g.

Firstly as a quick fix but not affecting the game itself we could as follows:

We need more bums on seats, give away free tickets to schools and RL clubs, you get a kid with a free ticket and their parent has to pay and then food and drinks on top plus it looks good when televised. If a ground holds 24,000 and the average for a certain game is 14,000 give away 4000 tickets 4 weeks previous to the game in the areas of the ground that struggle to fill.

Simple things like not having Hull FC or Hull KR play teams on this side of the Penines on a Friday night so more fans will go.

Have the big teams play away at Catalans and London in the warmer months to attract the fans and do a day out package and start banning the idiots who have no interest in watching RL just want to get bladdered and make a show of themselves as this stops some families going.

Make it a proper day out not just RL orientated and think big (not just face painting), have muscle cars/monster trucks outside the ground, have fly pasts by the RAF/ have Merlin helicopter deliver match ball, fire breathers on the side of the pitch and fire works, make a mobile fan zone outside the grounds selling ale and showing classic games on TVs whilst having a proper DJ blasting out good tunes (not Wish FM BTW, XFM or Real XS and get them involved for free advertising and prizes)

Which doesn't suit Sky, they want to make it difficult so that you DON'T go, that way you watch it on Sky and also all those fancy adverts they show too.

Neither does changing the current playoff format.

Top 8 give more gives more games and more advertising revenue (i would presume) than a top 5 regardless of the quality of the product.

I do wonder if Sky give a monkeys about the decline in attendances for playoff games, when they may be raking it in regardless with increased numbers viewing from home.

the game desperately needs mergers. Unfortunately with towns their size, the likes of Wakefield, Widnes, Halifax and Castleford are never going to be able to support a side that could win the title without the aid of a sugar daddy. Basic maths says that you need to combine some teams to make them viable as businesses. A smaller Super League, with franchised teams, all competitve, and a professional league of associated feeder clubs below that. You end up with a competition looking like this: (combined average attendance 2012 in brackets)

Wigan (16,043)
St Helens (14,08icon_cool.gif
Bradford (11,761)
Leeds (14,94icon_cool.gif
Catalans (9,383)
Warrington-Widnes (17,372)
Wakefield-Castleford-Featherstone (17,08icon_cool.gif
Hull United (19,671)
Huddersfield-Halifax (9931)
Leigh-Salford (7714)

Also it's likely the number of fans drawn from Halifax & Leigh would go up if they had a SL franchise based there, probably enough to push Huddersfax over 10k, and Leigh-Salford over 8k. It's only with attendances like those as a base that clubs will be viable as businesses, rather than the plaything of the local Mr Big.

The RFL can then pick clubs for expansion, and give them extra room in the Salary Cap, a direct grant, and licence to sign outside the quota limits to boost their success. Immediate places to start would be a Cumbria team based in Barrow & Carlisle, supporting London for their expansion, and seeking to bring another French team into the league.

Also, before anyone says 'but all the fans will go away', it's worth remembering that the Wakelford Rovers team that'd go out into the next SL season would be something like:

Richie Mathers, Lee Smith, Michael Shenton, Jake Webster, Ben Cockayne, Tim Smith, Rangi Chase, Justin Poore, Daryl Clark, Craig Huby, Andy Raleigh, Ali Lauitiiti, Danny Washbrook. R: Keith Mason, Jacob Emmitt, Danny Kirkmond, Jordan Tansey.

Which, one would think, would at least give the top sides a run for their money most of the time, as well as freeing up a large group of players to strengthen other sides.

Lastly, in terms of TV, I'd really like something like this 'dream team'

BBC
Presenters: Claire Balding, Brian Noble, Iestyn Harris
Commentators: Dave Woods & Robbie Hunter-Paul

Sky
Presenters: Brian Carney, Shaun McRae, Martin Offiah,
Commentators: Bill Arthur, Terry O'Connor

Mergers will never happen unfortunately.

What needs to happen is the RFL need to firstly grow some balls and tell the lazy, small, 'let someone else do it' clubs to shape up or sh*t out. Then they need to learn how to market the product to get a substantial sponsor and TV deal to support a two tier league.