I'm looking forward to tonight to be honest. There's something of a 'backs to the wall' feeling about this game and in general at the club at the moment which would make a win taste very sweet indeed. I'm expecting a very hard night and won't be surprised if Cas get the win but I can't see anything like last weeks margin. A close game packed with effort and no new injuries is all we can hope for and a win will be a bonus!

Memories of the "Spirit of the cap", and the "Spirit of 2006"...... Thing is, this time, we are very near to the top of the table!!

It's strange isn't it? I think our position in the league is more of a reflection on the rest of SL than us. Our failing are clear but yet we're still up there. I said this on another discussion and was accused of being arrogant and told I should give credit to Catalans, Widnes and Hull etc. I then asked if that person thought any of those teams would have beaten Brisbane, Roosters or Rabbitohs but they didn't come back to me!
Our league is poor and we are one of the better clubs in that league.

I would have thought that's mostly water loss that could be regained just as quickly.

could not agree more, well said

Why compare SL the the NRL ? Two different animals altogether. NRL will always be far far superior to SL for obvious reasons. Maybe when SL becomes bigger than football in this country we can start the comparison.

Agreed. No new injuries first, a scrappy win will do nice. Not confident though, Cas are difficult at the best of times.

I wasn't comparing competitions in that way at all. I said the standard of rugby league in SL is poor and was accused of being arrogant because I should give more credit to teams like Hull and Widnes. Whilst they have improved the standard RL of the competition is not great and was using the WCC to illustrate the standard of our league.
We all know we'll never compete with the NRL but that doesn't mean the rugby over here is good enough!

I agree,looks a decent prospect but nothing screams out to me he's destined for the top.Barry and Terry seem to love him on sky.Im also shocked how much weight he's carrying for a young lad.

he also seems quite short for a prop

To be fair, not saying they'd win, but on current form Wire, Hull and Catalans would have given the NRL sides more of a game than we, Saints, and the Rhinos managed.

Catalans are half way towards being a NRL team.

I've stated on and off for year that SL is in decline, it's no coincidence that as more teams replace the genuine quality overseas players with youngsters the quality has nose dived. The British game doesn't produce enough talent to support an entire league, we have too many very average young players in the first team because of politics off the pitch. We can't compete with union and the NRL, we can't draw star names anymore and very best players are cherry picked.

The state of SL is deteriorating each season. The powers that be either can't see it or think it's the lesser of two evil, do they increase the cap and watch teams end up in financial crisis or accept a mediocre league with average young players.

i thought the whole idea of a French team was to promote French players, looks a mockery at the moment, can't blame the Aussies for wanting to play there... That said, I would have no problem with an "Aussie" side in London..

It's not a new thing, look at the great Bradford team, didn't they have 8 or 9 overseas players in the first team?