I can imagine Vinniedog and friends reaction from the nutjob forum if we were in Cas's position. That nails my feeling about their success. Come on Catalan !! Do the decent thing.

That attitude says a lot about the folk you mention. We should stay well out of the gutter and contratulate our near neighbours on a fantastic season that could well end on an even higher plane.

Saints have really bottled it though.

I had to laugh on Sky Sports News "Later on today Catalans host Castlefield" tbh I wouldn't mind Castlefield finishing top.

It's been a tough ask to go over there and win this season, think only 3 teams have done so. It'll still be in the high 20s, maybe pushing 30 degrees. If Cas can pull off this big last test they deserve the LLS, not that many of the Leeds fans will give them credit. The devaluation of the LLS certainly came from the Leeds corner of West Yorkshire and has built momentum the more they have a lethargic end to the regular season combined with 'champion' performances in the play offs. Just look at the last 2 fixtures on Sky. Warrington, Wigan, Saints and Huddersfield all wanted to end the season with wins and finish as high up the table as they could. They provided two games of massive quality despite their injuries and it being the last game of the regular season. Leeds on the other hand have lost 5 out of their last 6 league games. Even Brian Mac said in his post match interview, "It all starts next Saturday." If that's the case, maybe Leeds can enter the league next year at the play-offs stage as the league seems to be an unwanted hindrance for him and the rest of the teams are just peeing in the wind.

I know one thing, when you're turning up week in week out not knowing what the future holds for your team, you'd be shouting from the rooftops that you'd won the LLS.

It pains me to say it but I hope Cas give it their all tonight and we end up with a thriller. Then we can all go on the VT and read posts from Leeds fans of how Cas have failed because the 'hubcap' means absolutely nothing.

It's a kind of bizarre self delusion. Those of us like you and me who've been around a while know that even the supposed most reasonable Cas fan on earth would not reciprocate the sentiments on here.

You could argue it shows we are better than them, but I just don't buy it.

Whilst in no way do I feel the desire to congratulate Cas, I can acknowledge they are fully deserving of any reward that comes their way after an excellent season. It does give hope to the smaller clubs that if they get the right mix on and off the field they can complete with the richer clubs.

Cas' success is in no way good for us. They are getting much more coverage which means sponsors are going to be getting better value for money and these companies like to be associated with success. When we are both competing for the pounds of the local businesses it makes our job all the much harder. Their crowds are up and the prize money they get us considerably higher so the extra revenue gained gives them chance to outbid us on players from the best local juniors through to the first team. The floating rugby fan with no real allegiance is also going to gravitate towards them rather than ourselves. Cas may well deserve their success, no doubt about that, but it is bad news for us.

I can see what you are saying but I cant agree with much of it to be honest with you. with regards to the floating support as you put it, how many of those do you think there are I would be surprised if it was a 3 figure amount, with the sponsors I don't see that either I think most of our sponsors are Castleford based or have close links with Castleford and as for the youth development well without being patronising that seems to have been your achilies heel going back over a number of years. I think there is room in the district for both teams to do well and Webster looks like he could do good things next year based on the end of this season. but apart from that, thanks for wishing us well.

Oh good, another thread about Cas!

Spot on

Got to say it's bizarre - sadly the obsessive joke isn't a joke anymore.

For heavens sake folks you support the trin so who gives a stuff about Cas, it's not like we don't have enough issues pif our own to concentrate our minds on is it

This 100%. It makes you wonder where WTW would be if the people of Wakefield city backed the team and the club.

Firstly the floating fans, if both clubs are wanting to grow their fan base then they need to aim for two supporter types in the first instance. One is the lapsed fan of their clubs so no difference will be made there. The other is attracting new fans in the area to the game. Who do you think they would choose, the successful team or the lower one? Whether it is 10, 100 or a 1000 makes no difference, all clubs need every extra fans they can get as each and every one of them is a potential cash cow.

Secondly sponsorship, that was my point exactly. The local businesses will always support the club but success makes it much more likely that companies from slightly further afield would be interested, thus treading onto the patch of other clubs looking for the same money. If you had a business in, say, normy and had no real link to either team but was looking to grow your brand locally through sponsorship would you choose the club that might finish 12th, has an average crowd just over 4k and has been on live tv about 3 times or the one thats at the top of the table, averaging 7k a game and has had more tv exposure you could shake a stick at?

Thirdly youth development. This has seen a change in policy at Wakey recently and we have apparently got a very good set of 15 to 17 year olds at the club. We have done this by giving the lads chance to both earn and learn. It is not just Wakey born lads either. If Cas can offer the same but with more in the earn column to try attract them in the first place then where do you think they'll sign?

Hopefully those involved in running Cas will see it like you and it won't affect us one bit. Sadly in the real world people like to be involved with success so i've a feeling they'll be making hay whilst the sun shines.

Viva la France!