Interesting comments from JJB on the current state of the game in SL... www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p047cx8m

Interesting comments from JJB on the current state of the game in SL... www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p047cx8m

Totally disregard JJBs opinion. Surely due to his Leeds commitments he doesn't go to enough games to have an opinion.

Just ask Gotcha.

So, is he saying the ruck is too quick, or too slow?

Yeah I couldn't quite work out what he meant by that.

Has been talks bollox shock

He's right to a degree , too much wrestling , too much interference at the PTB ( although a lot less since Buderus went back to OZ ) , too many forward passes ( who might that be ?)

He wasn't saying there was too much wrestling, his point was that it's hard to control the tackle because the ball carriers are going straight to ground moving off the mark to play the ball fast or win a penalty. He then talked about how Widnes dealt with Wigan's attempts to do this by piling on and by being prepared to concede penalties to slow Wigan down.
He's making some pretty complex observations about how teams attack now and how teams counter that and how unattractive that is to watch. I agree with him.

Yep. Another issue with players moving off the mark is then with the markers. We had to change the rules re markers because of this and now it's almost impossible for a marker to be penalised for not square. Which has a knock on effect on attacks.

Does anyone else think fans don't really seem to care anymore?

Alot of games seem souless. You watch games on tv at the likes of wigan and saints and there's no atmosphere, no intensity from the crowd. These used to be real intimidating places to play at because of the noise from the crowd, obviously saints are at a different ground but wigan aren't. On friday wigan a team with a traditionally strong away following hardly took any fans to hull. Thery still have a chance of finishing top!

It used to feel like there was an attitude that if a team lost a game, or a team competing for honours lost a game should I say, there was big problems! It was bad! You felt this from the crowd, from the noise that was generated when certain things happened in the game. Now it just feels like 'meh'.

Too many games and a structure that really only offers a poor illusion of importance.

Regarding the points above, obviously we have more games now but it's not just since the super 8's format was introduced. It's been a gradual malaise set in over years.

You mention illusion of importance, but again that doesn't stack up. We had intensity from the fans when we had the old playoff format's which had arguably less resting on the games week by week because you really need to be in the top 4 or damn close to it to have a chance of playing to get to the GF. Before you could finish lower down and still have a good chance.

So although I don't think the current situation can be blamed on the current format, it seems to date back to circa 2008 when licensing and then the top 8 was subsequently introduced. Because those 2 things did really sterilize the competition, due to the points you mentioned. We don't so much specifically have those problems with the format any longer any longer, but things aren't improving.

Reading the Wigan board they're fed up of the style of play. Probably goes for most teams as they aren't attractive to watch.

You all need to start playing like the Leythers