Robbo wrote:
I think that whilst the competition is closer than it has ever been up at the top the reason for that is simply the top clubs becoming weaker rather than the lower clubs getting better. Go back 10 years and the likes of Wigan, St's, Leeds, Bulls, would walk the competition in it's current state, I'm glad that its a more even playing field, But it's an even playing field for all the wrong reasons.
Go back a decade and we had real stars in the game and some top quality imports from aus (albeit it usually at the end of their career) . We struggle to even hold onto those kind of players now.
The current wigan/saints teams wouldn't have got near the top of superleague 10 years ago.
The super league defences from 10 years ago wouldn't be able to cope with the systematic and structured attack needed in the modern game to break down much tougher defences. People are looking at individuals and their quality and comparing them.
Oh in yesteryear we had newlove and lyon and etc now we have josh jones and we put x amount of points on teams in devastating displays theres no contest.
Teams as a unit are much much better now and if you took the top teams now, and pit them against the top teams 10 years ago the present day teams would win comfortably because of the defensive and attacking structures.
It's an irritating trait. Every year the standard is worse than it's ever been. 10 years ago they were saying the same. 10 years before that, the same. It's a human nature i guess. To rose tint some of the past and get nostalgic.
In 10 years time, the same will happen again.