Catalans becoming dominant or others slipping?

[fighting irish]

Come on Catalans!!!!

[Oxford]

25 minutes ago, Harry Stottle said:

Standards have also dropped at the club's you mention, just that the others have yet still to catch up, maybe this year?

Reading you post Harry, do you have the blues?

There is no doubt that the theme of falling standards is now a standard on this community.

Which reminds I just went down the threads or GRL and so many are locked and I had the feeling that it won't be long before we come to Total and they all are!

 

[Clogiron]

I admit to never being a fan of MacBananas coaching but he has put together a well organized team led by Maloney, who play to their strengths and J Tompkins aside carry no passenger's and that's something that you couldn't say about previous Dragons teams. Coupled with the tribulations that Covid has placed on them and Gousch's wallet they have to admired and I hope they can go on and win the thing.

[PECETTO]

5 hours ago, Saint Toppy said:

Catalans aren't dominant, They're playing well at the moment and have put a good run together, but they've been knocked out the cup and there's a very long way to go before the GF. They've also been helped by being able to largely field a strong side week after week as they haven't been as badly affected by injuries as a lot of other clubs have so far this year. But as we all know that can quickly turn and they could easily find themselves losing 6 or 7 key players for long periods.

They've been here several time before and aside from their CC win they've always fallen short.

All the clubs are going to be hit by injuries, fixture pile-ups, multiple Covid postponements etc. at some point this year probably leading to a dip in form. They've also still got a fair few difficult fixtures like Saints away (twice), Wire away, Wigan away

So while they're top of SL now lets just wait see where they are come the end of the season.

In all your post, we can feel how match you like the french teams.... sorry to exist ! 

[Cheshire Setter]

I remember when Warrington won the cup back to back 09/10. Suddenly it was being called a Mickey Mouse trophy. Then in 2011 Wigan won and it was instantly back to being a big deal.

Will the SL trophy value be downgraded if Cats or Warrington win it this year?

The standards have dropped across the league as a whole, sure. But it’s still the same in relative terms between clubs. It was literally 2 months ago the RL pundits were convincing us that Saints and Wigan were light years ahead of the rest of the league with much better squads. Sort of been turned on its head a little. We can always use Covid as an excuse though.

[The Rocket]

15 hours ago, Hvy wg said:

When you see Maloney's career you begin to understand.
The guy has been in consistently performing teams. He's not a passenger and we'll miss him when he goes.

It's no coincidence that we're clicking when Maloney is on the pitch with Tomkins running riot.
He's vocal, he knows the game, he's just better than most a leading a team.

Maloney is a winner, wherever he`s played over here they`ve done well. I`ve no doubt that this being his last year he wants to repay the club for, from what I`ve read, has been a wonderful experience for him and his family, even allowing for the restrictions placed on everyone due to the pandemic.

Another thing I`ve noticed, whenever I`ve seen Cats results, he seems to be kicking at a very high success rate, for me that`s the sign of a bloke who is on his game at the moment.

15 hours ago, ShropshireBull said:

I think being in a city of 100,000 people on the south coast of France will make it easier for them to attract players from southern hemisphere but the culture of rolling up for a retirement pay day seems well in the past. There is a level of expectation down there now which perhaps wasn´t there in the first years of their time. Just hoping Toulouse can join them to add to the story. 

I reckon they should be starting to look for a replacement for Maloney over here. One player, who though not of the same ilk as Maloney, could be Mat Moylan. He has got a good few years in him, he is a good player who can run a team, I think his time might be up in the NRL, and although I`ve never been his greatest fan I think there has been signs of a maturity in his game nowadays that I feel he has sometimes lacked in the past. 

I know the Sharks haven`t resigned him so he might be up for a challenge and change of scenery like Maloney was.

Another player without a club, although I would be much more wary of him would be Corey Norman. He`s a class act when he`s on and has loads of experience, plenty of football left in him and he`s the sort of player if you can get through to the finals he could be a match winner. Put him on a two year contract he might benefit from a change of scenery as well.

[Sir Kevin Sinfield]

14 hours ago, Clogiron said:

I admit to never being a fan of MacBananas coaching but he has put together a well organized team led by Maloney, who play to their strengths and J Tompkins aside carry no passenger's and that's something that you couldn't say about previous Dragons teams. Coupled with the tribulations that Covid has placed on them and Gousch's wallet they have to admired and I hope they can go on and win the thing.

Show some respect and cut out the name calling, it’s McNamara. He massively improved England under his watch, won the Challenge Cup with Catalans and now has them sitting at the top of Super League. 

[Harry Stottle]

16 hours ago, Oxford said:

Reading you post Harry, do you have the blues?

No I don't have the blues Oxy, well not relating to my comment anyway on this subject anyway, can you honestly say 'hand on heart' that SL is as good as what we were being served up 10 to 15 years ago?

I am not taking the view of 'nothing is as good as it used to be' it is a simple comparative observation, is it the player's who not as good, or is it the rules, or a combination of both?

Regarding player's, it does not take a genius to realise if the pro game has less numbers to choose from then the quality will most certainly fall away, evidence shows there are less and less young kids participating in the sport, this to me is the area the governing bodies should be giving a good dose of looking at and attention to, if those numbers in participation numbers keep dropping off the game will reach crisis level in a couple of generations (40 years), there should be a concerted effort immediately to redress the balance, even if it means putting aside say 3 to 4M a year from the central funding before distribution to finance it, but alas that is something that I consider will never happen. It's not OK to say look at what certain pro clubs do with their Academies, but these clubs are fishing in the very same pool that is getting smaller and smaller every year, how long before it dries up completely?

Anyone who can't see the connection with the amatuer/pro game and young kids being introduced and staying with the sport are either blind or suffer from culpable ignorance.

[GUBRATS]

Is the standard lower this year compared to recent years ? , Yes , the players had less of a break on top of disrupted training , it was madness to try to play full seasons this and last in the current situation 

[Oxford]

6 minutes ago, Harry Stottle said:

can you honestly say 'hand on heart' that SL is as good as what we were being served up 10 to 15 years ago?

Yes and here I would have said -next!

Think memory and jaundice play funny tricks. I also think covid has played a huge part and Gubrats has summed.

You're right about the numbers playing the game though.

 

 

[JM2010]

Totally agree Harry. The biggest investment needed by SL and the RFL is grassroots. You can have as many or as little full time elite academies as you want, meeting high criteria, the standards at the top will still drop if there are less kids playing the game at community level.

Unfortunately the SL clubs won't give up any central funding so that a development fund can be created

 

[Harry Stottle]

15 minutes ago, GUBRATS said:

Is the standard lower this year compared to recent years ? , Yes , the players had less of a break on top of disrupted training , it was madness to try to play full seasons this and last in the current situation 

In my opinion it's not just this year or last year Gubby, I honestly believe our standards have had the 'domino' effect for a good time now and are falling over year on year.

[Lowdesert]

7 minutes ago, Harry Stottle said:

No I don't have the blues Oxy, well not relating to my comment anyway on this subject anyway, can you honestly say 'hand on heart' that SL is as good as what we were being served up 10 to 15 years ago?

I am not taking the view of 'nothing is as good as it used to be' it is a simple comparative observation, is it the player's who not as good, or is it the rules, or a combination of both?

Regarding player's, it does not take a genius to realise if the pro game has less numbers to choose from then the quality will most certainly fall away, evidence shows there are less and less young kids participating in the sport, this to me is the area the governing bodies should be giving a good dose of looking at and attention to, if those numbers in participation numbers keep dropping off the game will reach crisis level in a couple of generations (40 years), there should be a concerted effort immediately to redress the balance, even if it means putting aside say 3 to 4M a year from the central funding before distribution to finance it, but alas that is something that I consider will never happen. It's not OK to say look at what certain pro clubs do with their Academies, but these clubs are fishing in the very same pool that is getting smaller and smaller every year, how long before it dries up completely?

Anyone who can't see the connection with the amatuer/pro game and young kids being introduced and staying with the sport are either blind or suffer from culpable ignorance.

The players are being asked to play too many games without sufficient rest together with the uplift in efforts required now scrums are suspended.  As time goes on, the standard will get worse.

The onus was placed on a Clubs to do their own development.  I suspect some are making genuine efforts, some are making intermittent efforts, some are paying it lip service.  The RFL go to work, pick up the salary, go home.  I suspect some Club development persons do the same.  Some step changes have to be made but in this financial climate, all the necessary changes won’t happen.

The right people need to be involved in youth & grassroots development.  Both can have different needs but both complement each other.  Good people recognise this.  

This isn’t a quick fix but it isn’t really that hard to get a bunch of kids playing RL on a grassed area.  You don’t need a sky try set up in your arsenal or tackle bags, shields, bibs, cones, mini posts, mini buses, shower blocks etc etc.

[Clogiron]

4 hours ago, Sir Kevin Sinfield said:

Show some respect and cut out the name calling, it’s McNamara. He massively improved England under his watch, won the Challenge Cup with Catalans and now has them sitting at the top of Super League. 

I show respect to no one, at my age why should I? If making fun of his name is so terrible what is your excuse?

[paulwalker71]

Speaking as a neutral, I'd absolutely love a Catalans vs Wire GF this year - and I'd wager that most neutral fans feel the same

And it doesn't look all that unlikely right now either

[fighting irish]

18 hours ago, PECETTO said:

In all your post, we can feel how match you like the french teams.... sorry to exist ! 

c'est envie mon ami. 

[unapologetic pedant]

22 hours ago, Oxford said:

Reading you post Harry, do you have the blues?

I asked for water in the politics section, they gave me gasoline.

 

22 hours ago, Oxford said:

Which reminds I just went down the threads or GRL and so many are locked and I had the feeling that it won't be long before we come to Total and they all are!

Could be the best solution.

[Saint Toppy]

On 03/07/2021 at 06:27, Sir Kevin Sinfield said:

He massively improved England under his watch, 

Based on what exactly ?? - certainly not results

[Sir Kevin Sinfield]

1 hour ago, Saint Toppy said:

Based on what exactly ?? - certainly not results

McNamara took over coaching England in 2010, I suggest you look at England’s results in the period leading up to that, for instance the 2008 World Cup we played 4 games and lost 3 of them. Results certainly improved under McNamara.

[GeordieSaint]

1 hour ago, Sir Kevin Sinfield said:

McNamara took over coaching England in 2010, I suggest you look at England’s results in the period leading up to that, for instance the 2008 World Cup we played 4 games and lost 3 of them. Results certainly improved under McNamara.

I agree. But more in relation to competitiveness than results. We did beat New Zealand regularly during McNamara’s tenure. But whilst we didn’t beat the Aussies, the games were all competitive and we were a (Ryan Hall) finger away from winning in Melbourne in 2014. 

McNamara’s real contribution to the England set up though was the (perceived) professionalisation of the setup. It felt the England concept really developed during his tenure. 

[Sir Kevin Sinfield]

On 02/07/2021 at 14:16, Sir Kevin Sinfield said:

Catalans look the real deal this year. Leeds v Catalans a week today is massive, the 2 form teams in Super League, it’ll be a real test for them.

 

On 02/07/2021 at 15:12, Saint Toppy said:

Leeds Form  you site 7th in the table with a 50% win ratio and you last 3 victories have been against teams sitting lower in the table, 8th, 11th & 12th

Catalans and Leeds are the best 2 teams in Super League 

[GeordieSaint]

21 minutes ago, Sir Kevin Sinfield said:

Catalans and Leeds are the best 2 teams in Super League 

That’s exactly what the table tells us…

[fieldofclothofgold]

They might be becoming the dominant team this season, but isn't that how its supposed to work? 

[Scubby]

6 hours ago, fieldofclothofgold said:

They might be becoming the dominant team this season, but isn't that how its supposed to work? 

Given that all the other clubs (barring a couple) have not really had to travel anywhere it is a great achievement for Catalans to be clear at the top right now. They are arguably the club where the cracks should be showing after spending 2 years playing nearly every game in the UK.

[Dave T]

2 hours ago, Scubby said:

Given that all the other clubs (barring a couple) have not really had to travel anywhere it is a great achievement for Catalans to be clear at the top right now. They are arguably the club where the cracks should be showing after spending 2 years playing nearly every game in the UK.

What's the situation with Catalans now? Are they based here at the moment or travelling back and to?