There are plenty of reasons. Firstly, there's inflation to take into account. Had the salary cap been adjusted for inflation since it had come in it would be up around £3m now. So, in real terms, we had up to a third more money to spend back then. There were also tax loopholes that clubs were allowed to exploit in paying their players - something to do with image rights. That got closed up in 2009, and was, I think, the main reason why a few clubs like Bradford, London and Wakey nearly went belly up not long after, as they suddenly got landed with hefty back-dated bills from the HMRC. Then there's the fact that union and the NRL were nowhere near as financially powerful when we had all of those players, so we were able to keep hold of them once we'd got them. There's just no way we or anyone else could assemble a similar lineup in the current climate.

That's not to make an excuse for our club's poor recruitment over the last decade, though. When we lost Graham and Eastmond (two young players the club would have built a side around) we replaced them with totally unsuitable big money signings, and, apart from the odd gem like Walmsley and the odd good solid recruit like Amor, we've been shopping at Primark since then. Clubs like Warrington and Hull have shown recently that it's still possible to sign good quality players if you stick your neck out.

I wish I shared your thoughts about tonight's game. I think we might suprise you with how bad we are.