I'll be honest, I don't mind the same teams winning it as much, I've got a strange desire for us to be the "other team" that win it. As it stands, it's same old. I'd be slightly gutted if Cas or Salford actually did it before us.

Totally agree with this, I'd be gutted if Salford or Huddersfield etc won it before us!

Regarding today, deserving winners again just like they have been for the last 3 seasons. Totally dominant at the moment and very much the best team. I said at the start of the season it's their to lose and I would say next year is too.

Was thinking that last week during the saints Salford game, obvs I wanted Salford to get through but it would have boiled my if they had then beat Leeds.

Fev vs Batley in the Championship semi is a bit more like it - lots of endevaour, plenty of skill and one or two gems waiting to be unearthed.

Fantastic game far better than that yesterday

The NRL final is so much quicker than that of SL. No lying on, no trapping arms or legs, no three man tackles that we have to wait for each individual to peel away and a genuine 10 meters.

AMG and RFL take note, this is what we want to see.

More importantly for me our teams should take note. I don't watch this comp regularly but if this level of intensity is typical then it just makes us look lazy

It is typical, certainly of clashes between the top 10 or so teams. They need to have the intensity in the first half of the season cos they are playing for Origin places. Then in the second half they are playing for the top 8 ( or top 4 preferably). The comps are miles apart.

The wrestlemania culture in our game has stifled the creativity and life out of it, and it's going to make a major shift in mindset and policy to change it. I'm not sure that our coaches, players and referees can all follow the NRL's ethos at play the ball, to improve SL for the better and as a product.

I think we can analyse it until the cows come home, but the simple fact is that our whole game & set-up is just levels lower than their's - it's like comparing Scottish Premier & English Premier football - the investment levels are totally different and because of that you get a completely different level of RL.

Ultimately, you need a owner/franchise revolution in the British game to change things. If every club had a Simon Moran, coupled with a rethinking of the salary cap, then that would be a huge start - Do we have the media interest in us for that to ever happen though?

If the money for the player in SL rivals that of the NRL, we might begin in see the gulf narrow.
If it’s paid 2nd grade, you’d get a 2nd grade product.

Fair points RD and DSM. Even if we are inferior to the NRL, I still want the game to played in a more positive manner, without all the restrictive practices being used at the play the ball. We'd still lag behind the NRL in player quality, but we'd have a better game to watch.