Adam_Harrison9 wrote:
I don't buy into the idea that the standard of the whole league has dropped. Fev still have on paper as strong a squad as they had last season imo - 1 to 17 anyway. Toulouse are apparently fulltime? So don't see why they wouldn't be as strong this season. Halifax have signed Widdop and Eden who are two super league players and one that has played NRL rugby and seemingly don't have a squad that are as weak as last season? Doncaster have a lot of SL experienced players. York have injuries which you can't help but have signed Dagger and Myler... If anything surely the standard has slightly risen. Bradford by all accounts have a stronger squad and higher spend than last season? Widnes are being dark horses and Sheffield are playing well with some experienced ex-SL players too? Is it really as weak as being made out? Seems more like the clubs at the bottom and middle have moved up a notch rather than the league being "weaker".
How much of the Championship have you seen over the last 5 years?
Fev were a strong team in 2022 and 2023 but you can't lose 18-20 players from your squad and expect to reach the same level on half the budget as is the case this year. In particular, Fev's pack last year steamrollered just about every other team barring a couple of games, but Fev have been rolled up the middle twice this year by Bradford, that just hasn't happened in the last 5 years.
Toulouse actually weren't that good last year especially when they had some injuries, and some of their better players are now another year older (eg Hansen is 38, Peyroux is 35) and they lost their best half back Josh Ralph. They won't be as bad as their current position suggests (they didn't have a pre-season remember) but they are nothing like the team of 2021, which was really good (Casty, Garbutt, Sangare, a younger Harrison and Peyroux in the pack, and Ford and Kheirallah pulling the strings).
Bradford definitely look a bit better than last year and have made a couple of good signings, we'll have to see if they can keep progressing or whether they regress to the mean. They don't have the look of a 2021 Toulouse, a 2022 Leigh/Fev, or a 2023 Fev though.
Sheffield and Widnes have made good starts but when you look at their teams they really don't look a lot stronger than in previous years so it will be interesting to see if they can keep flying high. Widnes lost to Swinton and Batley in two of the cup competitions and Sheffield have been pushed all the way twice by Doncaster, who have plenty of players who are a fair bit past their sell-by date and are likely to be in the bottom four.
Halifax have been a bit flakey for a few years now and just don't have much size or bite in their pack. They'll produce the odd good game but plenty of disappointing ones as has been the case in recent years. York seem to make some big-name signings every year without getting any better though they have had particularly bad luck with injuries.
Barring Wakefield, there isn't an obvious top-2 Championship team in the division - obviously one will emerge by default (probably Bradford, though that could change, maybe Fev will progress as the year goes on), but the quality teams are lacking this year.
