Quote easyWire="easyWire"Ignoring the fact it was us though, I have to agree the game as a whole is dying off in terms of entertainment. Yes, it's true we don't have the talent pool we used to, or the top overseas stars, but there's just very little champagne stuff. No wonder we can't attract new fans to the game. And to think last season we were expecting the COVID changes to speed the game up and make it more exciting.
Watching classic games on YouTube (not just Warrington) there seemed to be anticipation that something was going to happen every time a team was in the opposition 40. Maybe it's just me but that spark seems to have gone. Everything just seems flat and nullified.
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Back in the mid 2000s when Super League was probably at its peak, there was a common view on these forums that the problem with the game was too many overseas players and if clubs weren't spending all their money chasing big stars like Jamie Lyon, Trent Barrett and co they would put that money into youth development and a load of young British stars would come in. I remember Huddersfield signing Michael De Vere, was seen as an example of everything that was wrong with the game.
Well as the NRL salary cap outgrew ours, and the exchange rate stopped being in our favour, the top Aussies stopped coming over, but the predicted upsurge in home grown talent didn't emerge. I don't think there's any higher quality in young talent in Super League these days than there was back when the game was full of big name Aussies and guys like Fielden, Pryce, Briers, Sinfield, O'Loughlin, McGuire, Ellis were coming through.
It's probably whats going to happen with Brexit too when all these predictions of a great British future once the migrant labour leaves and British firms 'investing in their own staff' won't materialise. Big firms will just slowly relocate and the economy will be based around low wage gig economy type work.