I'd been really looking forward to a Grand Final between two teams that play entertaining rugby.
However, it was boring because neither team could hold on to the bar of soap which was pretending to be a rugby ball.
The Grand Final is the pinnacle of our game and we had to put up with that farce. We certainly aren't going to win over neutral spectators.
We have had this bar of soap for years but the powers that be have done nothing about it. Imagine Dunlop making tyres that were as frictionless as a superleague ball. Crash! Crash! Crash!
Our Grand Final is often played in wet conditions so I think it is a priority to produce a rugby ball that will enable teams to play fast flowing rugby.

I was trawling twitter after the game and loads of players and ex players were saying the Rhino ball is like a bar of soap and nowhere near as good as the Steeden. Maybe something in it and if we want our game slick, fast and entertaining then maybe it's something the RFL can look at.
On a positive I thought the officiating was reasonable tonight. The obstruction decision by the video ref was harsh and Child missed the forward pass for the Leeds try but other that, no real issues.

I can't deny this 100%, because I can't comment with personal experience on how these modern makes of rugby ball react to wet weather - but I can't help remembering how, during the winter season, such conditions were the norm rather than the exception, and how there were still incredible games with lots of great tries.

Perhaps tonight's spectacle would have been better if Cas had respected the conditions more.

That said, I must grudgingly give Leeds a big tick. They did the job in solid, no nonsense and traditional fashion, never got fazed by Cas's self-proclaimed 'reinvention of the game', and never looked like losing from quite early on. Makes me realise how bad and disorganised Wigan have been in 2017, to allow the Tigers to slaughter them three times.

Leeds did do the job indeed, although I think it might have been a different story if the sun was shining. But it wasn't, and Leeds played the conditions better than Cas, and got the win on the back of the forward domination they earned. Even so, the scoreboard was a little harsh on Cas, and I didn't see too much wrong with the obstruction either, and certainly the pass was forward for that Leeds try. Wouldn't have altered the result, though.

And Roberts had a stinker, which didn't help.

The difference between the winter days and now is that the pitches are like snooker tables now, especially at the football grounds, meaning that hardly any mud or dirt gets on the ball which made it easier to grip in the old days. Although I don't think the ball helps, nobody seems to have any good things to say about it.

Ex-squeeze me, is this a serious thread? Have I missed som't? You're blaming a bit of inflated plasticised rubber for the the anti-climax of the season?

I'm really interested in the news conference tomorrow (technically later today) where we find out what & why who said/leaked/got drunk/hit who/did what, but the bottom line is Cas bottled it.

They choked.

They did what Hudds did at Twickenham against the Stainers (what, 10 years ago? - that was a waste of a drive down), they failed to turn up.

This has been hyped as the battle of the superteam of the year against the team nearly relegated last year but with experience and superior knowledge how to win. It's been a gift to the promoters, a sell out for OT, and what do we get? Near as damn-it a nilling with one team simply failing to bother and the usual suspects lifting the silver.

And we wonder why & how Yawnion, for all it's problems, poor attendance, barmy regulations, maintains its hold on the media.

I give you an over hyped, dismal one-sided, pathetic centerpiece, waste of time, effort & money (really, what will the sponsors be thinking - not next year I suspect).

And if it had been Wigan who carted the trophy home last night , you wouldn't care a jot how they had done it . As Sam Tomkins said about a month ago winning the thing is all that counts .

No one at this end is going to deny that the (vastly) better team won.

The entertainment factor was admittedly low, but there wasn't much anyone could do about the rain.

Not in the least big surprised -Cas were lucky to even make the final, Saints should have beaten them in the semi (and would have if they had a decent goal kicker) and they looked poor then. But the weather made for a poor spectacle, Leeds had enough experience to get the game done and play the conditions - sadly the GF is often not a great game, suppose there is too much at stake which is why I am not a fan of the concept.

Personally, I don't mind the concept.

It's a bit like the argument in education about whether a student should be judged on coursework or exams. Some will argue that a student who fails his exams might only do so because he doesn't respond well to pressure and so it's unfair. But employers tend to like exams because an applicant who both knows his stuff and DOES work well under pressure is an attractive proposition.

It seems to me that Cas have done very well for most of the year, but have only been subjected to two really testing exams, and flunked them both badly.

Champions? Champions-elect?

I think they're actually much further off than I (and they) previously thought.