You're very much wrong! You can't be a true Salfordian without a massive dislike for everything Leeds. There are some decent folk that side of the Pennines but when it comes to football, rugby, cricket there are few things sweeter than smashing the Yorkies. Having worked just outside Halifax I made it my daily mission to wind up at least one work colleague.

My wife is from Manchester (Tameside) and looking at your avatar pic, I’d assume she has at least one thing in common with you. She dislikes Arsenal (especially), Liverpool and Manchester City but Leeds Utd she sees as ‘only Leeds’.

We need to make Yorkshire vs Lancashire the biggest rivalry in UK Rugby league. It needs to become the number one event for fans above Saints vs Wigan or FC vs Rovers or Leeds vs Bradford ect... They can still be big rivalries as they will be but the fans focus should be on the War of the roses series. That needs to be the big event of the fans season, just as the State of Origin is down under.

It's pitting the best against the best and should be what any fan is seeking in entertainment. Why settle for average just because pride tells you that you have to?

With the injuries and suspensions to players these days then your clubs arne't putting out their best team most weeks anyway, so it doesn't matter if your club rugby takes a back seat and doesn't always have it's star players on show because we already have that now. Instead we'll see those star players playing representive games at a better level of rugby than we see now.

Alluding to the title of this thread versus the game this morning with the Roosters v Rabbitohs, No comparison.

That depends what you're comparing. Klien had no control over the game neither. Sounds similar to Friday.

Sadly all 4 finals games this weekend were ahead of anything I’ve seen in SL this year in terms of pace, power, skill and entertainment.

I’m not sure the NRL is a sensible benchmark anymore.

What we have needs to be improved but it should be judged on its own terms, not something that isn’t realistically attainable.

The need is clear and urgent, which should focus minds and hopefully stop the clubs fudging it up. I probably won’t like IMG’s plan, personally - but it has got to be better than more indecisiveness and half measures.

Tell her she's got Leeds & Arsenal the wrong way round.

I think I speak for most Utd fans in saying it's in this order....

1) Liverpool
2) (dirty) Leeds
3) Citeh
4) Arsenal/Chelsea (cockney Wayne Kerr's )

I guess it depends on age etc as well. Some older fans will have a dislike for the likes of Bolton as they've got an unhealthy obsession with Utd despite having barely played us in 20 or so years. They're still living in the 50's/60's that lot though.

Even City were barely on the radar until the Sheikh rolled into town and then suddenly overnight they changed their tune about rich football clubs.

Surely it should be the sensible benchmark though, it’s literally the same sport. We should be learning from them and we can surely learn more from the NRL than soccer, Union and other sports.

Learn what exactly? Hey guys, be one of the most popular sports and then you'll get the lions share of talented athletes, and massive advertising and tv rights money.

You can't undo a century worth of sports culture. Rugby league is popular (the sport of choice) in a few, economically deprived areas of the country. That's not to say the governing body and some clubs do a good job with the marketing and running of the game, they don't. But there are limitations, and the context over there is totally different and not relevant.

Besides, stuff like that isn't the biggest issue at the moment anyway. The product on the field is crap, and the outcomes are predictable.