I was just taking at look at the league tables after the first round of the weekends fixtures and there is an interesting comparison between the NRL and Super League tables



After 11 rounds of Super League, there are 10 points separating top from bottom (this is if you remove the points deductions applied pre-season) – Warrington top with 16 points and Crusaders bottom with 6 points (again, without the deduction)



After 6 completed rounds of the NRL and some teams having played 7 games, there are 10 points separating top from bottom – Brisbane top with 12 points and Canberra bottom with 2



You would expect the bottom and top differential to increase as the season progresses



It is a pretty common opinion that the NRL is a more even competition than the Super League so it’s interesting to see the tables showing the opposite this year

and it s still going to be a Wigan v Saints GF here and Storm v Saints final in Aus.

It's not so much that the NRL is more competitive than SL, it's that the NRL is played at a high level of skill than SL

Also that a teams position in the table can change dramatically from one year to the next in the NRL

Do mean like Catalan Dragons going from 14 last year to 6th this?

Or Cas from 9th to a won game in hand away from 1st.

i would'nt say the gaps that big these days..the skill level has increased drastically here the past couple of seasons....



the difference is when inglis,hayne,thurston,slater etc does something special everyone raves about it......here they get a pat on the back and the game carries on..

watch todays Parra v Titans error fest and you might not be so sure of this!

Exactly – a few years ago, there was a try in which Inglis batted the ball back from behind the in-goal and a try was scored... there was so many superlatives thrown around such as ‘super human’ and ‘freak’ etc etc



I’ve just watched the Super League show on i-Player and Huddersfield score a try where two players bat the ball back from behind the dead ball line to score an incredible try and the commentator says it was ‘eye catching’! There are superb skills displayed week in week out in Super League and yet when a similar play occurs in the NRL, everybody reaches for the tissues

The NRL is a much more even competition than super league, the main reason for this is that in the NRL every club spends the maximum salary cap, in super league only a handful do.



If we look at how many different clubs have won the grand final since 1998, in super league there are 4, in the NRL 9. If we look at how many different clubs have competed in the grand final since 1998, in super league 5, in the NRL 12. Massive difference in the number of clubs that actually stand a chance of winning the competition.

But that’s my point though – you are describing how the NRL has been much more competitive than the Super League (going back 13 years). But this year’s tables show a different story with the Super League just as even as the NRL and with more rounds played, arguably even more so

There's still the problem in the UK of overseas stars only wanting to sign with the top 4 clubs so the eveness of teh salary cap doesn't really help. Even in NRL the likes of Broncos and Storm have dominated the table for years.