imo the play offs have brought more meaning to all of the end of season matches.

for example,in seasons gone by the great wigan side of the 80's and 90's had already got the league title in the bag with still numerous league games still left to play,what else was was left for the other sides?
a shot at the old end of season premiership



taking last weekends fixtures into consideration saints and warrington were battling for 2nd and 3rd and thus the home tie

the rhino's secured 4th with an away win against hull fc,with the loser finishing 6th as a result

huddersfield won in france to secure 5th

whilst the crusader beat hull kr to secure 8th place

so only wigan and hull kr entered round 27 knowing their final sl places couldn't be altered

all clubs know the rules at the start of the season

Nail - head - hit

The top 5 was a copycat of the old Aussie system wasn't it? I preffered top 6 just to add c ouple more teams in the mix and make the end of season a bit more interesting for more clubs. I agree, top 8 with the quality we have is probably too many teams.

I agree with TVOC, you don't decide the best way to crown champions just before the playoffs start. This is a debate for the off season so everyone knows the score all year - whatever way is picked. I like the GF, I think it's a fantastic way to finish the season. A real success for the sport.

Make it an end of season KO comp . 1v2 . 3v4 , 5v6 etc If you are gonna include 8th place you may as well iclude everyone .

What a terrible format.

I think it was about 1903 when we first had a playoff system of some description.

My only stipulation would be in a 14 team league, to revert to a top 6 playoff instead of top 8. Other than that, as tvoc says, as long as everyone knows the rules at the beginning of the season I cant see why its a problem to some people.

Yep, a format whereby the 5th placed team gets the biggest advantage.

Scrap the playoffs? No thanks. This season would now be done & dusted and the off season's quite long enough (from a spectating POV at any rate).

I preferred the top 5 version. I think it was unique to the sport and gave fair advantage reflective of finishing position.

Baldrick its the worst plan since Abraham Lincoln said " I'm sick of kicking around the house lets go take in a show"