Problem with some RL supporters is very short patience.

During the top 5/6 era people complained that the GF was mostly just 1st vs 2nd and the playoffs were meaningless as the teams in 4th and 5th had no real chance of reaching Old Trafford.

Skip ahead a few years and 4th and 5th win it and people complain that the top 2 don't have enough of an advantage in the playoffs.

Except we're not scrapping it per se, just changing the reward you get for being in it.

There was nothing wrong with the 5 team play off IMO.it should be that with a 12 team league 1 up 1 down.not overly convinced by the new structure but am willing to see how it goes and give it a chance.

Plenty of interest left on the end of this regular season though which is nice to see.

But we are really. If the 8th placed team can't mathematically make the top 4 after the super 8 stage they can't make the GF can they?

Totally agree with this. All it needed, as quite a few said a couple of years back, was to reduce to 12 clubs in Super League, and this is what we would have had each year.

The new format will be a dead rubber for a lot at end of the season, after the split.

Wigan always have to blame Someone, it's a culture wane has introduced to the club. Anybody in the top 8 could take them out home or away and it's getting to them lol on and I believe Cas have had the most short turnarounds

Haven't done the research on it, but I would be surprised if after 23 rounds the 8th placed team has ever been 14 points behind the 4th place team very often, if at all.

Even if it was 6 points, it still means you have to win three more (assuming your points difference is as good) than the 4th place team over just 7 games. And four of those 7 are away from home. Of course you are also relying on 5th, 6th, and 7th, not doing aswell also. Next week is the 23rd round of this season, and the fourth placed team is likely to be 11 points ahead of the 8th placed team. Not going to happen is it really?

If the 8th placed team want to reach the Grand Final under the current system, they have to win three consecutive away games against higher ranked opposition. How often does that happen?

I thought the discussion, as pointed out by Gareth, were that things were improving further down the ladder. Therefore what happened previous isn't really cut and dried. However, the point is that top 8 Is top 8, and once there all in with a chance. Now it is only top 4.

Just to highlight this further. I absolutely hate the idea of bonus points scoring, yet it appears likely that this will be brought in next year under the new structure.

Had that being in place this year, we would go from a likely 11 point gap under current scoring by round 23 between 4th and 8th, to a 16 point gap. Again highlighting how pointless those end fixtures are. The 8th based team would have put everything into avoiding relegation, and nothing to play for come the extra 7 rounds.

I haven't read anything about that. Hope it's not true because, like you, I hate the idea of bonus points.

if someone is so far adrift that they can't qualify from 8th they should have done better in the previous 23 rounds. I would think that the point of this new system is so you have to put effort in to getting results all year instead of just at the end

I recall having a similar debate a few months ago with a fan of ones of those teams around 8th place on the VT who complained that the system was poor as his team could most likely enter that top 8 period 10 points adrift and very little chance of making it up in the extra remaining games thus they were meaningless games.

The obvious reply to him was don't find yourself 10+ points adrift in the first place. Think it's sadly eneviatable that in 12 months time we'll see threads on the VT with fans of the 7th/8th teams complaining they can't catch the top 4 when the split down to 8 happens.

I agree with a 12 team SL and P+R but that's as far as it goes for me.
Imo the Play Offs should be top 5/6 with top spot playing just 1 game at home to get the GF (in a 5 team P/O).
I also think this bottom 4 SL playing top 4 Championship is loaded way too much in favour of the SL teams again rewarding failure and adding fixtures for the sake of it.
For me the top team in the Championship comes up automatically and replaces the bottom team then 2nd plays 2nd bottom in the "Do or Die" final with the winner getting a SL spot.
On a slight detour I'd also make it compulsory for SL teams to run an u23 team with the allowance of 3 over-age players included.
Then it would be u18's u16's & u15's at that level I'd introduce the Yorkshire and Lancashire cups and also a war of the roses series.

I have said the same thing myself previously, and wholeheartedly agree with this. It just makes complete sense. The roses series is a no brainer for me, and for the cup if not Yorkshire/Lancashire then a challenge cup at those levels, with a finals day for all three age groups on the same day and venue.

As for tough if they are so far behind. What is the point of the new structure then? they are behind now and will be then, so why change. If one from below does manage that higher up then it will be the expense of someone higher. I bet the same people on here saying tough now, won't be preaching the same if it was Leeds. The whole point of the season is the Grand Final, so why restrict to just four teams.