you always get those though. we have played saints days after the CC final and hammered them and vice versa. playing some teams 3 times,others 4 times is hardly as fair as playing everyone home and away

I agree mate which is why playoffs is the best way to determine who really is the best.

Because of the vagaries of a league season first past the post is NOT the best way./

Playing everyone home and away has got to be the fairest way of deciding who are the 'champions' . It works for football .
Magic Weekend shouldn't be an extra round . It should just be a regular round for everyone on a neutral ground . That is the only round where any team can gain an advantage .

Please explain how a team having what should be their home game on a neutral ground is fair?

Well, not really. Any knock-out comp only says who is best on the day. Any team can have an off day and the same vagueries can apply to a knock-out comp as to the league, especially injuries. Like it or not, the fact that Saints and Leeds are taking up the top spots yet again this season I think says something about their quality relative to the other sides. You may argue against that, especially if you end up in second spot, but I still think you'd find it hard to discount the claim that Saints and Leeds have been the best teams in the league for the last three seasons because they've been at the top of it. Or do you think Celtic is the best team in the league and it's just misfortune which has led them to be the basement dwellers this season?

Please be gentle with us.

It is fairer than somebody getting drawn against the whipping boys of the league and getting two easy points and a huge PD that isn't so easily available to the other teams . Why not have it as a mid-season friendly . No league points to chase , and a chance to let the academy/reseves , or even the juniors have a run out among the first team ?
I still think that the Magic Weekend should go on tour . A different venue each season . There are lots of venues around the country that could host such an event .

That would really get the fans flocking there wouldn't it

It's got to be better than holding it miles away in a country that doesn't even have a team in the league . Or are they going to sneak a franchise to a Scots team in two years time ?

I can see it now the Edinburgh Eagles

It doesn't really matter how the RFL decide the Champion team each season.

The most important point is that they make the rules clear before the start of the season.

It is then up to the individual clubs to plan how best to approach the competition.

You can't alter the importance of the league leaders or GF winners when all the clubs have known before a ball was kicked what really matters.

So which one do you consider to be the champion side ?

I have to agree with this, I would like this also, like City of Manchester one season, Anfield the other.. stuff like that would be quality imo, instead of taking it many miles away.... however, wouldnt mind a Dublin trip.

Grand Final Winners. Simple - end of.

Everybody knows at the beginning of the season how the champions will be decided. Luckily of the past 2 seasons it has been quite clear in the Grand Final.

Take last year for example. Saints win the league by a point from Leeds, yet Leeds have a legitimate victory taken away by a wrong obstruction decision away at Harlequins. If it stood Leeds win the league by a point.

Assuming that happened would Leeds have been rightful champions? Seems like a roll of the dice for mine.

At least in a game when the league is so close, the top 2 (assuming they both qualify) can prove once and for all in a one off game

Whichever one the competition format dictates.

Currently (from 1998 to date) - The Grand Final winners are the Champions.

It's not really for me or you or anyone else to say otherwise.