no.

Cant see there being more than an 8 point swing either way.

18-10 to Leeds for me.

Bet I'm more excited than you.

12k shy of that I would have thought.

Spot on. Even Stevo was questioning the benefit of a top 8 play-off series until Eddie (almost certainly at Sky PLC's request) stopped him in his tracks. With the World Cup looming large we need the playoffs to sell SL like nothing before. I'm sure tonight will.

I would say 10k-12k at best and that is taking into account Saints will bring a decent following on the back of some good form.Play offs, final aside, just dont pull in anything like the crowds they should.

Which is ridiculous as a knock out game against St Helens should be a must attend match for Rhinos fans.

Instead we get 18k for Wakefield at home in the regular season and a paultry 10k for this season defining game.

i think there will be just over 10k there tonight

Its because its just the core following of both sides that bother to attend.We have always taken a good number to the away play off games,i expect Saints to bring a few tonight.Its finding a way of pulling in most of the season ticket holders.But it has to be remembered a lot of these are familys,students etc... who are on tight budgets and the budget doesn't always stretch to being able to afford the extra games on top of the ST.Many fans of the big teams will hold out to see if their team get to OT and go to the final as the costs for that are enough in itself.

It sounds bizzare on the face of, like you say they should be clamouring to see these games but the trend has been the same for a while and it isn't going to sudenly just change because we think it should.Someone has to come up with a solution and the only one i can see is trying to factor the play off games into the ST somehow.

The Clubs have to be held accountable for poor attendances during play off games imo.
The Giants whose fairly low crowds are well documented only charged £10-00 for their fans whereas the best we can hope for is £3-00 off if you buy before a deadline WTF??
Like BT said many fans budgets wont stretch to all the play off games on top of ST's ,away travel etc etc and EVERY game is on Sky!!
A rethink of the format and ££££ costs is needed big time for the play offs imo but will the RFL/SKY/CLUBS do it??

If you went back to 5 team playoff series, it would have a negligible effect on playoff attendances IMO.

Clubs need to realise that their fans are not ATMs that they can constantly keep dipping back to for funds. The cost of attending all-pay games in SL has risen way ahead of incomes on average. Throw in nonsense concepts like the Exiles, a potential trip to Old Trafford and a World Cup at the end of the year and it's no wonder fans are picking and choosing which games they attend.

What factors explain the reduction in SL play-off attendances (not including Grand Finals) since the introduction of the Top 8 play-off format?

Top 5 play-off system (1998 to 2001)
248,342 attended 20 play-off fixtures at an average of 12,417

Top 6 play-off system (2002 to 200icon_cool.gif
468,499 attended 35 play-off fixtures at an average of 13,386

Top 8 play-off system (2009 to 2013)
348,304 attended 37 play-off fixtures at an average of 9,414

SL play-off attendances under the Top 8 format have fallen by almost 30% in comparison to the Top 6 format era and they've fallen by over 24% in comparison to the Top 5 format era.

Quote: William Eve "What factors explain the reduction in SL play-off attendances (not including Grand Finals) since the introduction of the Top 8 play-off format? Top 5 play-off system (1998 to 2001) 248,342 attended 20 play-off fixtures at an average of 12,417 Top 6 play-off system (2002 to 200icon_cool.gif 468,499 attended 35 play-off fixtures at an average of 13,386 Top 8 play-off system (2009 to 2013) 348,304 attended 37 play-off fixtures at an average of 9,414 SL play-off attendances under the Top 8 format have fallen by almost 30% in comparison to the Top 6 format era and they've fallen by over 24% in comparison to the Top 5 format era.'" Here's another graph that might explain things: news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/8242825.stm

Quote: William Eve "What factors explain the reduction in SL play-off attendances (not including Grand Finals) since the introduction of the Top 8 play-off format? Top 5 play-off system (1998 to 2001) 248,342 attended 20 play-off fixtures at an average of 12,417 Top 6 play-off system (2002 to 200icon_cool.gif 468,499 attended 35 play-off fixtures at an average of 13,386 Top 8 play-off system (2009 to 2013) 348,304 attended 37 play-off fixtures at an average of 9,414 SL play-off attendances under the Top 8 format have fallen by almost 30% in comparison to the Top 6 format era and they've fallen by over 24% in comparison to the Top 5 format era.'" Here's another graph that might explain things: news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/8242825.stm

How much is a student ticket on the gate tonight?

rl£13 standing, £16-£22 seatedrl