Anyone who has to travel long distances on a Friday night on Britain's motorway network to watch Saints has my sympathy, but also has my admiration. I can fully understand why people would pick and choose matches to watch. I also concede that the playoffs (especially in their current format) have diminished the meaning of the regular season fixtures.
However...
I wouldn't class them as meaningless. NS states that the regular season games are meaningless friendlies (or 85% of them are), and states this as FACT. This isn't FACT, it's opinion.
Here are a few facts - if you only win the 15% meaningful games (by implication, if 85% are meaningless), you will have accrued 8 league points (27 * 15% * 2) which won't qualify you for the playoffs. Therefore, to qualify for the playoffs, you must win some of the other games, which implies they must have meaning.
Also, there are 4 trophies to play for each season - Challenge Cup, Grand Final, World Club Championship, and League Leaders Shield. To win the LLS, you must have the highest number of points after the regular season fixtures - therefore, in pursuit of this trophy, every regular season fixture is important. That is fact. It is opinion (and admittedly, the general consensus) that the LLS has very little stature when compared to the CC and GF - but it is still a trophy to play for.
In my opinion, the top 8 playoff format does spoil the league (top 5 format was the best system IMHO). Leeds winning from 5th last year was an amazing achievement, but that won't be the norm, and I am pretty confident that this year's GF winner won't come from outside the top 4. However, there is very little difference finishing anywhere in the top 4, other than home advantage for the top 2 - but we showed that home advantage doesn't always count for a lot, as we beat Wigan away (and Leeds beat Wire away). What this means is that a loss in a regular season fixture isn't as crucial as previous years, as long as you earn enough league points in other games. That doesn't make them meaningless - just that they have less meaning
So, in my opinion, the regular season fixtures are not meaningless friendlies. Not stating this as fact, just my opinion.
NS - as I said, I completely understand why you would pick and choose matches - I did the same when I lived in Leamington Spa.
