There are a few things that need addressing. Much as Derek lives up to his name- he has a point about the cap. Those from the championship aren't going to be able to compete, they may win the odd game but can't sustain that over all the qualifying rounds.
Imagine if we said to hull KR, Widnes, Salford and wakey-
right, well done lads up you go back into superleague- oh but you can only spend 1 million on players whilst the other 8 teams in the competition are going to spend 1.82illion. Is that ok?????

That reason is money. 11 home games isn't enough for one season.


It's a fair comment. It doesn't apply to all, and ironically I've enjoyed Hull's Super 8 games far more than the regular season game despite knowing we've no chance in making the top four, but I can see why some wouldn't be attracted to them.


Doesn't solve the money problem of only having 11 home games to make money from. Clubs need money.

I'd like to see the play offs and GF at the start of August, straight after the split. Move the CCF back to May and try MW at start of season again.
After the GF, two groups of 4 (with one cross group game) to play 4 games. Expand the NRL playoffs to 12 teams. Straight knock out.
Top 2 NRL and top of each group to come in at quarter final stage. Others to come in round before. SL teams to play away no matter what (for now).

The money is in the NRL at the moment. We need to get a part of that in some way I reckon. They'd increase their TV value over here if it had more to do with the British game and that would help us gain from it.

It's been a great year of Rl.

Some great matches, I agree we are rewarding mediocrity to start going much below the top 4.

Warrington had enough money to sign sandow at the end of the season. If they spent it earlier they may have been in with a shout.

For me.the signing deadline needs moving to maybe 4 weeks before the split.

1 point between the top 4. No clubs going bust this year. Next year's attendance and season ticket figures will be a.good reflection of whether the public have bought into the concept.

I think it's worked well. The top and bottom have been exciting and there is still all to play for with 1 round remaining. OK the mid table teams don't have anything to play for but that's their problem, not the system.

Anyone who thinks every team will have something to play for in the last round in every season is deluded. It's impossible to do.

Still a few issues to iron out, the transfer/signing deadline needs to be brought forward. I'd like to see the salary cap raised for the championship clubs (but try and put in some safeguarding options to avoid boom & bust if possible)

But i think it's worked well and i wasn't a fan of it when it was announced.

Change the points scoring system in the super 8s.
3 points for a win would mean it is more possible for teams outside the top four to catch those in the top four IF they can perform well enough in the super 8s.

I like this idea.

There has to be aa fighting chance for teams below the top 4 to make the semi finals.

Does anyone think we may get a season where we have a team finish 8th who mathematically can't even reach the top 4.

That will be real bad.

Why does there have to be a chance for 5-8th to make the finals? They know at the start of the season how the structure works, if they are too far behind after 23 rounds they have to deal with it, we shouldn't bend the structure in their favour. reward the best teams for being the best teams and its up to the ones in the group behind them to improve and give themselves a chance rather than rely on the structure to help them.

Problem some teams have is mindset.

We need to be in the top 8 after 23 Rounds
Then
We need to be in the top 4 after 30 Rounds

If they take the approach that they should be in (or as close as possible to) the Top 4 throughout the year then maybe they wouldn't find themselves so far adrift come the Super 8.

Look at Hull for example. Throughout the season it seemed their focus was just trying to stay ahead of HKR and Widnes.....not keeping on the coat tails of Wigan, Hudds etc. That is their failure, not the system.

40 points looks like the target you need to achieve to be a Top 4 team. Target that at the start of the season.

But what do the clubs who don't make the top 6 do from July onwards? Surely they cannot have a seven month off-season?!

I really like the new system. I think it's been a great season so far. I can't remember a more intense regular season for a long time. Four teams have a possibility of topping the table going into the final regular season round. With bigger prize money than ever before for finishing top and for each place higher in the table you finish, a chance for the top two to have home advantage in the semis, plus Wire and Cas are going to want to finish the season on a high and scupper a home semi game for their opposition without either team actually having a chance themselves.

It all still shows that games aren't meaningless for almost all teams even in the final week, also that there've only been a handful of "meaningless" games (even with teams who couldn't make the top 4 they were still playing teams who could most weeks so all those games had something big riding on them, only really games like Wire v Catalans yesterday that really had nowt riding on them) where in seasons past teams have cruised through a whole regular season and still knew they'd make the Play-offs and string a few wins together with a fresh squad and you could get second chances if you lost as well.

There was a huge lack of jeopardy. Now you have to do well most weeks to have a chance and the no second chance of the Play-offs is going to be intense and making the GF more of a prize than ever before as it's never been harder to get there because as Cas Wire Catalans and Hull have experienced this season, every minute has mattered to make sure you're in with that shout and none of us are.

But they'll also be relieved that there's no chance of getting relegated. A team could finish 9th on points difference and then go down with a terrible run of form or an unprecedented amount of injuries and see themselves finish 6th in the Qualifiers and be in the Championship the year after. I'm sure a club would rather have nowt to play for in the Super 8s than have hat threat.