it isnt 'sport' any more than any other system is 'sport'. Thats a nonsense justification.

Your a Hull FC fan, tell me, would you be expecting Radford to get his team busting a gut to gain 3 points on Les Catalans to qualify for competition you will start 7-10 points and 4 places behind 4th (the last qualification place for a play off barely worthy of the name) with only 14 points on offer, or would he take the next 7/8 games and rest some of the bigger names, take his foot off the gap somewhat just to make sure they are ready for the 7 game comp at the end of the season?

If you were Salford? Wakefield?

Under franchising they would have nothing to lose in going for it. Sport is about winners. I want to see teams trying to win competitions, not just trying not to be one of the 4 worst in an end of season tournament.

And four clubs who can gain extra funding, extra season ticket sales, extra sponsorship and can build further. Let's not forget how many of the current Super League have played in the lower division(s) in the SL era.

Get watching the Lion King, Smokey.

And then the next season see that drop again and have to start all over again.

I think clubs would realise the importance of maintaining momentum, players would want to justify selection, and finishing higher up the table during the regular season often has financial rewards.

What you say could happen in the new system surely applies to the current system also? Nothing to play for at the bottom, clubs resting up for the 4 game end of season play off series at the end.

But it is sport. You play the system. You reap the benefits and suffer the consequences of actions. The contrasting emotions of this are what attract a lot of spectators.

you can't argue that sport is playing the system as a defence of a system, thats just silly.

The season decides the qualification route, i dont think clubs do rest players for the play-offs, Bar Wigan last year, it hasnt been that those who play in the GF have gone in to the play-offs in poor form.

Sport is about winners, this new system isnt about winners, the focus isnt on winning, its on not being the worst. There is a very real possibility a club who wins 5 of 29 games stays in SL at the expense of a club who wins 12 games of theirs. Its a stupid convoluted system which hugely damage the game.

The crowd wasnt appalling, it was reasonable

Leeds werent appalling, they were outplayed for large parts of the match , a bit more composure and leadership with 8 minutes left and you would have lost

What about your forecast of a ' Walkover ' ?

not for Leeds it wasnt. It was rubbish. It was reasonable for Leeds 20 years ago and about 6k less than we would usually get at this stage against decent SL opponents. If that was a reasonable crowd for us, we would be in crisis.


Leigh were out on their feet and despite a 7 minute spell, when on the back of a string of penalties they scored twice, they were kept entirely scoreless. For long periods they struggles to get out of their half.

The game was reffed at a championship pace, with a championship ten, We didnt adjust. Leeds gave away 4 penalties (even though the obstruction rule is interpreted terribly at the moment) through obstruction and 3 times threw the ball to Kallum Watkins feet, our 2nd phase play was none-existent even through we made probably 5/6 clear line breaks. Sutcliffe showed his inexperience, stopped play every time it got to him.

If we play like that against Huddersfield, they will put 40 on us. By far our worst performance of the season.

Can't believe you're actually typing this crap Smokey. Your just a flake. Get off this forum you complete and utter noggin.

Typical Smokey. Can't even win with dignity.

Im not going to patronise Leigh or their players by pretending we were better than we were.

Better to keep silent and be thought a fool than open your mouth and remove all doubt.

Can you not, for once, give Leigh some credit and say a magnanimous word in victory?

What a graceless, mealy-mouthed berk.

Smokey, what a complete load of bollox

A Championship 10 ? ,you mean an actual real 10 metres

If you give away penalties it means you are doing things wrong you muppet, usually because of pressure from the opposition

You said a ' walkover ' ,in the end you were lucky not to lose ,you have some complete morons in those shirts in Hardacre,Delaney and Bailey, Jamie Peacock confirmed his retirement last night, and apparently some morons in the south stand as well with issues after the game

Either way, I'll leave it now, no point discussing anything with somebody as thick as you

Yes, you give away penalties because you do things wrong, well done on noticing that. We did things wrong, lots of things wrong. When you do lots of things wrong, you have done things poorly.

When a team gives away lots of penalties, drop lots of ball under no real pressure, when their structures fall apart, when they give away ball in their own half by managing to get things as basic as passing from dummy half or kicking off wrong. That team hasnt played very well.

Did the way Leigh played and controlled parts of the game and pressured Leeds contribute to Leeds making poor decisions and errors?