If the system was a league table there is no doubt both Leeds and Warrington would be in the top three battling it out.

As for Kevin Sinfield there is no doubt he is the most important cog in the Leeds machine. "Man of Steel" Sam Tomkins has the ability, but nowhere near the mentality of Kevin Sinfield. Some people are born winners and Sinfield is one of them, I think this is the reason he gets so much stick as this leads to a lot of jealousy, which most of his critics on hear just come up with elaborate ways to justify, which is just sad I'm afraid.

avg at best, a poor man's John Sutton!

His field kicking in the GF was poor, his pass choices are not great and he rarely breaks the line. He is a great leader and the type of player that makes a great capt but as a stand off his skill repertoire is extremely ltd and not hard to see why on an Int stage he has flopped. When Leeds were comfortably leading he should have controlled the game and dictated his team to ensure field position, Instead he puts them under pressure and invites Warrington back into the game.

Just like Morley was until he smashed the NRL to pieces? You guys make me laugh.

Hall, Burrow, Mcguire, Peacock, Kylie, JJB, ablett to name but a few are in no way ordinary

Hardaker watkins BJB exciting young talents

Sometimes you have to credit the opposition, warrington closed him down well and his kicking wasnt as good as in some of the other play off games. considering the fact warrington were leading in the second half for 20 mins then ablett scored and hall finished it off with 8 minutes to go, in the final 8 minutes warrington only really threatened once i would say he did pretty well and would say he did the opposite of inviting pressure.

to say he has flopped at the international stage is unfair using that logic you could argue most english players have done over the past years. what has happened is he has been moved all over by numerous coaches look at australia they rarely change their halves, i am not saying he should be 6 for england, it should be widdop in my opinion however its he did pretty well in the 4 nations last year.

Must say that I thought Rob Burrow played a very important role in Saturday's victory. He doesn't appear to have received the credit he deserves as a result of Sinfield's performance.

you are entitled to your opinion but in 30 years people will look back and see 5 wins out of 6 or 6 out of 9 and that equals a great side. they may be a great play off side but that is what is required at the moment.

It's kind of like running laps in the Olympic 5000m.
You don't have to win every lap. You don't have to be in front at the end of more laps than the other runners.
You can be at the front or some way back as the race comes towards the end. If in the lead, you've given yourself an advantage at that point and if a way back you've got work to do.
The winner though is the one who turns it on when it counts, and is ahead when over the finishing line.

I agree entirely with you, and as I pointed out, Wire and Leeds ran that race a hell of a lot better than the rest of the league, but my main worry is that will crowds seriously want to watch 27 laps of relative mediocrity before the real race starts?

You use a 5000m race as an example - Well, watch one of those races, and, in the main, for the first 10 and a half laps the action is tedious and dramaless. It is only the final 2 laps when it gets going and when the crowd actually takes an interest....Transfer that to a 7/8 month rugby league season and you are in big danger of killing the sport, because crowds will suss out they are watching nothing rugby, with players not bothering to come out of second gear.

Its a difficult one to judge - The Grand Final is a great sporting occasion and showcases our sport well (probably better than a system where one side runs away with a title using a league table), but it does reward inconsistancy which isn't something that a Champion side should be accused of.

If you fall off the pace halfway in to a 5,000m race, you're not going to win.

and the same in Super League.

Do a Youtube search for "Heather Dorniden's Inspiring 600 meter race" by the way

What if we had a way to make some kind of more tangible reward for each "lap" something more tangible....some kind of table to show that, and a bit more slant to the positioning prior to the "last lap" .....could that make each lap more interesting?

I've seen a lot of RL, from amateur to international and not much of it has been tedious or dramaless.

Sinfield is picked for england at 6 for the same reason he is at Leeds - he's excellent at maintaining composure throughout a game and therefore keeping the structure of the side intact.

His limitations are as above - not quick enough to be a world class stand off (I'd also argue he simply doesn't make enough killer passes either), and not big enough to be a world class 13. But as a captain, goalkicker and simple presence on the field his value is immense.

He's a way better player than Sutton (the invisible man in far too many games) for exactly that reason, and that's why Mcnamara has chosen him at 6, because so many British players with seemingly far more natural ability go completely to pieces when it matters. I'd probably pick him at 13 for England, with the role of moving the side around and letting the likes of Tomkins and Widdopp make the big plays inside the opposition 20.

In the right NRL side he'd be excellent - the Broncos this year for example would have killed to have someone with his composure rather than the erratic Corey Norman. He'd be excellent at the Dogs as well, less so for other teams like the Storm or Manly, who have less need for what he can give.

It doesnt, it rewards a team at the end of the season who are able to handle the play offs, if warrington had won? would it reward inconsistency. No.

Warrington and wigan had a massive advantage and werent able to win their games. thats not the fault of the team who can win.

Leeds had to beat the form team in the competition, away at france, away to the league leaders, and beat the team who came 2nd and won the challenge cup.

Leeds v Warrington at Headingley this season is a prime example of the problem you have with a play off system.

Decent enough contest, but no intensity or drama, because both sides knew a defeat meant almost nothing in the grand scheme of things....At the end, players were laughing and smiling with each other, no grim faces or tears on the side of the losers, Tony Smith giving interviews about how it was a good workout and how there is a long way to go in the season.

It isn't what the majority of people going to games want to see, though I admit I don't have any quick answer to how to solve it - I just fear that at a time when we want to encourage crowds to RL matches, we are actually doing the opposite.