Some good suggestions there, a cup final end of June, followed by an international game against France/Wales/Scotland should solve the 'no time to market games' thing.

A Top6 playoff format is harder to sort out without making it all long winded again, I suppose you could give the Top2 a week off, then let 3rd play 6th, and 4th play 5th, so an extra round of games. And then 1st plays the lowest team left, 2nd the 2nd lowest. But the fans didn't turn out much for extended playoff series either.

The split happened after the CC Semi so it did give them that 2 weeks to prepare (or 9/10 days as the fixtures were announced on the Wednesday).

Putting the final inbetween wouldn't change things, in fact it would make it harder for any clubs who reach Wembley as surely all their efforts that week would be concentrated on marketing towards the Cup Final and less would be inclined to turn up to a home game only 6 days after paying for travel/tickets/accommodation to London.

Those people will moan regardless of the system. They're not happy unless they've got something to moan about or be offended over.

Exactly, if teams started on zero points, it would effectively make the previous 6 months pointless. Catalans and Hull have been average this year, why should they get an opportunity to be declared champions at the end? If Catalans finished 8th, then suddenly went on a winning run and won the GF, people would be moaning it should be changed so that a team that finished BELOW mid table cannot be named champions.

It is impossible to make every single minute of every single game matter, particularly for those teams who finish mid table. That's just the way it is. You can't give those teams an opportunity to be champions at the end otherwise it would make everything that goes on before meaningless. If those clubs want to be involved in games that matter at the end, win more games. Simple.

Exactly, their is NO system that can guarantee every team has something to play for right up to the last game. Why do people carry on as if we could find a system that would.

And for those saying teams should start on ZERO points.....they do start on ZERO points, at the start of every single season*. Catalans, Hull had the exact same points as Leeds and Wigan before we kicked off. Only their own fault they let that change.

*providing no points deducation for salary cap issues.

What I meant was to combine a cup round (either final or other) with an international or 2 (we need some mid-season ones anyway imo) before the split to give as much time as possible.

Another potential is to move the Magic Weekend from the regular season to the first game of the 8's. Then everyone knows where they'll be playing even if they don't know their opponent.
Something that would excite me would be to maybe include the Super 8's, Qualifiers and the Shield in it. If we moved the Cup Final back to May. We could hold it at either Wembley or the Olympic Stadium over a bank holiday weekend for all 3 days with 4 games a day. Or if that's too much just the Super 8's and Qualifiers over 2 days.
Only a thought to try and get interest down in that thur London.
We could still hold it somewhere else like Man City or Newcastle but with the 2 or 3 of the 8's involved.

You're still including a trip and travel expenses to London or Newcastle and potentially buying tickets for an England International all at the same time.

Give yourself 2 weeks instead of 1 week to sell Leeds vs Warrington at the start of the Super 8's, but at the same time the people buying are

- buying tickets/travel/accommodation to a Magic Weekend away AND an England Interantional in back to back weeks.

Would probably see a bigger drop in reality than we got this year.

5 Weeks into the 888's and:
1. We know the top 4 in SL with 2 weeks to spare. Actually, we knew the top 3 at the start of the 888's and it was all about 4th spot.
2. We know that Wakefield will be playing a championship side in the million pound game. We knew this at Easter.......
3. The Top 4 teams in the middle 8's are the SL sides. Given the difference in cap, this isn't a shock to anyone either.
4. The top 3 in the bottom 8 were known at the start of the 888's and the top 4 were known with 2 weeks to spare.
5. Every moment hasn't counted for the fans. Attendances for the regular season were slightly down on 2014 (1.6%) and attendances in the 888's are 11% down against regular season averages and 10% against comparable regular season games where available.
6. 331,154 fans have attended 64 games so far. The statistics point to these fans being the same fans as attended games last year, with little re-engagement or returning fans.
7. We have not had to date, the 10 'sell outs" targeted/wanted by the RFL.


No doubt this first year will be "spun" as a success, but the reality is that more fans will watch more games than the number of fans who watched fewer games in 2014. These fans are the same fans that attended in 2014, just slightly poorer as they've paid more for the extra games.

Brilliant. Sell package deals to people. Buy an international ticket and get a fiver or a tenner off Magic Weekend tickets.
It's better than the playoff series we used to have where people would have to pay out potentially for 4 games in a row.

And people try to place it all on formats and structure. Leeds have had a good year and saw their attendances in the regular year go up. Warrington had a poor season and attendances are dropping.

Sometimes it's as simple as how good a team is performing....regardless of format.

So if you buy a ticket for an International you get to go to the Magic weekend cheaper......how does that attract more fans to the first week of the Super 8's?

Super 8 games will always suffer attendances whether it's 1 week or 2 weeks, just like playoff games.

It's hardly rocket science, short turnarounds to selling games will lead to decreased attendances. An extra week might see a slight increase but not if you're putting an attractive alternative inbetween like an International or Magic week instead.

Leeds....a good year and attendances up. Regular season average 15,921, so surely the visits of fierce rivals, included on the season ticket will see crowds up in the 8's?

Game v Wire in the regular season delivered 17,430. The game in the 888's delivered 13,118. 18% down against the average and 25% down against the comparable game.
Game v Wigan in the regular season delivered 18,350. The game in the 888's delivered 15,026. 6% down against the average and 18% down against the comparable game.
Game v St Helens in the regular season delivered 18,514. The game in the 888's delivered 16,142. 1% UP against the average but 13% down against the comparable game.

3 Games in and 10,008 FEWER fans attended the games when compared to the regular seasons fixtures. Next up, Castleford who's season is already over so I doubt many will be there in Amber and Black......will the Season Ticket holders bother or will they "tune in"?

Leeds get 60,000 fans over 4 games to replace the 37,000 they had for games v London, Bradford and the 1 play off game v catalans last year or the 41,000 the season before for London, Bradford and 1 play-off game. The "extra" fans are just existing fans paying more.........