I like the middle 8's and qualifier format but just feel the Super 8's needs tweaking. There should be more emphasis and prestige on winning the league after 23 rounds. There needs to be much bigger prize money for the league champions, and I'd get rid of that stupid leaders shield (sounds crap, like some sort of token consolation prize) and have a proper big trophy. I just can't imagine any aspiring young players dreaming about lifting that worthless piece of meaningless junk, can you? The Grand Final's OK but we all know it's just a glorified Premiership Trophy at a better venue with some pyrotechnics, a 'B' class pop star and loads of those annoying vuvuzela's.

Just needs tweaking IMO. Zeroing would just devalue the first 23 rounds. Scrap magic weekend and make it a top 5 or 6 play off. Teams finishing 7th and 8th would be season over after round 29.

I don't particularly agree with the new format (I think we should have a much better, longer term and more rigorous form of licensing) but we have to get this kind of short-termist daftness out of our sport. People have criticised and said the system is dead after just 1 season. That's just crazy, as are James Rule's comments.

If we introduce a new system we have to give it at least 10 years in my opinion otherwise we're not actually seeing the pros or cons of the system and just reacting in a knee-jerk fashion.

It's good to be flexible and react to situations, but sometimes what's needed is stability.

There is no point sticking with something that isnt working just for 'stability'. If we can see the failings of a system, they are always going to be there, they arent going to just disappear in time.

SL1 & SL2 as I have explained elsewhere until I am blue in the face.

Best of each SL team play off for GF place at end of regular rounds, no prestige given to SL1 over 2 *including renumeration* & periodic rotations of Clubs residing in each of SL1/2, keeps things fresh.

Allows for expansion so that the RFL can yank their planks daft & Leigh, Bradford & London in so that I can join in.

2 French Clubs, 2 Canadian & London, would send John Cap Dozey into orbit along with the RFL.

10 team league.
1st gets LLS.
1st v 4th, 2nd v 3rd in play-offs.
Winners play in GF.

Easy.

Why should a manufactured concept be introduced to please clubs who haven't been able to keep up with the top end clubs? If it was a first past the post system then teams like Widnes and Wakey would still have nothing to play for.

You have to earn the right to have a chance of playing in semi final not be given it.

The only competition where every game matters for every team is a knock out like the challenge cup. The league can be restructured however you want but towards the end of the season there will always be teams with nothing to play for. Putting the points to zero after 23 rounds will mean the last 10 games or so will be dead rubbers for,those at the top.

I quite like the system though I consider the 'super 8's' to be the start of the play off's. In reality do we want a team who finished 2/3rds of the way down the league to become champions?

After a promising start Widnes then lost 12 out of 15 games. Their fault they aren't in with a shout, not the system.

Last year you felt Hull approached the season with a "we need to be in the top 8 after 23 Rounds".....when they did they suddenly realised "oops we're miles behind now to get top 4". This year they not only went for being in the top 4 after 23 rounds but topping the whole table. You get the feeling that's exactly what's happening to Widnes now, just targeting to be inside the 8.

Unless you went silly and made the playoffs involve too many teams then their isn't ANY system in sport that can get all teams involved up to the end. Premiership you usually have some mid table teams with not a lot to fight for with 8-10 left. In America, NFL, NBA, MLB, you can teams loads of games back with several games left and zero chance. These sports manage just fine but surprise surprise in RL all we hear is moaning that a team like Widnes Vikings aren't able to still push for the title with only 7 games left and we shake up the format again because of it.

We've got a tight battle for the first 5 teams, who wins LLS is too close to call, who gets the all important home advantage in the playoffs, which team misses out all together........but oh no Widnes Vikings have nothing to play for when they play this weekend and this takes president in peoples views? What a joke.

Exactly. Its up to the sides that want to be in the top 8 to do better over the regular season. Whilst the S8s is a bit of a gimmick it probably kept the season alive for Widnes longer than without it.

Even when we've had smaller play offs there's usually been at least one team that gets hammered when it matters, and under a simple league format half the teams are basically treading water for most of the season. In the past with a simple league system we had multiple cup competitions to keep things lively (County Cups early season, JPT mid season, Premiership at the end for those teams that hadn't mentally gone on holiday). The only teams that played right to the end were those in genuine fear of relegation and those in with a shot of topping the table.

No system is perfect. But whilst it is a bit gimmicky and crowds are lower you have to admit that the bottom SL sides have to keep playing to the end to avoid the threat of the MPG if at all possible, the Championship teams at least get to play big games (and maybe even a chance to get into SL for one of them), and the top 5 or 6 clubs have the chance to win the competition with just 7 games to go. That realistically only leaves 3 or so teams with nothing much to play for at the end of the year - and if they'd played better in the regular season that wouldn't be the case. Why would you make any changes to the format for the benefit of mediocre sides?

It's like when you played football when you were young in the park and after a long game someone would just say ''right lads, next goal wins!''

The Super 8,s concept is OK its the competitive level of super league that is the problem. Last year 8th place started 13 points off 1st place and 8 points off 4th place, this year 14 points off 1st place and 8 points off 4th place. You could possibly tweak the starting points of the super 8's but you will still need to reward the first 23 rounds.
Possibly start 1st place on 8, 2nd place on 7, 3rd place on 6, 4th place on 5, 5th place on 4, 6th place on 3, 7th place on 2, 8th place on 1. That would give 8th place only 4 points to make up, possibly introduce more intensity and maybe reduce the no of dead rubber games towards the back end of the 8.s.

why are some people so obsessed with trying to make sure the teams who have played badly for 23 rounds and hence are so far behind the leaders be given a second chance. If you want to be in the top 4 after 30 rounds and be in with a chance of winning the title then the answer is simple...........play the first 23 games as though you entire season depends on it.......

Stop letting the tail wag the dog..........it is for the weaker teams to improve not start handicapping the better teams...


imagine the outcry if the teams who finish 1st to 4th after 23 rounds suggested that the top placed team get all 7 games at home, the 2nd placed team get 6 home games etc. etc. etc. as a reward for taking the first 23 rounds seriously......It's no more ludicrous than the no hopers in 7th & 8th wanting to be suddenly given equal status for the final 7 super 8 games.......

But that's the whole point. We don't know it's not working. We don't know it is working. It's been 1 season. We have to give it time otherwise there's no point introducing another new system if we're just going to change that after 1 season.

We've had 7 different systems just in the 20 seasons of SL. That's daft and doesn't allow or encourage longer term planning from either the sport as a whole or the clubs.

I agree that the current system isn't working that well, last year at Hull we finished in 8th but so far behind that we knew from the start that we wouldn't make the 4, that resulted in a drab Summer of dead rubber games with poor crowds. So I can sympathise with Widnes on this point. However I disagree that points should be reset as it makes the league artificial and also means that some games in the first stage would become dead rubber (Hull would have rested their entire team for our last league game and concentrated on the cup Semi-Final for example)

This year of course we are top of the league, so the prospect of a summer of competitive rugby against the biggest sides is attractive, however I still don't feel the Super8s have caught the imagination of the public, our crowd last week was just the same as our average and most crowds last summer didn't seem exceptional.

the only thing I will say for the concept is that its increased interest in Championship teams, I now keep an eye on what results teams like Leigh & Bradford are getting, whereas a few years ago they were very off the radar. The other reason I think the concept will stay is that it provides SKY with a summer of 'top' games which is exactly what they want, with all due respect they don't really want to show Salford - Wakefield at any time, they only do so for contractual reasons.

Would a 'Top 6' and 'bottom 6 + top 2 from the Championship' format work better? as surely in any year the 6th place team are still going to be in with a shout, whilst realistically are the 3rd & 4th place teams in the Championship really going to compete?

the other issue is the timing of the Challenge Cup, we now have a scenario where Hull & Warrington are distracted with winning that and league performances will suffer. Personally I'd move the final to end June/Early July at the end of the regular season, you also have the bonus of it getting more media attention as theres no football or RU on at this time.