Warrington have not been consistently good this season. Indeed far less so than last year.

The table is a fair reflection of the results of the season as points are given for winning games but in these days of play offs it isn't necessarily a reflection of how good teams are. It is no secret that Warrington hasn't placed emphasis on finishing on top of the weekly rounds and have all season rested key players. Wigan have finished top, are they the best team in the league?

I would say just slightly yes. Unfortunately for Wigan, even though it's more down to the tactics instilled by Tony Smith, Wigan seem to struggle against Warrington.

However I don't think any team in SL shown the same sort of form Wigan produced in May/June, by putting 50 on Leeds away and destroying St Helens at MM.

Saying that though I feel Warrington are the team to watch in the playoffs, but if Wigan recreate the form from May/June they will be favourites. I just hope we get a Wigan v Warrington GF because it is fully deserved and will be a cracker!

Did Wigan and/or Saints/Leeds for that matter place as much emphasis on finishing top last year as Warrington did?
Were Warrington the best team in the league last year?

It's sad that the weekly rounds have far less importance so it is hard to say who was or wasn't gunning for top spot and who really is the best team. Imo over the last two seasons Wigan and Warrington have looked the best 2 teams and they they both went for it last season, Warrington pipping Wigan to the top, the only difference this year is Warrington's indifference to the LLS. If Wigan have a poor play off series this year Wane might follow Smith's lead next year and another team might emerge and take the LLS

Well i'd say no, Everytime Warrington has needed to win an important game (including beating Wigan twice) they have achieved it (hopefully that will continue)

And if Wire don't win it will Tony Smith change his plans again?

Basically what I'm trying to say is that the LLS is neither here nor there under the current play off system.
Nice to have and if your in with a chance of winning it with say 10 games to go then fair enough, give it a go.

But basically 1st or 2nd is basically the same.

As I say every year (and more so under the Top 8 system) If finishing top at the end of the year meant you were the Champions (I.e no GF) then EVERY club would have played out there season and rested/rotated and utilised their squad etc in a different way than they do now.
So as far as I'm concerned finishing top of a league system that not everyone is trying to finish top of 100% means pretty much nothing?

well wane did come out with something last week, that i agree with, there needs to be a benefit to finishing top, whether it is a cash prize(though you can't see anyone stumping up something that'll blow your socks off), or the right to have a player exempt from the salary cap the next year, or a certain amount exempt.

Some sort of reward, or incentive.

Andy Wilson proposed that the league leaders should be the team to represent super league in the world club challenge as an incentive for finishing top on last weeks backchat. I thought that was a good idea but the rest of the panel dismissed it.

We shouldn't even have the league leaders shield, giving more rewards for finishing top would be wrong. The 'league' fixtures aren't even equal so some teams start 2 points up on their rivals. What we should have instead is fewer teams, fewer 'league' games and more representative games.

Major Prem/Minor Prem are the two teams that represent the SL v the Aussies Major/Minors

if the teams are the same just use the other finalist.

Last year, Wigan won the Challenge cup and finished a point behind Warrington, who won the LLS.
Sound familiar?

I'm assuming you're fishing, so I'll "bite"
Yeah, club chairmen will be rubbing their hands over this.
Less matchday revenue
Potential loss of derby fixtures
Representative games....yeah, we can't even sell out 25,000 seater stadiums in the North.
Yes. You were fishing.

To say we shouldn't have an LLS is obviously going too far, but I don't necessarily agree there should be a greater reward for it than there already is either. As pointed out already, the league season is not entirely balanced because of Magic Weekend, and the fact that the goal is to secure a certain position from which to push in the play offs means not every coach will push for the LLS even if their team is good enough

I have a burning desire to "see it all" where Wire success is concerned. Okay, I didn't see us win any trophies before 2009 so I'll never see the old ones that don't exist anymore but there's nothing I can do about that. I'm desperate to see us win all four that can currently be won though. I don't want to hear anymore "Have you ever seen Wire win the league" or "It's always your year" taunts from opposition fans. Those songs do hurt and I'm not going to pretend they don't, because they represent decades of Warrington failure that I'm desperate to see wiped out. I don't want to see any "One more than Warrington" World Champions banners at Widnes because it represents them having one over on us.

I want to see all that changed. I want to witness it all.

The LLS is a part of that, and irrespective of what happened next, I still had a brilliant night in Hull last year watching us clinch it, and a proud moment the following week watching Moz lift it. For me though that's it done. Yes, it would have been nice to win it again this year, and indeed in future, but the aim is the Grand Final, and even if we win it several times that will still be the aim because the rules at the start of every season state that the Super League Champions will be crowned at Old Trafford, and that is every club's aim.

I want to see it all, but I've seen the LLS now and it was very nice. In an ideal world I'll see the WCC in February and that will confirm the lot. After that though the two that will really matter year in year out will be the Challenge Cup and the Grand Final because when it comes down to it they ARE the two that really matter.

THIS.