I also think it should be top 4

but,

1st straight into GF

2nd - first week off.

3rd, v 4th. (winner of that vs 2nd to go to GF)

I think Rugby League is in danger of becoming like sports such as F1 where they keep changing the rules to try and appeal to more fans, but ultimately end up ruining the sport.

The top of the table in Superleague is still very competitive i.e. Wolves, Saints, Wigan, Leeds.
The bottom of the league is not competitive because there is no relegation.
The middle of the league will always be boring come the end of the season and as soon as the powers that be accept that the better it will be.

Lets look at football for a second, as that is the most successful sport in this country in terms of attracting fans to the grounds and as TV viewers.
The English Premiership has 20 teams and they have had 1 team dominate for pretty much 20 years in Manchester United.
During them 20 years, they have had competition from Newcastle, Blackburn, Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool and now Manchester City, but each season only one of them teams have provided any competition.

Over the past few years it has become a 3 team league with United, Chelsea and Arsenal and then a little competition for the final Champions League spot.

Scotland has only 12 teams (I think) in the top flight and that is even worse. Only 2 possible teams to win the league every year and the rest play for what??

The English Premiership have an exciting finish to the league most years between 2 teams and an exciting finish in the relegation battle, but the majority of the teams are languishing in mid table and have nothing really to play for come the last 2 months of the season.

This has never been a problem for Sky or for the fans, as they enjoy the excitement of the top 2 teams battling for the league and the bottom however many battling to avoid relegation.

In Rugby League (and this is just my opinion) the main problem is that there is not enough emphasis on the league title.
So come the end of the season there just isn't the same excitment as there is in the Premiership, because in football winning the Premiership is the top domestic trophy, and in Rugby, winning the league gives you the club call in the playoffs!!!!

This year could not have been scripted better in terms of the league title battle. It came down to Warrington and Wigan who played each other in the second to last game.
This is the kind of finish that Sky dream of for the premiership and yet in Superleague it was exciting for the Wire and Wigan fans but there wasn't the same build up to the game than if it was the Premiership.
You can imagine if it was the Premiership can't you. All week in the build up to the game it would have been dubbed "The Game of Games" or something like that and we would have seen nothing but slowmotion montages to powerful music all week during every advert.

You can't do that in Superleague though because everyone knows that it wouldn't make that much of a difference who won that game because in reality winning the League Leaders Shield is not seen as very important with it being overshadowed by the Grand Final.

So what do you do?
Well why can't both exist and both be made into a massive deal?

Create a new impressive Superleague Trophy that the winners of the league get and make a big fuss about it.
When you win the title, you get the trophy that game and not the week after during a playoff game.

The Grand Final could still exist as a champions league style thing immediately after the season.
So there are 3 big competitions.
The Challenge Cup
The Superleague Title
The Grand Final Winners

We need to stop worrying about the middle of the table having nothing to play for as this is the same in every sport all over the world.
You will always have a battle at the top and a battle at the bottom and nothing in the middle.

So a bit long winded really (sorry) but basically, stop worrying about how to keep all teams in the mix all season. Bring back relegation and put a huge emphasis on winning the league.

A huge emphasis on winning the league will also allow the Grand Final to become a straight knockout format as well.
At the moment I think the top 4 get a second chance as it is the only real benefit of finishing at the top.
Saints beating Wigan the other week was a massive result but the gloss is knocked off the victory because Wigan now get a second bite this weekend.

I have bought tickets for the Grand Final for me and my dad (I'm a wire fan and my dad is a Saints fan) and we are taking my brother along who has never seen a Rugby League game in his life. He has been taking notice this last few weeks trying to understand it before Old Trafford and as a non rugby league fan his view of the playoffs with the second chance system is that it is ridiculous.
How is the sport expecting to attract new fans if the playoff system, which is the pinnacle of the season is seen as a joke by non RL fans (and no doubt by a number of RL fans).

Spot on.

Great post that.

Some good posts and ideas on here.

Unfortunately, even thoughthe majority want and know that the team at the top after 27 games and 8 months derserve to be Champions, the RFL will never go back to it.

So its the playoffs and i think the best idea would be to reduce the amount of teams to 4, and for the time being have a simple staright knock out. 1 v 4, 2 v 3.
OK,. No 2nd chances for the team that finishes top but its only the same now for you lot if you lose Friday. This seasons scenario would have led to
Wire v Hudds
Wigan v Saints
and imo both would have sold out for a one off game knowing that there is not a potential for 2 extra games before a final.
Also give it 2 weeks from the last game of the regular season to the semi finals to make sure everything one is buzzing for the games. Then we would have had a 13,000 sell out for the sky cameras on a Friday night, then 24,000 sell out on the Saturday. The viewers would see packed stadiums, and the other 10 clubs would be looking on hoping to get a home semi the year after into their grounds.
ATM 8 clubs is making it too easy, especially for coaches from average clubs who aim 'to make the 8' I mean its hardly an achievement is it out of 14 teams!

Come on RFL, sort it out!

If the play-offs are here to stay, which it would seem they are, I'd prefer the old top five system used in the early years of Superleague.

???? Population of UK 62 Million
Population of Australia 22 Million

Take your point about it being a minority sport though.

Oh god those memories just came flooding back to me. Not good.

spot on i was thinking something similar and also have like a charity shield type match winner of league vs winner of challenge cup as the old saying goes if you cant beat them join them we can learn things from what football has done and i personally despise football as i think it is a bunch of overpaid models prancing round a pitch but the setup and the advertising and the way they conduct things is top class

charity shield, isle of man, coats for goalposts!

I would set a Qualifying line in the league for one

I'd set it at 30 points, teams have to equal or go over 30 or they don't make the qualifiers.

Previous seasons teams reaching 30 points

2010 6 teams (27 games)
2009 6 teams (27 games)
2008 3 teams (27 games)
2007 4 teams (27 games)
2006 4 teams (28 games)
2005 5 teams (28 games)
2004 6 teams (28 games)
2003 5 teams (28 games)
2002 6 teams (28 games)
2001 6 teams (28 games)
2000 5 teams (28 games)
-------------------------------------------
Thought i'd include these too but less relevent

1999 7 teams (30 games)
1998 3 teams (23 games)
1997 2 teams (22 games)
1996 3 teams (22 games)

Sod that, 44 points for qualification.

That averages out to 5.
Back to the top 5 is the way to go - one team knocked out every week, fair advantage for coming top.