Knowing the format isn't the problem, agreeing with it is. As said, I don't have a problem with the idea of an end of season knock-out competition for the top 8/10/14 I don't care who takes part. How the winners of that competition could consider themselves league champions when they haven't won the league is the bit that defeats me.
Surely you have challenge cup winners, league champions and grand final winners?

This thread stinks of bad losers. We've had the GF as the way of deciding the champions for over 10 years, its the ultimate game in British RL, attracting 70k fans. Why would you want to devalue that?

If we still decided the champions by whoever finishes top there's nothing to say Warrington would have finished top anyway. Teams plan there training schedules, injury rehabilitation programmes etc to ensure they are in the best possible shape come the business end of the season. The pressure is on in the play offs. If Warrington can't handle play off rugby then they don't deserve to be called champions.

It is as it is. No complaints here.

There is an identical thread on the Wigan board. I wonder why...

Because the topic is in sharp focus atm perhaps?

ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh,silly me! i thought warrington ,who had the best attack and best defence ,and were consistent week in and week out for the whole of the season,and who ,also-->>actually finished top of the super league ,then, have one off game and get beat in the dying seconds from a dubious penalty,would still be classed,in the rugby sense at least, as champions?lets face it,we are champions so not a bad loser thread by any means,

Ah, that will be the reason of course.

So if thats the case how come their champion team doesn't win the WCC every year .

I think you are promoting the myth of supposed NRL superiority.
Certainly, they have strength in depth SL doesn't have but I firmly believe our top 4 or perhaps top 6 can match them (the rest of the SL teams couldn't compete).
If you look at some of the NRL players coming over here with SOO experiance (flanno and perry for example) they are nothing special.

I watch the NRL every week and there are some great teams and games and there are som c8ap teams and games - just like SL.

Unfortunately McBanana seems to belive all the NRL hype as well; hence is his preference for widdop who might be good enough to play for salford or widnes but I wouldn't swap him for anyone in the saints team.

I fully agree with the thread and think it makes a mockery of the league. The best 2 teams all season have been Wire and Wigan. They both beat us twice in the league. Wire finished top and should be champions, I said this when we were top and lost to Leeds and still believe this is the best system. I have no complaints of having a premiership comp involving the top 5/6 or 8 but neither Saints or Leeds deserve to be champions (I'll go mental if we win it tho!!)

Quite simply because the 2 best teams were not good enough to get to the final, Leeds had a better game-plan than us, and Wigan had 2 goes at beating Saints, and failed on both occasions.

Everyone knows, that the system is wrong, and it's only Sky who hype it up. Your true RL fan knows, that the best team this season has been Warrington, as proven by the league table. To me, the play-off system is just another comp, alongside the league and challenge cup.

As for the logic of trying to explain the system to a wendyball fan, ask them to prove the logic behind the champions league, where a team that finishes 4th in the league- an absolute distance behind the league winners, can enter the same so called " elite" competion.( A competetion btw, that if you are the champs of some mickey mouse country, the only way you have of joining the elite, is to play a 2 legged game against the champs of some other mickey mouse country.) And then, when they have failed miserably after playing 6 group games, get given another chance in the Uefa cup, where they enter the comp, at a later stage. Also in this comp, is team who were given entry because they got very few red and yellow cards.

I can remember the 1970 RL world cup,maybe if there are a few old uns on here Rogues etc.We had just hammered the Aussies over there and we had a WC over here in october or or november,there were only 4 teams then and it was played in a group system, and we won all our qualifying games to go to the final and the Aussies won only one and lost two,but they beat us in the finalattle of Leeds].After the game it struck me I said the aussies have conned us again!and I bumped into some of their fans that evening and they said"no its the best way to do it thats how we do it back home in the play offs"I came away bemused and still felt conned

Its impossible for a Wire fan to be a bad loser because we have had so much practice in the pre TS years.
As for being stupid, well I am responding to you so..............