Quote: SmokeyTA "That’s just a straw man, nobody has argued a league structure cannot possibly deliver an exciting end of season, just that it wont always and it leaves the possibility of large parts of the season being completely pointless. '"
It's not a straw man - it is an argument put forward in favour of a play off system as often as the equally ridiculous notion that with a league "large parts of the season being completely pointless".
Quote: SmokeyTA "It is nothing like that at all. '"
Of course it is. Teams can get the prize of a play off place for losing more league games than they win. It is a reward for mediocrity if ever there was one.
Quote: SmokeyTA "The play-offs would be pointless and idea goes against your own principle. If the league competition is the be all and end all of deciding quality then there is no need for the play-offs. If we accept your principle then the 2nd place team deserves the 2nd spot. They have, according to you, proven themselves the 2nd best team in the league. The play-offs would be pointless in a sporting sense because you have completely removed the legitimacy of them. They would be, the RL equivelant of the intertoto cup.'"
Now this IS a straw man argument. The problem with this idea is in your head. It's really simple. We have an extended WCC and the route into it is by either winning the league title or winning a play-offs. We then get round your objection of "large parts of the season being completely pointless" because we have retained the play-offs with a valuable prize at the end of them AND we have the league championship deciding the - league champions. Completely different competitions with different purposes with the label of champions being attached to the league champions rather than the winners of the play offs.