The crowds in the regular season were up last time and so the RFL and SL are very lucky that most of the fans do not see the regular season as irrelevant as it really is.

The RFL have to be very careful not to undermine the league as a competition as it pays the bills for most clubs. The clubs have to be careful as well. If it became obvious they didn't give a toss fans [iwould[/i stop going.

I think one way that could help is if the next time whoever finish first also wins the GF a great deal is made of it rather than the perverse situation we have now where you get more browney points for being rubbish for half a season, finishing 5th and winning the GF. Finish top and winning the GF should be considered a higher achievement and be marketed as such.

I couldn't agree more. My view is it's a combination of loads of reasons, the aforementioned two just being a couple of them.

However, when a fan of Leeds (the champions 6 times recently) for 30 years, says that "I have perhaps become so acclimatised to lousy results that I don't actually care about the league placing" it is clear to me that the competition structure is mainly at fault,

I'm sorry, but you are misunderstanding me. I became acclimatised to not finishing top by the Leeds teams of the 80's & 90's, the ones I grew up watching. NOT the current Leeds team!

This view of mine was formed by the old league structure, before Super League started. It's a result of constantly seeing Wigan win everything and knowing we had no chance!

...thats possibly why I like the top 8 play-offs. It gives more teams a chance af actually winning something!

Ha ha ha. I may live here, but I'm not from here. (...and yes, it is a dump!)

To put it simply, I watched my team go 25ish years with average results so I am used to the average results. It does not mean I enjoy my rugby less & it doesn't mean I don't watch my team every chance I get. It also doesn't mean that I don't want my team to win, I just don't think the world will end if we don't.

Basically, as an old time Leeds fan I'm not used to success and I view any we get as a bonus!