I agree.

Does this mean we are now a merged club?

I agree totally with the sentiments on here, imo the fact that a team is likely to lose half or more of their games this year and have a shot a being called champions is laughable.

The only way the first past the post system can be called champions is if every club plays each other home and away, and only once.

Last season, in the "regular games" Wigan played the top 3, Saints 4 times, Leeds three times and Catalan three times in.

If we are going to go to he first past the post then we would have to scrap the "magic weekend"

Edited for correctness

I don't agree with that. The Grand Final is our Superbowl and should be kept that way. A head-to-head decider is the only way to decide who is our champion team. There are far too many intangibles during the course of the season that undermine the football style top of the league placings e.g. two years ago Saints finished top of the league despite having been beaten by Leeds several times during the course of the season. Of course there are alternatives where the top team has been the better side over the course of the year and lost but that's the way it is. With a playoff format a team that is unlucky with a couple of injuries at the start of the year still has a chance of winning it. Under the top of the league format that's virtually impossible if you have a bit of bad luck.

That still wouldn't be exact. You would have to have exact conditions in every match for it to be the perfect and fair determinant that people say it is e.g. if you played us next week and Long wasn't playing that wouldn't be the same as beating us if he was playing.

The top of the league format primarily rewards squad depth and consistency not big game mentality and the true test of a good side is its ability to perform on the big stage at Old Trafford against the very best, not at Belle Vue in April or The Stoop in June.

By the same token a team that has been outstanding all year can suffer a couple of key injuries and lose a Final - Terry Newton should have rammed that point home to you. I don't dislike the play offs as an end of season jamboree, it is the fact that they now are seen as the sole achievement in the league structure rendering the rest meaningless.

I like the Play Offs, it's been very good in the past. The RFL have just gone too far with the top 8 idea. We follow the Australians far too much on some things thinking they are perfect, when they're not.

I remember that but dems da breaks. The playoffs don't render the rest of the season meaningless because they are a jostle for position at the end of the season.

I've said this a million times but all the premier sporting competitions in the world climax with a head-to-head final. It's the only way to decide things e.g. World Cups, Champions League, Superbowl, NRL, World Series, Boxing, Olympics, golf, Wimbledon, FA Cup etc. Winning when the pressure is on is the only true measure of a great side. Christ, even Halifax finished top of the league once during my lifetime and there were better teams than them that year.

I agree with Eamonn McManus!

The FA Cup, Champions League etc are separate Comps to the league structure in the only sports there structured similarly to RL, just like the Challenge Cup. The finals in the USA are more down to the separate leagues. As I mentioned however I don't mind the play offs, it is the nodding dog approach that if it's mimicking the NRL it is the right and only way to go. For me there should simply be more credence given to finishing top.

I#m pretty sure one year in the 70's Dewsbury won the title from 8th. If anyone has a link to that league season to find out their win/loss ration i would find that interesting.

Also I agree with McManus! It is a much greater acheivement to finish top 4 years in a row than to win 2 playoff finals.

Just tried explaining this to a workmate from Spain ' Rugby Leagues premier division is called Super League, the one who comes top arent champions and the one who comes bottom arent relegated'

He looked confused and lost interest.

They did,aye.72/73 season.

Played 34 won 23 lost 11. Few stats rlhererl

I like the playoffs. It just gives you something extra to look forward to after the weekly rounds. Without the playoffs If Leeds and Saints run away at the top, by just after half way you know the season is done and there is nothing left to play for. Just like the NFL at the end of the weekly rounds, your fix doesn't just end, you still have more footy to watch.