I would love a season where you had to finish top to be champions. Imagine Wigan, Wire, Leeds and Saints going at it all year to finish top?!! that would be great!

Its really hard to justify paying £200 plus for a season ticket when half the top teams don't try in the regular season.

Don't know how the coaches motivate their players to put their bodies on the line in the regular season when the points available don;t matter. Since the top 8 system was brought in, its statistically proven you are as likely to get to the GF from 5th as you are from 1st!!

No wonder we can't attract new fans.

The fans are already there, but also there is a recession. It does not matter who gets to Old Trafford next week the fans of the 2 teams will be 20,000 plus each. The clubs need to cut the cost of these play off matches or offer some kind of incentive to season ticket holders. I have been to Leeds in 2003 and 2010 and watched us come away from Headingley victorious at this stage of the season. The atmosphere both times were about the best i have had watching the game, maybe it is because we won on both occassions.
Last night the game itself was electric but with the stadium being half empty it didnt seem the same.

How do you come to that conclusion?

Only Leeds have made the gf from 5th and despite not playing great during the season we have won 5 out of the last 8 so it's not a massive shock

which should tell the RFL something.

the main problem is that the RFL are "owned" by Sky.
wonder how long it'll be before we have a top 12 play offs, with more games for Sky to fill their airtime with?

The main weakness with the playoff season is that in the end the whole season up to the penultimate week comes down to one thing: creating four teams for a semi final > final situation as in any Cup.

The advantage of finishing top four rather than fifth to eighth is that you get a 'second chance' in the playoffs. But if you win your first playoff, you lose the right to a second chance.

Wigan have done exactly what we did last year - top the league, then play a storming game in the first playoff then that's it you are into one slip and you're gone territory.

So the full season apart from two weeks is about turning 14 into 4, then who are deemed Champions and who are deemed Bottlers comes down to fitness, form and luck in a two week window of the season.

I think the clubs voted the play offs in ???

The clubs want play offs as it brings extra revenue to them, I'm pretty sure the players want them as well.

I do think the top 8 needs reducing but with no relegation it leaves more than half the clubs with nothing to play for.

Nothing wrong with the play offs at all. Same in the NRL except the top 2 there did what they had to do.

Plus as Hull fan I'd rather have played you than either Wire, Saints or Leeds as I think we'd have done better against your less unpredictable style. (RE: the first poster)

It will change in the coming years judged on the play off and final crowds.The play off system is not working and the fans have voted against it by not turning up for the matches.

Personally I would like to see it go back to the top 5 which was the only credible play off system going IMO, as to win from anywhere other than 1st, you had to beat everyside above you.

It also gave proper benefit for the slog of coming 1st after the season, whereby you could only go out by losing two in a row (and if this happened- then you probably shouldn't be there)

Under the old system, our season would not be over due to a dropped ball by an under 20s player as it is now, and we would have got another chance.

If we cant have top 5 then we should have a top 7 play off IMO

1st week top gets off

2nd plays 7th
3rd plays 6th
4th plays 5th

Then you could still keep the club call which is not as ludicrous as it is now with only 2 choices..and actually becomes quite interesting and tactical as you can pick any one of the 3.

Therefore all play off games are knock out, with a benefit to the top side

This year we would have had.

Wire v Huddersfield
Saints v Hull
Catalan v Leeds

With wigan then picking anyone of Wire Saints or Leeds in the semi.

The remaining unpicked two then play off on a neutral venue - so that in the semis only the top team gets home advantage.

While top doesnt have the benefit of having a second bite as in the old top 5 - I would counter this by giving the top team a converted try handicap, meaning that any team would have to beat them at home by more than a converted try to knock them out - thus ensuring that one unlucky play couldnt undo 27 weeks of hard graft!

Another benefit is we knock another week off the season.

Lets change play off system so Wigan can win ?

That results in the same semi finals we have now but less games from revenue.

What is the point?

No i do not think thats the real reason most on here complain tbh. That's a rather simplistic view would have made no difference this season or last we were not good enough to get to the grand final. Look at the attendances for the playoffs Shocking tbh and that is a sure sign that supporters of most clubs view the present top 8 as a joke. System need to change and the chage needs to come sooner rather than later.

We need to go back to top 5 and have relegation if a team who meets SL criteria wins the Championship. Its that factor of no relegation that has caused SL to become very sterile at times in the past as teams in the bottom third of the league have nothing to play for. So to stop clubs from just not trying towards the end of the season they bring in the top 8. Unlike the NRL we have 5 good SL sides and the rest are very poor whilst most of the NRL sides are of a very good standard ours are not.

My preferred format is this. using this season table as my template and the results.

Week one League Leaders have the week off

1. Wire v Saints
2. Catalan v Leeds


Wigan V Saints Winners go to the GF
Wire V Leeds Winners play the losers of the above game for a shot at the GF.

We would get less games and more intensity than we had on the 1st week of the play offs.

That it not how a top 5 system works. I will assume all games go to form to make illustrating it easier.

Wk1,
1 gets a week off
2 v 3
4 v 5 -(loser eliminated)

Wk2 -

1 v 2 - (winner to GF)
3 v 4 - (loser eliminated)

Wk 3
1 has a week off
2 v 3 - (winner to GF loser eliminated)

Notice that in week 2 even though 2 lost they still get home advantage in week 3. Unlike Wire who in the current system lost in week 2 but are now away at a side who finished lower than them in the league which is stupid.

The top 5 system ensures a side who finishes lower is always at a disadvantage to one who finished above it as well as ensuring a side must beat all the sides above it to win the title (current system has some impossible fixture combinations). Not only is that fair it also means the league has a real value too it. The higher you finish the more chance you have to get to GF.

That is not true in the current system. In our current system you can argue finishing 5th is better than finishing 4th and there is no difference between finishing 1st and 2nd. None of this "lets rest the team" and win it from 5th rubbish.

Also restricting it to 5 as opposed to 8 also means the league games are much more important. Under the current system I think it is a minor miracle the league games have much quality at all.

Keep a top 8 but straight knock out.

1v8
3v6

2v7
4v5

Winners of match one plays the winner of match two, the winners of match 3 plays the winners of four. And the highest team who finishes in the regular season plays at home. So use this season final standings, if Wakey were to win all their matches they would play all their matches away.

No. A top 8 with straight play off is the same as the old Premiership! That would be a backwards step.

I always liked the top 5 system because I like the concept that to win it a team has to beat ALL the teams above them.

Initially I didn't like the top 6 format because it broke the top 5 principle of having to beat ALL the teams above you. However, what I did like about it was the first game between 1 and 2 with the winner going straight through to the GF. That game always had high intensity and was often better than the GF itself. The loser then maintained home advantage which was reward for finishing high in the table.

The current system is crazy in that teams 1 and 2 can lose home advantage if they lose the first game.

Despite thinking that the top system is the best, on balance I now prefer the top 6 because it also maintains interest down the table in the regular season.

I have no problem with the team finishing 5th going on to become Champions but my point is that it is easier to do it in the top 8 system vs top 5. This season Leeds would have to have beaten Catalan (done anyway), then Saints away, then Wire or Wigan away (done) then say Wire in the final (we will see next week). So if Leeds win next week then it would be easier than the top 5 system in that they wouldn't have had to have beaten Saints away as well.