Which is exactly why it wont happen.

Sky want it to be akin to a soap opera in length and as they call the shots, the RFL will dance to a top 8 tune until Sky tell them otherwise.

The only way to comprimise between not rewarding mediocrity, keeping Sky happy and moving to a more sensible system is to implement a top 7.

1 through to week 2
2 v 7
3 v 6
4 v 5

1 v lowest placed wk 1 winner
Remaining two wk 1 winners

Final

Reduces playoffs from 4 to 3 weeks.
Gives a definite advantage for every place higher you finish.
No repeat fixtures or 2nd chances.

It's worth pointing out that those of us who support top 5 clubs like the idea of a top 5 (which is the best format for me, nothing wrong with the way we used to do it) breathing life into 27 weekly rounds. The trouble is that it only does that for about 6 or maybe 7 teams. If you're lucky and get a competitive season. The other teams will have the life sucked from a varying number of their weekly rounds.

You could fix a lot of that by bringing back promotion and relegation, but you need enough decent and fully professional teams in the 2nd tier to make that work. That, IMO, is where the efforts and resources of the RFL need to be focused.

People talk about the Watkins review, but why would you expect all recommendations he makes to be implemented immediately? When will that be published?

A more pertinent question: why are people so sure the game is being damaged by the current system? "I fear for the future of the game" we hear you cry. Why? Is there evidence of serious declines in attendance across the league? Is sponsor and TV revenue dropping through the floor? I'd expect a small dip post-2008 - most entertainment industries have suffered that, but I can't actually see that the numbers suggest there's a problem to fix.

For sporting reasons I'd like the game to build a strong enough base to support P&R with a 5 team play-off format, but I'm not convinced we have that base yet. There are certainly pros as well as cons to the way things are being done, and you can't (or at least you probably shouldn't) start chucking terms like "short-sighted" and "reactive" around just because the direction followed is different to the one you'd like to see.

If anything is reactive rather than proactive, it's the sudden intensification of the clamour (which, yes, I know existed before) to change the system immediately just because Leeds have won from 5th a couple of times.