Thank god for that, an announcement at last.

Does that make Conroy official?






BOOOOOOOOOOO

I'm clearly easily confused. Ah well. Still a better system mind

I'd like to see the playoffs become sudden death personally.

1st v 8th
2nd v 7th
3rd v 6th
4th v 5th

Highest seed always get the home game until we get down to the last 2. You win the league your reward is you get home advantage for the playoffs. Simples. Club call needs binning. It's ridiculous as it is. Leeds met Wigan twice last year in the playoffs while Saints met Wigan twice this time round. Complete farce having the same game twice in a playoff format.

Thats the same as the old Premiership play-offs before the GF play-offs were introduced. It does have merits i.e. all sudden death and the highest placed teams getting home advantage. I think the current system of the top two losing home advantage is crazy. The benefit of finishing in the top two is now diminished.

However, I still prefer the top 5 system. Even though the first game between 1st and 2nd wasn't sudden death it still really mattered because the winner went straight through to the GF. The rest of the games were sudden death and so all games were competitive. If anything I think the game between 1st and 2nd was the best of the play-off games because both went for the win big style but knowing that they still had a safety net. A couple of the games between Leeds and Saints at Knowsley Road were fantastic to watch i.e. great rugby and competitive.

The benefit of being able to lose a playoff game then having another shot is pretty big in my opinion. You are rewarded for finishing top 2.

I'd like to see a bigger reward for being the League Leaders. Whether this is in the form of an automatic place in the final I'm not sure, but I do think we need to reward this achievement properly.

No, you can finish top 4 and get that reward. The only reward top 2 get is home advantage in the first game (and club call if your top). Hardly the greatest reward for a season of being the best team.

1v8, 2v7, etc has merit, but I would prefer to see 1v2 then 3v8, 4v7, 5v6 with the winner of 1v2 getting the easier route/straight to GF.

Definatley. We need to make the top spot more sought after to keep the regular season healthy imo. Seeing teams celebrate after just scraping into the top 8 is laughable and needs to be changed as well imo.

It's embarassing that teams who finish in the bottom half of the table qualify for the playoffs imo. I don't know whether the playoffs are a good idea, we have them so that's irrelevant. But I do know that they shouldn't reward mediocrity and shouldn't devalue the league which takes place throughout the year, currently they do both imo.

Think thats a load of crap frankly.

The top 8 spaces were keenly contested this year with Cas Hull Hull KR etc all fighting desperatley for the last 3 places.

The Championship is in 2 phases...the league to sort the places (not the title) and then the play offs to decide the Champions.

I understand that and know how the system works. Just to make it clear I am not suggesting that we should have this system or that system or even the numbers but what I am arguing is that any system we have in place shouldn't undermine the Grand Final and that's where I think the top 5 stucture fails as detailed below.



The current structure may do but if you changed it to the Australian top 8 or a top 6 system you would still retain a good advantage for finishing top i.e. 1v8 under top 8 and 1 v lowest placed qualifier under top 6.



That's a failing of the current structure though not of the play offs. If we'd had the Australian top 8 system Leeds would still have travelled to Huddersfield where they won and that would have led to them travelling to Warrington anyway where they would have won (as they did). Similarly, you would have played Rovers (and won), we'd have played Catalans (and won) so we'd have gone to your place and won. So although you may feel penalised because you had to play Saints twice, whilst Leeds didn't, in reality it didn't make that much difference.



Erm haven't all the play off structures been knock out competitions? I know some teams get another bite of the cherry but if they are not knock out competitions then what are they?



Agreed.



Is it really? In the four years that we had a top 5 system all four Grand Finalists played each other two weeks before the Grand Final because that was what the structure alllowed i.e. 1v2 and winners goes through to the Grand Final. Don't you think the two finalists playing each other two weeks before in a play off partly undermines the showpiece? More importantly under the top five system we give one team a week off before the game whilst the other team plays what is effectively a semi-final. Don't you think that is a more serious concern towards undermining the showpiece?



So Leeds will have won at Hudddersfield, Warrington and beaten Saints if they win but you still don't think they would make worthy champions? Why not? No other team in the league has shown that they're capable of that otherwise they'd be there on Saturday.



Dave did you really say that? Are you seriously suggesting I don't understand how the top five system works? Of course I know how it works but it is a flawed stucture itself because it loads it heavily in favour of the top club who only have to win one game to make the final which I think is too easy but I understand that's a personal preference. However, the bigger problem is it gives one team an extra week's rest before the Grand Final which is just stupid because it undermines our showpiece occasion. In which others sporting contests do you get to the pinnacle and then force one of the competitors to have another contest before it? Why would you do that? Why would you want that? What purpose does it serve to give one team a week off whilst another puts their feet up? Why would you want our Grand Final to be undermined in such a way. Maybe give the top team a week off in the first round of the post-season but then they should move into a standard semi-final format not the loaded one where a team gets a week off before the final and another one doesn't.



If you finished fifth you have to go to the teams above you and win. Is that not a disadvantage? The lower you are the harder your route to the final. Put the Australian top 8 system in and you resolve the problem of 1v4 and 2v3 on the opening weekend (which is just stupid anyway and lord knows why they chose that system). If you had the top eight system in Leeds would still be disadvantaged compared to ALL the teams above them as you request, however we should also remember that if you lose to a team below you in the play offs then you lose your advantages irrespective of where you finished in the league ladder. If you cannot win at home in the play offs against a team outside of the top five then you are not a champion team. For the record when the top five system was in operation we had four Grand Finals, all of which were contested by first v second which kind of supports my argument that it too heavily favours the top two.



Dave one of the major advantages of the top 8 system is the number of different combinations of teams which could make the final game and that no matches are repeated twice in the first three weeks. When compared to other final eight systems, many of which split the participants into two groups, the McIntyre system means only two combinations (1v7 and 2vicon_cool.gif are impossible in the Grand Final. Is it really that great a loss for neither of those? No.

The top five system is no more legitimate than any other system. Just because you seem to think it is doesn't make it so lol. The play off system I would like is one that gives an advantage to finishing higher up in the table in that you play home games and less games in the play offs if you win (we both agree on that). In addition to that I think it's very important that the play offs should also favour keeping the top teams apart until the Grand Final (unless either loses at some stage in the qualifiers). Now what's wrong with that? Why would you prefer to see 1st v 2nd at any point other than in the final?

How would you feel if it was a straightforward top four play off? 1v4 and 2v3 then the Grand Final?

Extra I've just had a read about the top 8 system in Australia and there are criticisms of it rewarding 7th and 8th if they manage to win in the opening rounds but that could easily be changed by creating a rule whereby 7th or 8th cannot have home ties during the play offs.

Do you really think that teams aren't already trying harder to finish higher up in the table? Go and ask every coach if they would like to finish higher up in the table than they were and I bet every single one of them will say yes.