In the PL they have the CL places, EL places and £500k a place to play for as well as the £60m for staying in the league. If a team such as Chelsea lose a few games then they could miss out on the CL places as well as a few hundred million ££s. If Wigan lose to Warrington on Friday they'll still finish in the 8 and still have the chance to win the competition.

Absolutely nothing. I hate losing and would love the bragging rights over Wire. I'll just wait until August or October so as not to look stupid like the whole of RL has when laughing at Leeds the last two years.

The result on Friday will have NO bearing WHATSOEVER on who wins the league.

I wouldn't worry too much. I'd be surprised if there was as significant a drop-away in support as some posters on here seem to think.

Six pages in and there has still been no explanation offered as to why, if the play-offs are the only important matches, they are by far the worst attended.

1 - The format
2 - The cost
3 - The current state of the World

There's 3 for you.

Don't forget Huey, Dewy and Louie ... there's three more.

So you think the format of the playoffs, the cost of tickets and the economy aren't to blame then?

To get all the above the fixtures have to mean something. Where is the sport if you don't know if a side is trying to win the game? Where does pride fit into the rather cynical approach to the league the play off format encourages?

Remember a few years back when Millward put a Saints reserve side out v Bradford? That caused a huge stink and the RFL (ignorant of their own stupid rule change) tried to fine the club.

Yet these days on here we have people who regularly say trying to win the league is detrimental to your chances in the play-offs so the club shouldn't try to do it.

We even have pundits coming out with things like thisas there are major doubts about Leeds and Warrington's commitment over 27 rounds of Super League action and Wigan's squad has weakened dramatically since last year. "

The man is basically saying those two clubs don't give a toss abut the league. From here

rlhttp://www.sportinglife.com/rugby-league/news/article/480/8455300/saints-alive-in-2013?rl

If the press are saying that who else thinks like that and how will it affect attendances? As I said earlier I don't think Leeds did try and have poor seasons and for that matter I don't think Wire played the numbers game either but if the perception is that is what clubs are doing it will eventually be detrimental to attendances.

If this sort of thing is cropping up in the press then the RFL (and the clubs) need to take note. The bread and butter of the sport is the league but if it is perceived as a waste of time that is going to cause problems.

It's up to the RFL and the clubs to make all the league fixtures competitive and clubs have IMO a duty to entertain the fans over 27 rounds. The aim should be to win both league and GF but there seems to be a growing perception the league is a 27 round qualifier. Maybe double the prize money if you do or just go back to a top five system or something but there [iis[/i a danger the RFL seem oblivious to.

I've already said in other posts that the cost of tickets and recession could well be causing a slowdown in ticket sales. But that's ticket sales for the whole season - in other words for league fixtures as well as playoff fixtures.

I find that a far more likely candidate than some vague idea that suddenly league fixtures don't matter any more. If that was the case, the play-offs would be well attended compared to league fixtures, and they aren't.

I presume that people can't go 12 months without rugby and so they attend the regular season which can be paid for over 6 months. When it comes to paying £21 for the next 4 weeks just for a ticket it becomes an issue. Especially when the games are live on TV and you can have 8 pints or so for that £21 or the result doesn't actually matter because you get another go the week after.

I have no problem with the playoffs at all, but the format needs to change in order to put more emphasis on the regular season like the old top 5 or even 6 did.

The first weeks in the pay-offs are very poorly attended but I don't think it follows it has anything do with how people decide to attend league games or how important they think they are. The current play off format means week 1 has little importance for the top four sides (they will all be in the frame the week after) so I can easily see why some people would not bother to shell out the cash for that. They may view the play-offs of the be all and end all but the format means it is still easy to justify not going in week 1. Even for the bottom four sides who face sudden death I reckon people will wait and see if they get past week one. For a family of four the cost of attending all play-off fixtures is a lot of cash.

I would say people have twigged what are the important play off fixtures so attend those in greater numbers if their team gets into one of these games. If I am right the attendances (or lack of them) are down to the playoffs being as they are and it doesn't follow attendances should be higher because people decided the league doesn't matter.

I don't disagree that the play-off format is awful and needs to change ASAP.

Don't forget the chance that you'll play the same team a fortnight later in a more meaningful fixture.

So we get rid of the play off structure because "it's called league for a reason". (sic)

By midseason the top three clubs break away from the rest of the ladder. What incentive is there for the remaining competition? I don't think you will find a single player who thinks the game on Friday is meaningless. Over the past few years these encounters have been absolutely fantastic. As your Chairman said last week, stop knocking the game and being paranoid about it, just enjoy what is one of the best on field products you will ever find!

It was only a league system from 1974 till 1997 I think. Before 1974 it was a playoff system and 'championship final'. I wonder what league was like then was it all meaningless and boring?

Rogues can you answer this question?

Hallelujah.