Not exactly; what he's saying is that the League comp ends after 23 games, with the LLS being awarded on that basis, then a completely separate competition starts after that, with the top 8 qualifying for what is, in effect, a return to the old Premiership trophy.

No, its much more akin to the recently abandoned top 8 playoff system whereby teams who were poor all season were rewarded for that with a crack at the main prize little different in terms of advantage gained to the teams at the top. No real advantage to finishing high in the league.

The "league" is deemed unimportant and the lesser trophy than winning the GF. So under the Widnes system there is no incentive to finish high in the league or try and bust a gut winning it if at the end of the day you aren't doing your chances of winning the GF any good at all.

It's all about the status of the competition. In the past the league was the one to win and the premiership was a bit of an end of season extending cup competition of lesser status. Unless the top 8 and "premiership final" (i.e. the GF) revert to being the lesser competition there is no way the league rounds where points don't count towards the top 8 will see teams busting a gut. Teams that win the league will always be deemed to have won it because the ones with the clever coaches rested players and didn't try for it and once a top 8 slot is secure you will even have[i fans[/i arguing the club rests players because they want it to win the GF more than the league.

I think crowds for league games would plummet towards the end of the season and the number of dead rubbers increase.

At least where the regular season points count you have incentive to get as many as you can to make getting a top 4 place more likely. I think it is about the best aspect of the new system.

I still think the best playoff system if you are going to have one was the top five system first tried. Plenty of incentive to finish at the top of the league and rewards for higher placed finishes and five teams was enough to be given the crack at the final. Extending the number of terms beyond that can't do anything other than devalue the foregoing league competition as it makes it too easy to qualify whatever system you use.

Yeah that's what I had in mind as well. I don't think there's anything wrong with it as it is though, the other teams just need to improve during the regular season, like Hull have this year.

I thought the slogan was "Every minute matters", but not if Widnes had their way. Leave it as it is, or write off 23 rounds of SuperLeague

Agreed 23 games for a hub cap , forget season tickets the game would die on it's feet , it's having a good try to do that now.
For what's it's worth after 23 games ( assume they keep magic ) 1st straight to GF, 3rd play 4th winner then play 2nd away to see who else goes to GF, team finishing bottom after 23 rounds gets relegated, team finishing top of championship promoted

Like it. You've got to reward clubs for being the best all season.

If the format had to stay the same, then the problem to address is how to keep the teams and supporters interested, to do that you need to give all teams the chance of getting into the top 4. But the additional problem is making sure teams take it seriously once safe and there doesn't become a culture of providing we are in the 8 we know we can win it.
I believe the following would hit an acceptable compromise
[list Give the league leaders shield after 23 rounds - provides an incentive to finish top
Give the top 4 the additional home game - provides an incentive to finish higher up the table
Each team starts the super 8s on half of the league points accumulated in the first 23 rounds (rounding up for half points) - brings all of the teams closer to each other, this year there would have been 7 points between 1st and 8th and 4 points between 4th and 8th - achievable targets[/list

I don't think that anything would be completely acceptable to all in the 8's format but this seems to address the major problems.

Leave it as it is. We shouldn't be rewarding mediocrity by artificially "doctoring" the tables with seven games left. The clubs need the revenue from those extra games. Look at it this way, four home games will bring in between £600K and £1 million depending on the opponents.

Normal league fixtures.

End of season

1st v 4th
2nd v 3rd

Winners play in Grand Final, easy.

Friday and Saturday night games, 2 huge sell out crowds, massive occasions.

But then teams are losing out on three or four games, and couldn't survive on just 11 home games per season. I would agree with you if it was a 16 team league but the game can't produce enough good players or crowds to support that format.

They could if they increased the salary cap and worked on quality rather than quantity.

But the clubs couldn't afford it. Wigan have lost around £600K and Saints about £1.6 million over the last two years, so where's the extra money to play players going to come from?

Speculate to accumulate?

Better quality = better crowds = more sponsorships = more money?