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?