I dont understand how the RFL have screwed this up, the ticket prices are the same as they are for every other league game! Fair enough the play off format is rubbish, meaning there is a good chance we will play them again in 2 weeks, but this is a derby game against Saints, and also the 1st game for us to attempt to retain our SuperLeague title!

9599 home tickets sold as at 8.45pm tonight. Clearly the rush for the discounted South Stand family tickets has now finished. We'll be lucky to have 11500 home fans on.

There may well be a decent walk up on the day if the weather is anything like.

I've still got to get our 7 tickets yet and of the 7 there are 5 of us that go home and away week in week out so i'm guessing there will be plenty of others still to get them.

I'm suprsied we've shifted that many tbh.

It's the 5th meeting between us this season alone and will probably lead to the 6th in 2 weeks time. That's too often even for Wigan and Saints.

People who are struggling for cash (which is a hell of a lot at the moment) would rather pay £20 to watch the same game in 2 weeks time when it actually means something.

The poor crowds are due to the ridiculous format of the playoffs.

I agree, but also I believe the pricing structure could have encouraged alot more fans to turn up.

The REALITY is that if all 1st round games were priced at £10 for Adults £5 for concessions the Wigan-Stains game would have attracted a 20K crowd.
The REALITY is it isn't and it won't.
The REALITY is that a family of 4 to sit in my section would cost £64, and for a game that will most probably be played again in 2 weeks!! Times are tough kids for most families and for £64 is a fair chunk out of a families budget.
I love the romantic view that if youre a true fan of the club you MUST turn up for this game. Well the REALITY is families have to prioritise, and Id imagine paying the mortgage comes before watching a sportng event.

But then again the RFL don't live in the REAL world.

Need to get my four tickets yet (this aft hopefully), just hope the discounted family tickets are still available for the South.

In the REAL world in what other sport do you get an adult ticket to go and watch two of the top teams for a tenner!? When compared to other sports we've got it good. For just over £200 ya get 14 games in some of the best seats, then for another £19 you go to the playoff games. I appreciate money is tight for people and it's difficult to shell out for the whole family, especially as some people might be holding out to go to the GF should we get there, but the prices can't really be criticised in my view. The real problem is the playoff structure which makes it quite likely we will face Saints again in 2 weeks time!

So were all agreed theres a problem with the playoff structure? So to encourage more people to these games shouldn't we look at the pricing structure aswell?
I still maintain that a 20K crowd would have been realistic with £10 for Adults and £5 Concessions. As its stands we'll get a crowd of around 14-15k and it'll look crap on the telly.

Whoever decided there is a need for a play off series needs to put there head into a toilet and flush it

There is definitely an issue with the playoff structure yes. I dont mind the splitting the top 8 in to 2 4s but then the fact the same two teams from the top 4 can end up playing each other twice in 3 weeks is just stupid.

Got to remember the business side of things as well. If you take 14k at an average price of £15 that's £210000. 20k at an average of £8 is £160000.

Agreed, i havent even thought about the game this week, its just been any other week in work. Normally im looking forward to Derby at the end of a week, but no this time. Its becoming to regular.

It's the 2nd chance rubbish that gets me, it should just be a straight knock out with the only benifit of finishing top being a week off and favourable draw.

I'd go with
A. 2v5
B. 3v4
C. 6v7
winner misses this out all losers eliminated
A winner plays B winner
C. Winner plays league leaders

winning teams in the GF

i know it looks like 6&7 get a better deal than 5 but the winner of that then has to play theoretically the hardest team. Only other way is

2v7
3v6
4v5
Top club then gets club call on the winners

Personally I'm finding the play offs a bit of a slog now and the cup being so late in the year is a big part of that.

I think the Top 8 is garbage as well and hasn't worked, despite the guff Sky like to come out with about "the race for the top 8".

Here's some facts on this season:

7 of the eventual top 8 have been in the play off positions since Easter (16 matches in total)!

In all those 16 games the teams within the top 4 didn't change (even though Huddersfield lost 7 of their last 10 games) and the only side to break into positions 5 to 8 was Hull KR with 2 games to go.

Castleford who spent 25 of the 27 rounds in the top 8 missed out to Hull KR who spent just 6 of the 27 rounds in the top 8!

Another idea

top 4 go into a mini league

1st place team gets 3 home games
2nd 1 away 2 home
3rd 2 away 1 home
4th 3 away

Top 2 in the GF

Beauty of this is we don't see 5th being rewarded, teams in the 4 are rewarded on position, points difference could be a factor meaning teams have to look to battering teams to make sure, high intensity games.

NO clubcall
All teams in the 4 play same amount of games
You only play the same team twice in a GF.

It should be a straightforward knock-out competition.

1 v 8
2 v 7
3 v 6
4 v 5

etc