The clubs have voted to retain an 8 team play off format and kept club call. Saints voted against it band wire abstained.

I'd like to see which clubs wanted to keep the 8 team play off format? I'll bey it's the middle order clubs rather than the top few!

I'm extremely disappointed by this news. The retention of the pointless Club Call is irritating but carrying on with the Top 8 format that really annoys me.

Its such a poor structure - meaningless, sply attended games along with the devaluation of the regular season matches are just two reasons why the playoffs are in urgent need of a revamp.

To the above posts they all voted for the play offs to temain as they are apart from saints and wire which didnt vote, so they all have a chance of making the 8 in theory.

Probably been kept by the votes of the lower end and middle of the road clubs.
Higher clubs will have voted along with the majority to keep them on board for future improvements.
IL's statement on the SC changes suggested it had taken 18 months to get through. He and those who wanted the improvements will have had a lot of persuading to do in order to acheive this.
Perhaps part of the quid pro quo was that the play off remain at top eight.

Wigan have let us and the game down by not voting against the top 8 system. It's a pathetic excuse to get a couple more games worth of admission money out of the fans when infact if they binned it they'd make up that shortfall with increased attendances at meaningful ties.

Full credit to Saints. They've been the only club to have the stones to vote against it. The top 8 system is killing the play offs.

I agree. This first round games this time should have shown the clubs this. It is just too expensive for most fans to support their team through all the rounds.

The top 8 does nothing to improve standards either. When the playoffs came in one of the selling points was supposed be a play off system was one reason why the Aussies were so good and so if we adopted it we would see standards improve. Well in our league (as opposed to theirs) a top 8 system means clubs who really are quite poor can get in so this has not happened. The format does not make then strive to improve IMO. You can be quite poor and still get a chance whereas with a top 5 system you have to be pretty good to qualify in the first place. Going for fewer teams would force the also-rans to improve their league performances. That can only be a good thing as it means the fans who go all year get better games.

The article I saw said that 12 clubs had voted, which would mean that two abstained; the article only said how three clubs had voted, Wire abstained, Saints against and Leeds for.

I would hope Wigan were the other club that abstained, but it would have been better for us to publicly vote against. Maybe the fear was a backlash of bitterness from Leeds/Leeds fans?

What Wigan or any other club did is irrelevant for me. the fact is that the fans don't get a say in what goes on. The truth is we voted with our feet and the attendances we poor. We need a more competitive SL competition and we need to get back to top 6 max. I'd reduce SL to 10 teams who play each other twice and have a 2nd tier of 8 who play each other 3 times. I'd also bring back relegation and promotion.

The play off system at present renders the 27 week SL pretty much meaningless. I'd be pretty disappointed in Wigan if they have voted to retain the joyless play off structure in place at present.

Oh well, no panic if we lose our first 12 games, we can still win it.

My dad has not renewed his ST for next season which I'm gutted about. But he's said he wont pay £200 for a ST when it doesn't matter if you lose 0 or 10 games and you'll still have same chance of being champions come the 2nd week of September.

And he has got a very good point. Fair play to him.

I want to finish 8th. Win the GF and then stick 2 fingers up at the RFL.

Should be a 10 team league.

Play offs

1st v 4th
2nd v 3rd

Winners play at Old Trafford. Simples.

Oh and bring back the Old championship trophy for the team that finishes Top.

Have you ever thought that maybe the lead up games to the play off generate interest for the clubs pushing for a place and possibly bigger crowds or is it just Wigan that matters

Silly old RL the only sport that has a play off system at the end of the season.