Hello, I am looking into writing a book about the idea of play-offs deciding the Champions in sport. I was wondering what the opinions are of fellow Rugby League fans on the play-offs. Do you think play-offs are the best way to decide the champions or do you prefer whoever finishes top being champions? And what do you think of the current format?
Personally I think play-offs are a great concept, sport is about peaking on the big occasion and beating your biggest rivals head to head when it matters.

Bad thing! It's just a money spinner for SKY TV. End of the day everyone playing the game play throughout a season, knowing you finish the top of the league you are the league champions....FULL STOP. Finishing top of the league at the end of a domestic season, proves that throughout the season your team has performed consistently throughout that season. The team who rightly finishes top, could and I repeat could have just one poor game or dip in form out of 27+games, and because of this, be de-throned as TRUE CHAMPIONS.

Good thing. The play-offs are the most exciting part of the season. Champions are a team who are the best of the best IMO and the play-offs find this out.

I think they are quite a good thing for the game, just dont like the format the RFL devise.

I take your point, I don't think it's just a money spinner for sky and I do think it works really well. Other sports you win the league you are champs but not the same in RL, I like it but I think the format could be changed. Should the winner receive a bye straight to the Grand Final perhaps? after a full Super League season and coming out as league leaders do they not deserve to have a place at OT?

There really should be a 3rd option as although i find the play-offs very entertaining however i think the fact we decide the "True Champions" on a knockout basis is wrong. Wigan for me are the best team this season regardless what happens in the play-offs. They have proved this over 27 league games for me.

The SL play offs are really a copy of the Super Bowl, Stanley Cup, NBA Finals & MLB World Series, no one remembers who won the leagues just the Championship winners.

I think it was a good decision to revert back to a play-off system and the traditional way of determining the champions.

I'd disagree. The NFL, NHL, NBA and MLB all need a play off format to decide a true champion because all of those sports are split into a minimum of 6 division and teams do not get to play every team the same amount of times in their respective sports each season like they do in RL (other than the magic weekend.

Like most things, we nabbed the play off idea straight from Oz and I personally love it. Without the play offs, our season would have been over in May, like most other clubs.

If we had simply been playing Leeds this past weekend to finish 4th without any added play off position incentive, would the game have been played at the same tempo? Would the atmosphere have been the same? Would there of been a smaller crowd?

The play off's give almost every club something to play for for most of the season, even as soon ago as June, i would imagine that 11 of the 14 clubs seriously felt that they could make the play off's, first past the post would kill most teams season after about 6 games.

If we didn't have play-offs the season would be over now, unless we went back to the old style premiership, which was and would be the least important of the three available trophies.

In a league where there is no relegation, the play-off system keeps the regular season alive right until the end, as was the case last weekend with Saints and Wire battling for 2nd place, us and Leeds for 4th, Crusaders and Cas for 8th.

The play offs have given a big boost to the sport and as has aready been posted, gives more clubs something to play for towards the end of the season.

However having 8 teams in the play offs from a 14 team league is too many. Take last season, Catalans finished 8th (the bottom half of the league) and lost more games than they won, however they got within one game - eight points in fact - of the Grand Final.

I put No my reason A team that wins more games over the season is the League
Champions ..Then there should be another trophy that teams play for ..What if a team that finished top and only lost 2 games all season ..What if Wigan get beat in the first 2 game of the play offs ..How can fans say Wigan are not League Champions when they finished in first place.. Wigan was the best team over 27 rounds it doesn't happen in Football

a fantastic format.nothing decided till the last game of the season.i remember the days of wigan winning everything and the league championship on its way to wigan mid season them days are over and good riddance i say!!.although its a great achievement winning the league leaders shield the ultimate has to be the grand final..

Chicos Nose wrote

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In fact end of season play offs in our league go back a long long way. In the 1960s the top 16 clubs played off in a simple 1 x 16, 2 v 15 etc format. In 1965 Halifax finished in seventh place but were crowned champions after beating first placed St Helens in the Championship Final.

However I agree with those who support the new format. As mentioned on the SL Show, going into the weekend's fixtures only Wigan and Rovers were guaranteed to finish in their current places of first and seventh respectively.