Re: Play off system stays. : Sat Nov 26, 2011 6:43 pm  

Our sport is run by utterly incompetent, clueless fools and is doomed to die a slow, lingering and very painful death at their hands. It makes me more angry than I can stand. Why the **** not just have a lottery draw to decide the "champions" at the end of the season and be done with the whole sorry "league" charade altogether. ****ing unbelievable and a complete joke.

Re: Play off system stays. : Sun Nov 27, 2011 8:13 pm  

Judder Man wrote:

Agree, the play off should never go beyond the top 5. If I had my way and not subjected to Sky's Puppetry , I would have top 3, if Lewis and Wood want to involve a top 8 then they can create a gimmick comp for the latter clubs.

Sounds good to me.

I wouldn't mind getting rid of it all together, give the league leaders the big trophy, have a charity shield type game with the league leaders vs the challenge cup winners, and an extended rep/international series.

Or perhaps expand on the dream team idea and have the dream team squad play against a fans-choice squad where no more than two players from each team are selected.

Re: Play off system stays. : Sun Nov 27, 2011 9:22 pm  

Tony Stark wrote:

Sounds good to me.

I wouldn't mind getting rid of it all together, give the league leaders the big trophy, have a charity shield type game with the league leaders vs the challenge cup winners, and an extended rep/international series.

Or perhaps expand on the dream team idea and have the dream team squad play against a fans-choice squad where no more than two players from each team are selected.

You can't get rid of the sport's biggest game. The Grand Final is firmly established now and is superbly attended.

Cut the 8 to 5 or 6 and make it shorter somehow. but you can't remove it.

Re: Play off system stays. : Sun Nov 27, 2011 10:06 pm  

Saddened! wrote:

You can't get rid of the sport's biggest game. The Grand Final is firmly established now and is superbly attended.

Cut the 8 to 5 or 6 and make it shorter somehow. but you can't remove it.

Totally agree.
The winners in a playoff system should have the quality to end up in the top 5 or 6 in the league plus the big match temperament to top the season with knockout rugby. This combination of league/cup rugby is imo the best way of finding the true champion team. But then as a Leeds supporter I would say that wouldn't I ?

Re: Play off system stays. : Mon Nov 28, 2011 12:15 am  

Chief Stinkwort wrote:

Totally agree.
The winners in a playoff system should have the quality to end up in the top 5 or 6 in the league plus the big match temperament to top the season with knockout rugby. This combination of league/cup rugby is imo the best way of finding the true champion team. But then as a Leeds supporter I would say that wouldn't I ?

Cobblers.

The current system merely rewards the team that hits luck with injuries and form at just the right time. It penalises consistency and hard work and instead rewards plain, dumb good fortune. That's fine and acceptable for a knockout cup competition, but as a system for deciding the "champion" team of a whole season's accumulation of near-on 30 games it's a laughable joke. How on earth you can justify having a one-off game between 2 teams that finished 3rd and 5th in the league, utterly out of touch and contention and completely outclassed by the top 2 all year long at every turn, decide the "champions" of that league just because the top 2 had bad days at the office on one particular day... Frankly it staggers me and I struggle to form coherent arguments without wanting to spout profanity over the sheer bloody preposterousness of it all. Australians and Yanks may love it, but it's utter anathema to the very soul of any self-respecting UK sports fan.

Frankly I'll turn up for the Karalius Cup game and Salford game at the new gaff all excited, but purely to experience the new stadium and for no other reason. After that I doubt I'll bother to turn up to too many more league games as frankly - what's the ****ing point? Somebody wake me up when the Challenge Cup quarter final is about to start as every game until then is meaningless and frankly why should I bother turning up for them? None of the results or performances until then matter even slightly after all.

I get far more excited about turning up at Stadium:Mk these days as I get to see results that matter and make a difference each and every week. Going to KR in the '80s and '90s used to be the same. Now instead, The RL has turned the entire season into a long, dreary, tedious slog of utterly pointless friendlies. They're killing my enthusiasm and desire for wanting to see my beloved Saints on a regular basis and for that alone they all deserve the most miserable of fates.

W*****s....

Re: Play off system stays. : Mon Nov 28, 2011 8:15 am  

Rogues Gallery wrote:

Sky who wanted the extra round of play off fixtures.

That's the problem, but an 8 team play off system from a league of 14 is obviously ridiculous. Not only does it let too much poop rugby into the playoffs, but as N'Saint demonstrates, it cheapens league fixtures.

Sky want more fixtures, but they don't want to stick their hand deep enough into their pocket to allow us to protect our stars from the clutches of Rugby Union.

OT When does the current Sky deal run until?

Re: Play off system stays. : Mon Nov 28, 2011 9:14 am  

Northampton_Saint wrote:

Cobblers.

Didn't know it was the done thing to start your post with the traditional nickname of your local wendyball team, but I'm game.
"Peacocks"

Still have to disagree though.
The Rhinos were hit with major injuries for most of the season. Even towards the back end stars like McGuire and Peacock were only just returning to form after major layoffs. You could just as easily argue that the whole league leadership contest was devalued by a top team having up to half it's salary cap on the bench for much of the season. In short the Rhinos had 'plain, dumb bad fortune' for most of the season. Similarly who knows whether Saints might have finished on top if they had not had similar bad luck for much of the year.


Nor do I believe that league ties are meaningless.
Firstly, those finishing at or near the top do not get penalised as you claim.. they get rewarded with home advantage, second chances and clubcalls . Warrington and Wigan simply didn't display the Champion qualities necessary to reap the benefits of these rewards.
Secondly, the 'hubcap' may not be the premier prize, but I've yet to go to a Superleague game where I thought my team or the supporters didn't really care about winning or about where they finish in the league.

Having said all that I don't believe teams finishing in the bottom half of the table should be part of the playoff system and would much prefer a top 5 or 6 system.

Re: Play off system stays. : Mon Nov 28, 2011 11:13 am  

Chief Stinkwort wrote:

Didn't know it was the done thing to start your post with the traditional nickname of your local wendyball team, but I'm game.
"Peacocks"

Still have to disagree though.
The Rhinos were hit with major injuries for most of the season. Even towards the back end stars like McGuire and Peacock were only just returning to form after major layoffs. You could just as easily argue that the whole league leadership contest was devalued by a top team having up to half it's salary cap on the bench for much of the season. In short the Rhinos had 'plain, dumb bad fortune' for most of the season. Similarly who knows whether Saints might have finished on top if they had not had similar bad luck for much of the year.


Nor do I believe that league ties are meaningless.
Firstly, those finishing at or near the top do not get penalised as you claim.. they get rewarded with home advantage, second chances and clubcalls . Warrington and Wigan simply didn't display the Champion qualities necessary to reap the benefits of these rewards.
Secondly, the 'hubcap' may not be the premier prize, but I've yet to go to a Superleague game where I thought my team or the supporters didn't really care about winning or about where they finish in the league.

Having said all that I don't believe teams finishing in the bottom half of the table should be part of the playoff system and would much prefer a top 5 or 6 system.

Ah yes, poor old Cobblers... If ever there were a sports team utterly cursed it is they. They almost make Harlequins/London/Whatever-They're-Called-This-Season look like a worthwhile club worthy of existence by comparison, but not quite Due to the local politics I've been sucked into in my extended sojourn down here I'd feel more than a pique of schadenfreude if they got relegated to the Blue Square this season. Luckily the stinking Kettering Town are seemingly slipping toward oblivion with them, but I digress.

And you're wrong and know in your heart of hearts that you are even though you won't admit it, and all the weakly formed defensive arguments in the world won't disguise the fact I know I never really felt like I supported a "champion" team all those times we stole GFs from a superior-over-the-whole-course-of-the-season Bradford back in the day certainly.

Re: Play off system stays. : Mon Nov 28, 2011 1:30 pm  

Northampton_Saint wrote:

Ah yes, poor old Cobblers... If ever there were a sports team utterly cursed it is they. They almost make Harlequins/London/Whatever-They're-Called-This-Season look like a worthwhile club worthy of existence by comparison, but not quite Due to the local politics I've been sucked into in my extended sojourn down here I'd feel more than a pique of schadenfreude if they got relegated to the Blue Square this season. Luckily the stinking Kettering Town are seemingly slipping toward oblivion with them, but I digress.

And you're wrong and know in your heart of hearts that you are even though you won't admit it, and all the weakly formed defensive arguments in the world won't disguise the fact I know I never really felt like I supported a "champion" team all those times we stole GFs from a superior-over-the-whole-course-of-the-season Bradford back in the day certainly.

Perhaps not so cursed as the Peacocks, who let's be honest had much further to fall. I can only assume the football Gods are wreaking vengeance on them for some earlier unforgivable indiscretion and have sent the devil incarnate in the form of Ken Bates to ensure they never again aspire to former glories.

Trouble is though, even in my heart of hearts I do like the idea of combining league and knockout to decide the championship. It does not in any way stop me from appreciating that over the course of the season other teams may have been more consistent, nor does it detract from the brilliant rugby
that Warrington in particular played last season. They were clearly the best team over the course of the season, but fell short of championship quality when it really mattered.

Re: Play off system stays. : Mon Nov 28, 2011 2:06 pm  

Chief Stinkwort wrote:

Trouble is though, even in my heart of hearts I do like the idea of combining league and knockout to decide the championship. It does not in any way stop me from appreciating that over the course of the season other teams may have been more consistent, nor does it detract from the brilliant rugby
that Warrington in particular played last season. They were clearly the best team over the course of the season, but fell short of championship quality when it really mattered.

OK fine - I've decided to base the Premiership title on the same logic and award the trophy for the whole season to Chelsea here and now. They won by the most goals this weekend in the one and only game out of the whole 38 game season that I've now decided to include in the league table standings after all, so well done to them. The 20 odd games left for the rest of the season will be a bit of a downer for all concerned, but Sky are still pumping in the TV money for showing them all, so who cares right? Absolute genius!