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!