King Monkey wrote:I know you weren't asking me but 2.
Leeds and Tony Smith were slated by some of the more knee jerky Leeds fans throughout 2007 for some disjointed performances but ultimately finished 2nd on the ladder. They then mullered Saints at Old Trafford.
They did not play sporadically. No team that finishing 2nd does so what Leeds did is not option 2.
It is "option 3" which is they played well over the whole year, won most of their league games which meant a good starting position in the play offs from which they went onto the win the GF. It might dawn on people one day this is what you need to do to win the thing not scrape into the playoffs.
If you play sporadically all year you will not end up 2nd in the table but much further down such as 4th or lower and no one has won it from 4th!
Option 2 is completely unrealistic.
FWIW Option 1 is also unrealistic because finishing 4th as we have seen with Wigan in 2007 and 2008 means losing 50% or more of your games. That does not equate to playing well and tailing off!
Quote:As long as you qualify for the playoffs it doesnt matter how many you've lost up until then.
It does because if you think it is likely a team will win it from 4th or lower you are IMO dreaming. Bradford were even lucky with injuries to Leeds and Saints when they won it from 3rd. You need to finish in the top 2 to have a realistic chance of a GF appearance.
Dave
