There's no doubt in my mind we have a Wigan v Saints semi final coming up in a couple of weeks and the form of each team in the regular season will be redundant at that point.
I hate the lack of any tangible reward for finishing 1st or 2nd outside of home advantage. You can argue a week off does you more harm than good at times. When you finish in the top 2 you should get two chances to get to the final as we had with the old top 6 system. It would also extend the playoff series by a week.
And this has nothing to do with any Wigan bias - in 2018 Saints finished top - 6 points clear of Wigan and 15 points clear of Warrington. They lose one game against Warrington and are out which was farcical in my view.
I hate the lack of any tangible reward for finishing 1st or 2nd outside of home advantage. You can argue a week off does you more harm than good at times. When you finish in the top 2 you should get two chances to get to the final as we had with the old top 6 system. It would also extend the playoff series by a week.
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Isn't that more like what happens in the NRL? I thought the top two there could afford to lose their first play-off game. Not that that was going to happen, with Penrith and Melbourne!
moto748 wrote:Isn't that more like what happens in the NRL? I thought the top two there could afford to lose their first play-off game. Not that that was going to happen, with Penrith and Melbourne!
You can lose the first game in the NRL but then you have to win another game to qualify for the semi final. Not a fan of that either - I firmly believe the old top 6 system we had in the mid 2000s was the best one.
The NRL has more teams, though, so top 8 doesn't seem unreasonable. I agree that top 6 should be enough for the size of SL. But I doubt they'd go back to that because of "make every game matter", unfortunately.
Mark_P1973 wrote:SKY / RFL would have been loving blowing smoke up their own arses this weekend on TV with Wigan v Salford (hoping Wigan lose so they can hype up Friday night for KR), but Salford likely to have stuck a spanner in the works there
however, they will still be saying how 1st - 7th are all still to play for with only Wigan guaranteed 1st or 2nd, KR 1st to 3rd, Wire 2nd or 3rd, and then Salford, Saints, Leigh and poss Catalan 4th - 6th, so they'll be hyping it up as best ever finish to a season. IN reality Wigan have been good enough to finish top (assuming we win), KR have had a good season, but then Wire through to Catalan have all be inconsistent, capable of winning on their day, but equally underperforming
I think most Wiganers still feel Saints are the biggest threat to us hopefully going on to win back to back due to their squad having big game experience, that KR, Wire, Salford and Leigh dont really have. As a Wiganer, i prefer us to play week in week out, as we've shown in the past that a week off doesnt always suit us, but we cant say that we are tired if we cant get past whoever we draw in the semi as we'll have had a relatively easy game tomorrow (assumption based on Salford team) and 2 weeks off to recover and train
Where and when would this hyping up take place and to what real value?
nathan_rugby wrote:Where and when would this hyping up take place and to what real value?
Just listen to the commentary and how they will be saying its the greatest super league season ever because there is all to play for going into the final round of matches. Salford sending a virtual reserve side, means that the hype for KR and top spot is virtually gone (without counting our chickens)
in reality, apart from Wigan and KR, the rest have been hit and miss all season, even Wigan havent been great as we've been managing our efforts to peak for WCC, CC and now a tilt at the GF. Its now left sides in 3-7 with something to play for, so sky will be hyping it up the best they can
MadDogg wrote:There's no doubt in my mind we have a Wigan v Saints semi final coming up in a couple of weeks and the form of each team in the regular season will be redundant at that point.
I hate the lack of any tangible reward for finishing 1st or 2nd outside of home advantage. You can argue a week off does you more harm than good at times. When you finish in the top 2 you should get two chances to get to the final as we had with the old top 6 system. It would also extend the playoff series by a week.
And this has nothing to do with any Wigan bias - in 2018 Saints finished top - 6 points clear of Wigan and 15 points clear of Warrington. They lose one game against Warrington and are out which was farcical in my view.
I prefer a top 5 play off system. It encourages clubs to be honest and rewards success.
Joined: Feb 01 2010 Posts: 2957 Location: Under New Springs bridge wit' rest of trolls
If it does turn out to be Wigan v Saints, very likely IMO, in the semi at least for once it should be a good crowd on. The I'm saving my money for the final excuse really does go out the window for the derby, should easily be 20k+
Zig wrote:I prefer a top 5 play off system. It encourages clubs to be honest and rewards success.
The top 5 system doesn't work IMO as it creates the likelihood of a repeat fixture in the same playoff series. Remember the pitiful crowd against Salford in 2019? Getting smashed by Saints the week before won't have helped but playing the same team we played a fortnight earlier won't attract many through the gates.
MadDogg wrote:The top 5 system doesn't work IMO as it creates the likelihood of a repeat fixture in the same playoff series. Remember the pitiful crowd against Salford in 2019? Getting smashed by Saints the week before won't have helped but playing the same team we played a fortnight earlier won't attract many through the gates.
Agree with this.
The current system is the best we've had imo.
The others are too convoluted with second chances and repeat fixtures. Of course it sucks if you've been the best team all season then lose one play off game and you're out but ultimately you have to be better than that to win and I think that's reasonable.
Also, I will be terrified ahead of a potential Saints semi. Obviously I think we win like 80% of the time but if they have a full team they'll put up a fight. I'm still traumatised by losses against the Rhinos when they looked like they were cooked in the 2010s.
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