I know some of you will already know this but I suspect many, like myself, had not looked at the actual details of the new play-off structure and did not full appreciate that it is the top finisher after the first two QF's who get to pick the team they play in the SF! So that means that any of the top three sides could end up picking their SF opponents (it of course being impossible if you finish fourth).

So, with that in mind does it does not (in theory) matter if we finish top, or in second... we could still end up with the poisoned chalice and no hub-cap to make up for it!!!

So basically, finishing top or second is no guarantee of making the Grand Final or winning it?

Welcome to 1998.

It is of course arguably even easier to get to the GF now from any of the top four places, as if you lose you get a second bite. The disadvantage being you have to win away twice to get to the GF.

... actually, I am not sure that is correct!!!!

If, in the unlikely event that fourth beat first and third beat second and then first and second win their returning qualifying semi, who gets the home draws for the semi’s. Is it the teams whom went through to week 3 first or the highest placed team in the league?

Answer on a postcard please to...

Has an explanation of the new playoff system actually been posted anywhere? Is it lowest ranked losers that go out after each round?

Nothing on the SL website!!!!

But this it is the BBC explanation I looked at -

Week One:
Qualifying play-off (QPO) one - 1st v 4th (winner receives a bye to week three)
Qualifying play-off two - 2nd v 3rd (winner receives a bye to week three)
Elimination play-off (EPO) one - 5th v 8th (loser goes out)
Elimination play-off two - 6th v 7th (loser goes out)

Week Two:
Preliminary semi-final (PSF)one - QPO one loser v EPO one winner
Preliminary semi-final two - QPO 2 loser v EPO 2 winner

Week Three:
*Qualifying semi-final one - QPO one winner v PSF one winner
*Qualifying semi-final two - QPO two winner v PSF two winner

Week Four:
Grand Final - QSF one winner v QSF two winner

* subject to choice of highest placed winner in week one

Which (according to above )does mean that if you finish in first or second and lose the first game, you lose all future home advantage!!!!

On the front page of the Wigan board there is a guide

Week 1

1 v 4
2 v 3

winners get a bye and home advantage, losers play week after.

5 v 8
6 v 7

winers play losers of top four and losers leave the comp.

Week 2

not sure who plays who but the losers of the top seeds in wk1 play the winners of the bottom seeds for the right to play in the qualifier.

Week 3

highest placed winner from week 1 (1st, 2nd or 3rd) gets the pick of their semi final opponents. The other 2 face off at wk 1 winners home ground.

Week 4

Old Trafford

Does it go something like this?

If manage to finish 8th we have to win two games, away from home to just get to the final, if we finish 9th we are buggered?

No... 3 games away from home

Sorry, you are of course correct... would not want to lull them into a false sense of their ultra-slim potential of reaching the GF!

Which is exactly McBananas fiendishly deceptive master plan – you didn’t think that the Bulls were playing this crap because they have an inept coach, shizer off season signings and internal player wrangling?

NO – it’s all part of a genius season-long plan, to scrape a play-off place then pull out the big guns and steam to the GF undefeated.

Sh*t just got real.

I don't think people realise how far bradford have fallen. If the league wasn't extended they'd be bottom and if there was still relegation they'd be staring down the barrell.

Odsal sports village is crucial to their long term future and if they don't get that it looks pretty bleak.

I couldn't care less either way.

The only way to avoid the extra motivation given to your opponents by picking them is to do it before they've even qualified. Whoever gets the pick after week one needs to turn round and say they're playing either the lower, or higher, placed qualifier in week three. That way they've picked a position, rather than an actual team.

Actually, when you put it in that context I had not fully appreciated how much sh*t they were in!

It adds to it when you know that both Celtic and Salford club/fans all went into this season with there eyes open and the knowledge that they were likley to finish in the bottom two and that they have another two seasons to attain their goals!

I know where you are coming from but given that I might have the opportunity to pick, I would like to maybe wait and see how things looked after the PSF's had been played.

I finish 1st and win my first round game and go straight to the QSF. Lets says the 8th placed team really pull it out and against all odds make the QSF and the other teams to make it is the 2nd placed team who had to come the long way after losing in the first round and the 3rd place team who beat 2nd to get straight through also!

Now whom do you pick?

My gut would tell me that the 8th placed team might be running out of steam, so do I select them thinking that I don't care if they get extra motivation as I think that is better than playing either the 2nd or 3rd team?

Now, if as is very likely and we have places 1 to 4 through to the QSF, do I decide I am not bothered and THEN and very publically draw them out of a hat, saying I really don’t care and I am just going to chance it, so the extra motivation is almost lost??

Sorry, I am turning this into my own thread of getting my head around the new play-off system!

Actually, it is not clear if the highest placed QPO winner can select either of the three other teams BUT I think not and they would in actual fact have to pick from the two PSF winners but not 100%?

So, forget the 3rd team being involved above and you just get to pick from 8th or 2nd placed!

How about this though... Saints finish top, we finish 2nd. We bollox up the home draw and go the long way round to get to the QSF. Now Saints can pick us, or the other side. If I were Saints, would I be tempted (given the last two years) to say balls to it, pick Leeds and play them at home in the QSF rather than in the GF and if I lose I say... oh well, not our year and not having to face the prospect of three GF's and three defeats!!!!

I've always understood it to be the pick of the 2 second week qualifiers and clubs are not able to pick the other winner from week one.

Yes, that is what I think it is but I can not find a 100% answer as yet!

What I do now think is that the picking system has the potential, although slight, of making the final a damp squid by design. Everyone is coming at this from the point of view of picking the weakest team to reach the final, when the more I think about it, do I pick the strongest team to have the potential to get a weak team in the final. Take the all or nothing approach and say well, if we don't make the final we don't have the heartache of losing but if we do I could engineer this so that the final is eaiser than the QSF, so if I get through I am more likley to win!!!