I wasn’t aware of this until today:
https://www.loverugbyleague.com/post/ch ... e-in-2020/

For games that go to Golden Point in the Championship and Champ1, the eventual winner gets 2 league points, but the loser keeps their point for the draw. I assume if nobody scores in the 10 mins of extra time, it is still 1 point each. It has already happened at least once in a game between Batley and Sheffield.

I saw this idea floated by fans a few times last year, and because it was well-meant, I just noted that it wasn’t a good idea and didn’t harp on why, as I thought it’d be so obvious to sports administrators that there was no chance of it happening. But this is the sport that didn’t think through licensing or providing a fixed parachute payment to be divided among any number of clubs relegated from SL via the middle 8s. And those were also well-meant.

If it is clear to you why this consolation/bonus point is problematic, the rest of this post will just be a statement of (should be) obvious. If not...

A tied or close game approaching its end will be distorted by the following assessment: at 80 minutes a win is worth 2 points, a tie is worth very close to 1.5 points (a point guaranteed and ~50% chance of a second assuming somebody scores in ET) and a loss is worth nowt. In a tied game teams have much more to lose than to gain in the last minutes of the 80 - so if you trust your defence you might be more likely to kick early rather than risking a mistake working yourself into a position to win it. Or if you’re down by 2 in the last couple of minutes of a game in which a draw is okay but a win would be much better for your play-off hopes (for example), and you’re awarded a kickable penalty you can now have your cake and a chance to still eat it. Conversely, as the final seconds of ET tick down extreme risk becomes heavily incentivised, which might be exciting but reflects something pretty stupid - the concept of a winner without a loser in a sporting contest.

Then there’s possibility of teams informally colluding to create an extra competition point to influence who secures a play-off spot and/or is relegated, or being accused of it even if they haven’t. It might be a fairly rare scenario but there’s a risk it doesn’t happen this year and is allowed to continue (and maybe extended to SL) until it arises.

Mutually beneficial drawn games have always been a possibility, but this is different imo. League games in our sport and others have also had different values under bonus points systems but should there should always be a tension between the incentives available to the two teams and this isn’t that.

I wasn’t aware of this until today:
https://www.loverugbyleague.com/post/ch ... e-in-2020/

For games that go to Golden Point in the Championship and Champ1, the eventual winner gets 2 league points, but the loser keeps their point for the draw. I assume if nobody scores in the 10 mins of extra time, it is still 1 point each. It has already happened at least once in a game between Batley and Sheffield.

I saw this idea floated by fans a few times last year, and because it was well-meant, I just noted that it wasn’t a good idea and didn’t harp on why, as I thought it’d be so obvious to sports administrators that there was no chance of it happening. But this is the sport that didn’t think through licensing or providing a fixed parachute payment to be divided among any number of clubs relegated from SL via the middle 8s. And those were also well-meant.

If it is clear to you why this consolation/bonus point is problematic, the rest of this post will just be a statement of (should be) obvious. If not...

A tied or close game approaching its end will be distorted by the following assessment: at 80 minutes a win is worth 2 points, a tie is worth very close to 1.5 points (a point guaranteed and ~50% chance of a second assuming somebody scores in ET) and a loss is worth nowt. In a tied game teams have much more to lose than to gain in the last minutes of the 80 - so if you trust your defence you might be more likely to kick early rather than risking a mistake working yourself into a position to win it. Or if you’re down by 2 in the last couple of minutes of a game in which a draw is okay but a win would be much better for your play-off hopes (for example), and you’re awarded a kickable penalty you can now have your cake and a chance to still eat it. Conversely, as the final seconds of ET tick down extreme risk becomes heavily incentivised, which might be exciting but reflects something pretty stupid - the concept of a winner without a loser in a sporting contest.

Then there’s possibility of teams informally colluding to create an extra competition point to influence who secures a play-off spot and/or is relegated, or being accused of it even if they haven’t. It might be a fairly rare scenario but there’s a risk it doesn’t happen this year and is allowed to continue (and maybe extended to SL) until it arises.

Mutually beneficial drawn games have always been a possibility, but this is different imo. League games in our sport and others have also had different values under bonus points systems but should there should always be a tension between the incentives available to the two teams and this isn’t that.

Yeah, at least licensing and the parachute payment were introduced for a reason. Draws weren’t particularly a problem in league games.

However, I think just throwing another point at it is really poorly thought through. If we absolutely have to have GP and a bonus consolation system, it should be:

6 points for a normal win, 4 for a GP win, 3 for a draw after ET, 2 for a GP loss and 0 for a normal defeat.



Unless the team that receives possession first scores a touchdown on that possession the other team gets at least one possession. So if team 1 scores a field goal on their first possession, they have to kick-off to the other team who have one opportunity to level the scores with a field goal, in which case overtime continues (now as sudden death), or win it with a touchdown. www.nfl.com/news/story/09000d5d8 ... time-rules

We’d have to change which team kicks-off after A drop goal or penalty goal in extra time for it to work in RL.

Yeah, at least licensing and the parachute payment were introduced for a reason. Draws weren’t particularly a problem in league games.

However, I think just throwing another point at it is really poorly thought through. If we absolutely have to have GP and a bonus consolation system, it should be:

6 points for a normal win, 4 for a GP win, 3 for a draw after ET, 2 for a GP loss and 0 for a normal defeat.



Unless the team that receives possession first scores a touchdown on that possession the other team gets at least one possession. So if team 1 scores a field goal on their first possession, they have to kick-off to the other team who have one opportunity to level the scores with a field goal, in which case overtime continues (now as sudden death), or win it with a touchdown. www.nfl.com/news/story/09000d5d8 ... time-rules

We’d have to change which team kicks-off after A drop goal or penalty goal in extra time for it to work in RL.