I made this point last year. The top 8 isn't strong enough so you end up with teams who finish 6th and below basically playing for nothing come the super 8's.

Every minute doesn't matter as these teams cannot make the top 4.

Should the points be reset to 0? Probably not as yes teams would take foot gas once top 8 confirmed.

But the current format doesn't work either at the top of the bottom.

I honestly wouldn't mind seeing a straight top 5/6 in a straight playoff series.

As for the bottom. No championship team will ever get promoted under current format.

That's the hard truth

There will never be a league where every single team is in contention until the end, that absolutely ridiculous. Teams like Widnes need to focus on getting better so they have a chance rather than crying about the system. We already have the salary cap which is slowly bringing the top teams to the quality of the bottom teams. Now those same teams want the competition changing to suit them too.

Unbelievable.

As Bilko pointed out on Twitter, imagine if Leeds had scraped into 8th and then the points were reset.

Was he as vocal as your chairman when he wanted a 10 team league a few years ago? Hasn't mentioned it lately, not sure why.

It's simple:
If a club wants a shot at trophies, they need to focus on improving on-field performances rather than trying to manipulate the rules.

Would have made it interesting though

and we have already embraced a system where the top club in the league doesn't usually become Champions.

Only used on a small percentage of seasons

I'll admit I don't particularly like the system. Button the same time changing it every couple of years won't get us anywhere.

Half agree with him, reset the points but give 1st, 2nd and 3rd some bonus points. Finish first get say 6 points to start.... Second get 4 and third gets 2. Plus it does reward the best as they get 1 of only 3 domestic trophies on offer.

This is one step below Leigh and Featherstone fans a couple of years ago demanding that the RFL give them money for no reason.

He would say that wouldn't he with his team completely out of the running. Think of it this way, you are completely off the pace come the split, your miles behind and cant mathematically qualify for the play-offs? What do you think the other 23 games were for, amassing points so that you aren't miles off the pace! It isn't the systems fault Widnes are done this year, it is the fact that they haven't been good enough throughout the year. If they had won more games then they would be closer to the teams at the top that had won loads of games. It is very simple.

Putting all the points back to zero is essentially saying you were rubbish but now you get a chance to win a league that last week you were 20 points off the top of or some such number.

This is why this system was brought in in the first place, so teams cant win the thing from 8th. Resetting the points is essentially saying they can again.

I think yes we should have promotion and demotion but it should be bottom team of super league v top of champ league home and away winner takes all

I have to agree and my team aren't even in it. It's surely got to be about making the Super 8's more interesting rather than providing an easy passage (baring a monumental slip up) for the highest finishing clubs. It's a step back in wrong direction with meaningless fixtures like we had in the past.

I would go back to franchising, start with 12 teams with a top 6 playoff. The twelve teams should be the 12 strongest from the get go, no one is guaranteed an in, which should give teams like Leigh, Feath possibly Tolouse and Toronto if they meet the criteria a fair crack of getting in.

Clubs should be assessed bi-anually, if they don't meet the strict criteria (Off field solidity, competitive on field, bringing through own players). They get replaced with someone who is. If we end up with more than 12 teams meeting that criteria, then we can look at expanding.

The 2 small changes id like to see happen as its highly unlikely they ever will, is to reduce the Overseas quota to 5 and make it purely Non-Fed trained so there are no loopholes, and put some sort of transfer deadline in.

I like the middle 8's and qualifier format but just feel the Super 8's needs tweaking. There should be more emphasis and prestige on winning the league after 23 rounds. There needs to be much bigger prize money for the league champions, and I'd get rid of that stupid leaders shield (sounds crap, like some sort of token consolation prize) and have a proper big trophy. I just can't imagine any aspiring young players dreaming about lifting that worthless piece of meaningless junk, can you? The Grand Final's OK but we all know it's just a glorified Premiership Trophy at a better venue with some pyrotechnics, a 'B' class pop star and loads of those annoying vuvuzela's.

Just needs tweaking IMO. Zeroing would just devalue the first 23 rounds. Scrap magic weekend and make it a top 5 or 6 play off. Teams finishing 7th and 8th would be season over after round 29.

I don't particularly agree with the new format (I think we should have a much better, longer term and more rigorous form of licensing) but we have to get this kind of short-termist daftness out of our sport. People have criticised and said the system is dead after just 1 season. That's just crazy, as are James Rule's comments.

If we introduce a new system we have to give it at least 10 years in my opinion otherwise we're not actually seeing the pros or cons of the system and just reacting in a knee-jerk fashion.

It's good to be flexible and react to situations, but sometimes what's needed is stability.

There is no point sticking with something that isnt working just for 'stability'. If we can see the failings of a system, they are always going to be there, they arent going to just disappear in time.

SL1 & SL2 as I have explained elsewhere until I am blue in the face.

Best of each SL team play off for GF place at end of regular rounds, no prestige given to SL1 over 2 *including renumeration* & periodic rotations of Clubs residing in each of SL1/2, keeps things fresh.

Allows for expansion so that the RFL can yank their planks daft & Leigh, Bradford & London in so that I can join in.

2 French Clubs, 2 Canadian & London, would send John Cap Dozey into orbit along with the RFL.

10 team league.
1st gets LLS.
1st v 4th, 2nd v 3rd in play-offs.
Winners play in GF.

Easy.

Why should a manufactured concept be introduced to please clubs who haven't been able to keep up with the top end clubs? If it was a first past the post system then teams like Widnes and Wakey would still have nothing to play for.

You have to earn the right to have a chance of playing in semi final not be given it.

The only competition where every game matters for every team is a knock out like the challenge cup. The league can be restructured however you want but towards the end of the season there will always be teams with nothing to play for. Putting the points to zero after 23 rounds will mean the last 10 games or so will be dead rubbers for,those at the top.

I quite like the system though I consider the 'super 8's' to be the start of the play off's. In reality do we want a team who finished 2/3rds of the way down the league to become champions?

After a promising start Widnes then lost 12 out of 15 games. Their fault they aren't in with a shout, not the system.

Last year you felt Hull approached the season with a "we need to be in the top 8 after 23 Rounds".....when they did they suddenly realised "oops we're miles behind now to get top 4". This year they not only went for being in the top 4 after 23 rounds but topping the whole table. You get the feeling that's exactly what's happening to Widnes now, just targeting to be inside the 8.

Unless you went silly and made the playoffs involve too many teams then their isn't ANY system in sport that can get all teams involved up to the end. Premiership you usually have some mid table teams with not a lot to fight for with 8-10 left. In America, NFL, NBA, MLB, you can teams loads of games back with several games left and zero chance. These sports manage just fine but surprise surprise in RL all we hear is moaning that a team like Widnes Vikings aren't able to still push for the title with only 7 games left and we shake up the format again because of it.

We've got a tight battle for the first 5 teams, who wins LLS is too close to call, who gets the all important home advantage in the playoffs, which team misses out all together........but oh no Widnes Vikings have nothing to play for when they play this weekend and this takes president in peoples views? What a joke.

Exactly. Its up to the sides that want to be in the top 8 to do better over the regular season. Whilst the S8s is a bit of a gimmick it probably kept the season alive for Widnes longer than without it.

Even when we've had smaller play offs there's usually been at least one team that gets hammered when it matters, and under a simple league format half the teams are basically treading water for most of the season. In the past with a simple league system we had multiple cup competitions to keep things lively (County Cups early season, JPT mid season, Premiership at the end for those teams that hadn't mentally gone on holiday). The only teams that played right to the end were those in genuine fear of relegation and those in with a shot of topping the table.

No system is perfect. But whilst it is a bit gimmicky and crowds are lower you have to admit that the bottom SL sides have to keep playing to the end to avoid the threat of the MPG if at all possible, the Championship teams at least get to play big games (and maybe even a chance to get into SL for one of them), and the top 5 or 6 clubs have the chance to win the competition with just 7 games to go. That realistically only leaves 3 or so teams with nothing much to play for at the end of the year - and if they'd played better in the regular season that wouldn't be the case. Why would you make any changes to the format for the benefit of mediocre sides?

It's like when you played football when you were young in the park and after a long game someone would just say ''right lads, next goal wins!''