The concept of Super/Middle 8s was interesting and worth a try - the aim was to make more of the season meaningful to more teams. It did that, but at the expense of repetition in fixtures and uncertainty as to who/when you'd be playing, which impacted crowds.

You could make a case that on the playing side the Middle 8s did the job. It didn't stop a team getting promoted, and the Million Pound game was a bigger event for the sport than any relegation tussle in the past. However, the impact on the losers is immense.

Super 8s never worked because we just don't have enough competitive teams. In a good year we might have 3 genuine contenders for the title. In the three seasons so far since Super 8s was introduced only ONE team from outside the top 4 has made the play offs at the end of the year - Sts last year. Its really hard for teams to even make up a small gap from 5th, because the 6-8 teams are generally rubbish/not interested, and the top 2/3 are too hard to beat. So if the gap from 4th to 5th is more than even 2 points its much harder to make up than it seems because results against the other teams are generally so predictable.

Its odd that Hetherington has complained about this decision, given the vote was 11-1, and he's using a previous 7-5 vote as a case to negate it. It all suggests he's very much on his own in this.

I'd also add that much as I have a soft spot for them as a club, the day commercial decisions for the game are made by the likes of Batley is the day the sport doesn't serve to exist on a professional level.

Leigh v Fax attendance at the weekend just shy of 4k more than hudds v salford would get :/

Fax V leigh in next years million pound game

There's not going to be a £1m game next year i'm afraid.

Leigh v Fax - 3,891
Hudds v Salford - [url=https://www.salfordreddevils.net/match-report-huddersfield-giants-12-30-salford-red-devils/4,385[/url

So Wigan, St Helens, Warrington, Widnes, Salford, Hull, Hull KR, Huddersfield, Widnes, Catalans and Castleford all show their support for Robert Elstone (either through their website, social media or the press) and express optimism for the future.


Gary Hetherington's Leeds release a statement condemning the whole process. Go figure.

Which club is currently in freefall?

Not sure what bearing our league position has on his comments in the slightest?

I know, Hetherington’s record at Leeds is shocking.

And Wakefield - positively gushing, with a slight sideswipe at the previous incumbent to boot.

So the only club who are against SL clubs determining their own fate is the Chairman of the club which has been the most successful under the previous regime. I wonder why?

So why is Gary Hetherington so special?

Yes there is, or so the statement says

The RFL has stated that ‘no binding decisions have been made”

Roughly translated means they haven't a clue whats going on

Or they can't agree with the special one.

I don't really understand why hetherington is so annoyed? Part of me thought that because it arguably negatively impacts fev that somewhere it indirectly hurts leeds ?

The super 8s will be scrapped after this season,so the £1m game as we know it, will be gone.

1mil pound game will be the old playoff final. Winner replaces last in super league.

The new structure hasn't been revealed yet,but the super 8s will be gone so..............

Playoff final at a neutral venue is a better event anyway.

Top of Champ up,Bottom of SL down for me. I don't think they'll do that though.

As we know it yes, but that's not the same as not having one is it

And are we having one?

Have all the issues that the game had thàt necessitated the last change of structure all vanished or will we go back to the old structure in the hope of slowing the decline? I wonder about the place of Toronto and Toulouse in the new scheme of things.