Hardly a deluge of moaning on here, well about this topic any way so "funny"? I can't see your point.

FWIW I think that it's a good system particularly when viewed in conjunction with the middle 8's and the jeopardy/opportunity that this provides.

We've under performed and would have done so in any system. We are unfortunately where we are and the recent reversals against Castleford and Wigan only highlight how poor we have been coupled with the fact that we need to be closer to our competitors in next season's comp to keep us in the comp

Bums on seats would suggest that the Super 8's are as popular with fans as the playoffs were before them. Maybe even less popular as crowds are down on regular season crowds despite the games being included in season tickets.

how many fixtures in the super 8's have been meaningless.........plenty ..??

and we have 11 or so fixtures remaining and only two matches Saints v Wigan ,& huddersfield v Leeds will involve the top four sides playing each other......

The rest are completely meaningless nothing to play for affairs for one team in the remaining match ups............
I cant remember a season where that number of matches have meant so little to so many.......That's three weeks of nothing fixtures with the exception of two games.......

what a completely ordinary uninteresting system Now I see why the SPL wasn't interested in it.

I'll give it another season or so before I pass judgement. There will always be some dead rubbers towards the end of the 8's for those in 7 & 8. Catalan and ourselves haven't helped the system this year, so interested to see how it goes in 2016.

The worst is yet to come I think, wit the pies set to give Hull FC a hiding infront of the sky cameras tonight.

Better than the 27 games before the playoffs being completely pointless for me.

Can't blame the system, blame the teams, (sounding like a stuck record situation this on here) however also it would probably need 12 months for teams to see and work on conditioning in order to try and get teams to peak, since the season structure is completely different.

Actually only there have only been a few dead rubbers, and the RFL can hardly be blamed for expensive squads like Warrington, Catalans and Hull performing so woefully over the season.



Again, are you supposed to blame the RFL because three teams who really should have done a lot better were so poor? While your lot might have nothing to play for - not strictly true as prize money and still wearing a Super League shirt next season is still something - I would hope that your players might at least have sufficient pride to want to finish strong. And every minute still matters for the top four, because in a one off eliminator who wants to play away?



It's not the fault of the system. Warrington should have , at the very least, put themselves in a position where they were fighting for the top 4 to the very end, as should Catalan and to a lesser extent Hull. Don't blame the structure for your club's feeble season. If anything these clubs have let the league down, and not vice versa.

I think some of the set up is influenced by the number of SL teams being cut down to 12. Would anyone have been happy for the season to end abruptly for some teams after round 23? I doubt that very much,most people would feel short changed. At least the RFL have tried to make the play offs as exciting as possible for fans of teams that rose to the challenge of a different system.
The old top 8 system was slagged off for long enough as having too many meaningless games but that can happen in any competition. The only other alternative would be 23 games then a top 4 play off ,leaving most clubs seasons being over by the end of July. I think not.

If they move the Challenge Cup back to May it would help. As it is now in August it is distraction to the Super 8's

I think rugby league has sold the soul of the Challenge Cup to tv as well & the matches are being played to fit BBC schedules. It would be much better back in May though. I am wondering if SL matches will be affected next year & by how much as a result of sky's new love in with American football, or is their sport just played in winter ?

October to January.


People say this about the cup, moving it back, do that and you'll have the complaints about it being a pre season competition again.

And you'll be getting into the wake of the easter double matches which causes problems.

By gum it is a short season & i suppose it is mostly played at night time in the UK anyway.

Get away there have been plenty already ... the season has almost a month to go and the top four are in place. Ive never blamed the RFL for our Form

but had it been a top 6 play off we'd be in with a chance as would Hull and Catalan..... we'd most likely get bummed out of the play offs at the first hurdle but at least we'd all be in with a chance....




I'm blaming the RFL because it was a system before it kicked off no one else does this ridiculous pantomime....have you actually sat in an office and tried explaining it to football fans.....?
And yes the sides in the top four have something to play for but their opponents havent. So i'm guessing its holiday mode, recuperation mode, dont get injured need a new contract mode for a whole host of players.... plenty of top four sides wanting a win and most likely strolling along in third gear and getting it....



we were in 6th position not bottom of the league...that should have been a position to fight....
after two games played it was almost impossible to qualify, after three we were out, thats less than half the fixtures of this mini circus league. Yes we are to blame for our results..... but the every second counts thing got on my nerves from the start it hasnt happened at all.
have the top four positions changed at all since the super 8's started....?? the bottom 4 certainly haven't.......its a shambles.


Address the quality of the league first not the style of the fixtures....... the RFL are the biggest juvenile halfwits ever to be in charge of anything. they couldn't run a school tuck shop........

last night ....38-42 with a dodgy try ....sums it all up for me....

Wah! Wah! My team's had a dreadful season and put itself in a position where it can't compete. The system must be broken!

Absolute tosh. Warrington lost 11 out of 23 regular season games, that's the one and only reason that the Super 8's didn't mean more to you and proof if it were needed that every minute matters.

As for the quality of the league, how are the RFL to blame for the fact that big spenders like Wire, Hull and Catalan are intent on going backwards? How is it their fault that Koukash's Salford experiment isn't working?

Next season go into the Super 8's within touching distance of the top 4 - as Wire should have been capable of this season - then win a few games and watch the top 4 change.

To me you're piling blame on the system that actually belongs with your coach and your players, as well as those in France and Hull. Mind you, you probably didn't like the top 8 because it didn't put Warrington automatically into the final, or the top 6 because Wire were never competitive.

The system is fine. Your team failed. End of story.

100% correct..if you heard cunninghams prematch interview he says this system is better than last years system and who evers idea this was should be patted on the back,,,

It'd be interesting to see who said Leeds didn't deserve to win it from fifth and who's cranky that we can't win it from sixth.

A bit more effort and application in home games against Cas Hudds and Hull and we'd be right up there.

I think the 8s are a great idea and will prove to be ongoing as they become more established year-on-year. I think we've finally got an good system so let's leave it alone for a few decades and strive to have more teams competing for the four instead of rewarding mediocrity by allowing teams who are losing as many as they are winning a chance to string a few wins together in the Play-offs.

well he would say that wouldn't he?

His team were bummed three games on the bounce at the start of the super 8's and their spot in the top four was never under any threat....

every minute matters...... except 240 minutes it would seem.....

but he`s right tho...last year being bummed for 3 games wouldnt of mattered a jot..now it does

Their spot in the top 4 was under very serious threat until they beat a knackered leeds side and Cas just lost out to Hudds, those two results go the other way and Saints drop to fifth.

I know that doesn't fit in with this dead horse t you're flogging, but it's the truth.

And if we beat someone else and someone else loses to someone else....We might have moved up a place too. ...guess what we didn't they didn't and its been a dead rubber from the go. ...

But ifs buts and maybes are always a good argument. .!!!

Good God man what is wrong with you? You said Saints top 4 spot was never under threat yet it demonstrably was. I can't figure out whether you're just stubborn or a complete cretin, I'm plumping for a bit of both.

For the final time, a dead rubber means tthere are no consequences whatsoever to the game. None of the top 4 have been involved in any of those yet. Fact. That Wire'sseason has been over so long is an indictment of your club, not a system that to just about everybody else seems to be working fine.

.
but you are you comparing 3 loses in a regular 27 game season versus 3 games in a mini play off league when every minute matters....that can't be right.

In 2011 we lost five games all year yes we could have lost three on the bounce but then we would have to go on a very very good run.to not drop off the top of the league...

I view the super 8's as an extension of the play offs not part of the regular season. .That's why I can't get my head around losing three on the bounce and have it not matter ..

.I thought we were trying to ramp up the quality of the end of the season. .its been hopeless so far

You still here....

I don't like the system can't you understand...I'm making my arguments. your the one using ifs and buts....and casual insults. .

..im saying how can a club lose three on the bounce and have it not matter. ...yet you still say its my clubs fault. ...

you can see from the challenge cup how Hull KR playing second division opposition affected them. ...

Weve made a long boring playoff system and a bigger sub standard division below us....

I'm watching the nrl play offs right now its an infinitely better system...

I also think it's a good system the top four had to maintain consistency to make the semi's and they deserve to be there on the seasons form with Saints having enough in hand to overcome a blip, had Huddersfield imploded as some thought they may then that could have let another team in but they kept their form, so yes some minuets counted some didn't but that's for the other teams to make the eights more competitive hopefully next season it will become just that.