Don't forget the drop in player quality throughout SL ,we have suffered with having to play so many youngsters , so have Saints & Wigan did for 2 years before they started to come good....Leeds maybe in a similar position next year . The old play offs didn't have so many kids involved.Get the A teams up & running & the youth production line started again & better quality players will reappear within the next few years.

I'm in full agreement with the flying buscuit.
The playoff structure is flawed in its current format.

The pre 27 was almost a total dead rubber affair as far as Wakefield were concerned too.

I don't think anything is ever perfect if it were we wouldn't have so many differing opinions, having a twelve team league gives us the problem of too short a season, the new super eights extends the season giving each team seven extra games with a chance to make the semi's, other than this system or something similar the only other way would be to make it a sixteen team League, I just can't see that happening for various reasons.

You were saying?

That's exactly why it's flawed. Pies didn't go full at it, and I expected Hull to be close.
Leeds today, they don't need a win. They are doing enough as they have been all season. When the result is meaningless, they rest one or two.
The only game that had any meaning this week was Cas v Saints and so it proved to show that.

gunna dis-agree with you my friend but leeds do need to win after all they are going for the treble

There is no glory in the hub and is officially not a treble. But I welcome your post pal.

by the way leeds are playing i dont think they want the glory of winning the league..do you think wembley has drained there tank

Of course they want the treble. Especially this season when teams have had to play well all through the regular rounds. Or are you saying wire fans and players wouldn't want to win all three????

It's not a perfect system but it's better than the last few years. You do actually still have something to play for- Wire have lost more than they have won and as a result are where they deserve to be- the final three games could mean you win more than half your games which I'm sure the players would prefer to see on the final table.

No Sir am
They will need to peak for the final against pies.
That's why the game hull v pies was close.

I think they will take the 3 pieces of silverware if circumstance allows but they are aiming at 2.

so Catalan hammering Leeds....

it means nothing to Catalan...(please no one pedal the pride in the jersey or doing it for the fans, family, or God)

it also means Leeds are not going to drop out of a play off spot. They might lose home advantage if they lose another game or two ...but that's ifs and buts at the minute.

What is real is that great result for Catalan means nowt. and there's plenty more to come...this isnt the last game of the season.

but its Warringtons fault because we are .........

meanwhile the middle 8's are also plodding along to the script.........

and I'm staying off the mitchell Dodds thread while i'm in this mood.....

There is a bigger prize for top spot this year so Catalans could have urinated on Leeds's chips.

It didn't look like it meant nothing to Catalan to me. You do realise that there is prize money available for positions 1-7 don't you- the higher the position the bigger the prize. Finish 8th you get nothing. Seems like that game was important to Catalan......
This it doesn't matter stuff is rubbish- it might not matter to the fans of wire who are miffed they aren't going to contest the GF. But it definitely matters to the players and club as money is at stake!!!!!

We can influence finishing positions even now. We will find out today how much we love our neighbours St Helens...If we lose today Saints will go fourth behind Hudds but if we win they will stay 3rd so there is still plenty to play for & any paying fan turning up to so called pointless games should still expect a display worthy of the entry fee.

That'll make little difference either 9a unless there is extra money at stake between 3/4th positions.

Whichever way the semi finish, it will be Leeds and Pies in the final. They are miles ahead of the rest of the league when they play with intensity.

The problem is the games are half meaningless, that especially has been the case for Leeds. With no jeopardy involved, they are just playing out fixtures.

You're obviously fed up, but, our poor season really is down to us no one else

Today Leicester beat Villa 3-2 in association football. Neither team will do anything in the league and neither will go down. There are a number of games like this every week. You might call them meaningless but ask the fans and have a look on MOTD tonight and have a look at the fans reactions to the goals.

Next week switch the Formula 1 on. Have a look at the Marussia team. They probably won't register a single constructors point all year, never mind get on a pidium or even win a race. But not a single race in the season is meaningless to them.

Did you watch Anthony Joshua last night? Were the ten weeks Gary Cornish trained for meaningless?

Why reward mediocrity, teams who lose more than they win, with a chance to play in he Play-offs and possibly string a few wins together and call their season a success? We should've striving to reward the better sides and strive to improve quality from the top down, not from the middle out. This format is good!

Not quite good examples Buckley.

The games Wire are contesting are dead rubbers from a team that ought to be challenging.
If Wire were of an ilk like Wakefield, it would be a massive season to finish as a super 8 team and finish as high up as possible pinching a top 4 scalp, as would L City and Villa, beating Man Utd is massive for them.

Warrington however have been completely disappointing and fell well below expectations of some.
There is an attitude problem because of our league standing. We are pretty much like a Man Utd team under Ron Atkinson. Shat loads of poorly spent money, finishing with a poor to average side, yet full of superstars.

But there again Buckley, my reasoning of your examples is probably poorer.

Super 8s ain't so super , preferred the old play off system , instead we've got pointless fixtures to fulfill , which no one really cares about , tell me which player wants to spend close season on crutches ?

You really aren't grasping the concept well are you?

In the old top 8 format, it could be argued that for the majority of the big sides, there were 12+ dead rubbers. Teams like Leeds and Warrington could coast through 3/4 of the season, as they'd know they were good enough to beat most sides at home in second gear. Which lead to some absolutely terrible, low intensity rugby. People have fixated on the every minute matters motto for this season. A more accurate one would be 'more minutes matter' and I don't think there is any doubt that's happened.

It's interesting to note how those who are criticising the new play off system are the same people who used to argue against a play off system in the first place.

you've got pointless fixtures to fulfill only because you weren't good enough in the previous 23 games to make a fist of it, that's the whole point of it, unlike the previous system where you could stroll through the regular season losing as many games as you had won then still have as much chance as the team finishing top which was wrong.

now you can't do that, and if you have nothing to play for come september, then it's your own fault.

No one can argue that, at this stage of the super 8s , the top four teams don't deserve to be there. They have made the top 4 on merit over the whole season & have known from day 1 that league points & points difference accrued throughout the season could be critical.
Whether it has been lack of playing staff or poor decisions Warrington have come up short & not made every game matter.

rubbish rubbish rubbish this has never happened.......we should know.
Prior to 2010 if we ever made the play offs we won one or two play off games in total. (not in one season..... in TOTAL)



So we know what its like to be that team that has as you say..."as much chance as the team finishing top" and the reality was..... we never had as much chance as the team finishing top we had virtually zero. the same as Widnes and hull Kr and Cas have done in the past....

then Leeds came along and won it from fifth and the world it self.... and everyone wanted change.....

you've got it....... it's ...the season is fizzling out for four teams and that has got to have an effect on the other four who are trying to win it......

compare the Queensland derby at the weekend.... one still gets a second chance after losing, but it was the most intense game Ive seen for a long while.....

yet huddersfield had to play in that yesterday...and they will most likely have another next week playing Hull away.... how is that any kind of intense play off system.

Football has two very achievable cup finals to complement the procession to a league win for one of the oil barons clubs....i think Villa were in one last season and leicester have also won one in recnt -ish years.... that helps....

Formula 1 a sport that has to change rules and regulations and points scoring and invent such stuff as DRS zones...every year to make it exciting,....(double points in the last race of the season..anyone...!!!) because of the year after year after year procession to the title of the top one or two teams............

The marussias of the world will always be there. a team just happy to take part, and why wouldn't you with a season in monaco singapore Abu Dhabi...etc
their goal is survival from one year to the next. quite different from teams that can win races...

boxing not a huge fan but the guy who got sparked out will no doubt get another fight...had he rocked up without those 10 weeks preparation i doubt anyone would be offering him another paid fight.