Theres 14 teams in the in the league. Mid table would be 7th.

4th is the upper 3rd of the table.

It's actually 7/5 as said earlier

Whoever win's the league is the best team. You can't possibly believe the winners of the playofss are the best team in the league if they win it from 4th?!!!!! You can't honestly be being serious?!!!!!

RL just wouldn't be taken seriously should the 4th ranked team win the GF.

it should be Super League Champions and Grand Final winners imo

you cant seriously be considered proper champs after winning just 3 or 4 games at the end of the season. this is where rfl become a joke

I think it depends on how close the top four are to be honest. If Leeds win the GF from the top 4 this year I don't think it would show they are the best team but it would show that the system needs overhauling when the advantage gained by being the top team isn't anywhere near big enough. If the top 4 was much closer you could argue the 4th team were the best for both being consistent, beating the top club away when it matters and eventually winning the grand final but this would probably imo result in the team in 4th place's win/loss ratio being as good, if not almost as good, as the top club's anyway. I'm in two minds and this is all probably waffle because I can almost see the merit in the argument that the clubs know the rules before the start of the season but I think if Leeds get 4th this year its down to other teams outdoing each other for crapness and not because they've been good. In any case I think its between us Saints and Wire and I think any of those would be worthy champs.
Apologies if this is nonsense I've got a lot on my plate.

Leeds have won 5 or 6 less games than us so how can they claim to be the best team of 2010?!!!!!

I agree with that, i think the inadequacies of the top 8 system are gonna be shown up in Leeds win the GF. Well in fact i think they are clear for all and the RFL to see anyway. How one Leeds victory at out place equates to them having a home semi final when they have finished 4th is anyones guess and a massive flaw in the system. They are more or less 2 separate competitions.

Why does it need overhauling? because wigan have finished top?

We've been on both sides of the coin and you just have accept if you fifnish top but don't win the final then your the winners of the hub cap not thechamps.

Every player, coach, fan and club know the rule before the season and it's been this way for years now.

We can't go changing rule because it effects wigan this year.

yeah, also what you need to think is being the best has always been about winning crucial games and with the system as it is there are no real crucial games throughout the regular season. Leeds could win 3 crucial games in the playoffs we could lose 2 and they are still in the cup, having knocked us out in technically the only crucial game so far this year... making them better than us. Stupid system imo

It is a silly system but it brings 68,000 people to old trafford every year to see the see a team crowned champs.

I and many other Wigan fans hated the way we played inconsistently under Brian Noble and have argued for a few years the system reduces the need to perform week in week out meaning you get far less value for money for your season ticket. I have argued this when we finished bottom half of the table even under the old system which benefited the top teams more than it does now. Genuinely this has nothing to do with where we've finished and I've said on here several times that (as a fan who has an exceptionally long trip to matches every time I in) even if we win nothing this year and go out in the first round of the playoffs I feel I've had far more value for money than I've had for a long time and would be happier than I was reaching the semi finals in previous years, even before we were beaten. I just don't see why finishing top can't be given a proper trophy and a meaningful title or prize. Surely covered enough angles in my original post to show I wasn't being one sided?

yeah and I love it, I don't want it to be stopped How many used to go to the premiership final? Regal trophy final? Challenge cup semis used to be bigger. Why do we need to devalue finishing top to such a degree that it makes weekly rounds far less important in order to have a Grand Final. Thats the only point I'm making its not as if we have loads of competitions like the old days and players are supposedly far fitter than they were anyway despite the fact I'm not asking for any more games. Give a decent prize and some kind of title without the word minor in it and get best of both worlds whats the problem in doing that?

and therein lies the crux of it - it is nothing to do with champions/best teams etc. It is all to do with money and Sky viewing figures.Simples.

people will only argue for GF as such an exclusive way of deciding best team until we have a freak year when someone wins it from 8th.

We still having this discussion lol?

They're the rules like it or not. I know it, you know it and you can rest assured Madge knows it (Melbourne won the GF from 4th last year so he knows how to win when it counts)

I think the grand final has been great since it started, it gives the end of season a real edge and also gives team lower in the table something to play for. In years gone by most teams seasons are over by July as they have nothing to play for which means poor crowds and poor rugby.

All fans are on edge of there seats in the final weekly round to where they will finish.

Then we have the play offs, grounds packed full and high intence rugby which as fans on the edge of there seats or glued to the tele.

I'm not 100% sure if that's how it should be or if it should be top 5, 6 or 8 that make the play offs but it's a great concept that provides great games and great day at old Trafford.

For what it's worth I think you lot been by far the best team in the weekly rounds.

It would be great IMO.

the bit in brackets is exactly the point there's no longer a real advantage to rushing for a top position. i just want to see consistency rewarded with something more than the title MINOR premiers and no prize money to benefit the sport. The position we're in this year has nothing whatsoever to do with my argument, if anything its more to do with the positions we finished in under Noble and that we were still in with a chance of being called champions which would have been ridiculous. If Leeds win it this year I won't complain, those are the rules, but they need looking at seriously.

until more teams start seeing the pointlessness of trying during the early rounds so we have even fewer decent games, less people get season tickets, less people go to the Grand Final so the atmosphere is crap, less coverage in newspapers and less people watching on television.

Seriously when you get a coach who's attitude is centred around it being a marathon not a sprint and the players basically shrug their shoulders when they lose after you've travelled miles to a game and they don't care because its only 2 points, you'll understand where I'm coming from.

Couldn't agree more. The play offs are fantastic and capture the imagination of even the casual sports observer.

And this years set to be best yet!

ignoring the trolling as a leeds Fan, The 07 and 08 GF wins meant no less than the 09 and 04(well the 04 being the first in such a long time did, but not because we finished top)

in 04 we won the league by a record margin, with a record points total, with a record points difference, and it would have all been meaningless had we not been able to win the final.

To be the best, you have to beat the best, and thats what the play-offs mean.

You've already beat them - that's why you came top.

Saints in 05 for example. Best team all season by a country mile. Few injuries at the end and they end up with nothing. Whilst I laughed my t*ts off at the time. Shouldn't happen.

I agree but the RFL has to do something about the poor crowds relative to the regular season games - the playoffs are meant to be the pinacle and the crowds need to reflect that.

As for someone winning it from 8th I don't see how it can ever happen. You would need a team to win 4 successive away games against superior teams (as evidenced by the league table over 27 rounds). The odds are so huge it can't happen.

except it doesnt, you just need to be consistent. The league then play-off system is definately the best way of judging the best side. You can argue about the level of benefit finishing top deserves but the principle is correct,


Very few major sports outside European Football use a straight league system to decide their champs