To finish top will be a great boost and should give the whole club huge confidence but I agree that without the grand final win it'll be quickly forgotten. It's a shame in a way that the play off system has changed because we won't quite get the same advantages for it that we would have a couple of years back. We still may have to play 3 games to get to the final and thats always a tough ask in play offs as we've found out before.

Still we can't complain too much. We look like having at least 2 huge nights to come at the DW stadium and i'm looking forward to those. To get to Old Trafford would be awesome but it will be tough.

Whoever finishes top should win the Superleague trophy, whoever finishes in the top 4 should face the top 4 from the NRL in a World Club Challenge two weeks after the grand final with both grand finals on the same day, whoever finishes bottom should be relagated.

There should be no rewards for mid table mediocre teams such as Hull Kr, Salford, Wakefield in getting into the play offs after being rubbish all year.

Looking at Hulls run in......

Harlequins (A)
Crusaders (H)
Warrington Wolves (A)
Leeds Rhinos (H)

You would have to assume they'd win the first two then lose to Wire, assume Leeds win all their remaining games (except against us) that last match becomes the decider for 4th spot.

Much rather face Hull, and I dont think its a foregone conclusion that they won't finish 4th.

Given the excellent signings we have made, Hock coming back into the side and our young players maturing, every other club will be in fear of what Wigan will do next season. We're top of the league and in great shape for the play-offs but I almost can't wait for next season!

There is nothing wrong with us knowing we are the best team in the league, like we have been so far. I still remember saints of 08 and 07 being better than Leeds even thought they were not champions. Anyone claiming to be champions though is just silly.

course we are, might as well milk it while we can we've got Leeds next week

In an ideal world we'll get Hull at home then a choice of who we play to get to the final. I really dont want Wire in the final if we get there as I think there pack is superior to ours, as is the bench. However if Wire end up playing Saints I have a feeling Saints still have the indian sign over Wire and id back us to win it providing Wire get knocked out.

I agree with about Saints still having the indian sign over Wire. Hull at home is wishful thinking it will be Leeds but you will win that one. Who will take final any one of the four for me hope its Wire but as said before Saints still have the indian sign over us. At least you have won some thing this year as last year with us it will help you kick on.

I actualy think we might win it this year. were as good and better than the teams around us . fingers crossed hey

sorry madog dont agree with you there for me the team that finishes top should be the champions they are the best team over the season, its only sky and the comedy duo that down grade the league leaders sheild, for me a team that finishes in 2,3,4,5,6,7,8,then could end up as champions somehow does not seem right.

I remember standing at OT in '98....Nervous as hell, and wondering why we had to go through all this!
We'd 'won' the league already, but had to prove it again in a one-off match against Leeds - Who had already beaten us twice that season (IIRC?).
Didnt enjoy the game one bit and when the final whistle went, and we'd won, it was sheer relief more than anything else.
Had we lost that night, myself (and thousands more) would have felt cheated out of a title that we'd already won.
I completely understand why we've gone to a playoff system (and Yawnion has followed suit), but i'm just not sure that its just reward for a seasons effort?
There can be no doubt that (so far) we have been consistantly better performing than every other team in the league.
And yet, theoretically, even the Crusaders could ultimately be crowned 'Champs'.



I'm not confident that we'll go all the way this year.
Saints and Leeds should still justifiably be favourites in a playoff format.
We dont seem to do so well in the high-pressure one-off games - whereas both of those sides know exactly what to do.
Given the season we've just watched......Does that make them better than us?
The league table suggests not - But as OP's have mentioned, nobody will remember that.
Personally, i'd like to see the Prem playoffs back again and the title awarded to the team that finishes top (whoever it is). Perhaps the reward for winning the Prem Final, could be the spot in the WCC? Just to make it more interesting.
Aint gonna happen though, and a whole lot of fans have been brainwashed by the powers that be into believing that the playoffs are a fair and just way to sort out league champs.
Which it isnt IMHO.

You would assume they'd lose to Wire but playing a week before they possibly play in the Cup Final could be timely.

Bang on Leyland bang on mate,if you finish top you should be Champs.

That's how I felt in 2000 after we lost to Saints.

Totally agree that unless we win at Old Trafford we can't call ourselves Champions because they are the rules but........

This shouldn't be the case. The team that can finish top after playing week after week from February through to September in all kinds of conditions should 100% definately be the Champions. I understand what people are saying regarding mid table clubs having no incentive but why should be have a structure that is rewarding mid table clubs? Why do we actually have a league?
Why don't we split all 14 teams into 4 different groups then the group winners play in a semi final and final?? Might as well, and it saves us playing all 27 league games for nothing. Under the current top 8 format the league winners aren't even guarenteed a semi final slot! MASSIVE JOKE!

The ONLY time i've ever left a Wigan game early.
Add to it getting lost in Manchester trying to find the car, whilst avoiding p*sstaking Saints fans (i really wasnt in the mood).
Wandering up and down streets we didnt know, and then the heavens opened!
All soaked to the skin by the time we found it, a couple of hours later.
Thoroughly miserable night all round........

Agree.

When Nobby first came onboard, I argued that we couldn't judge him on his first season and a half, with an "inherited" squad.

I will say the same for Madge.

That's how I still feel 10 years on. Denied what would have been an awesome way to be crowned champions by smashing Saints 42-4 on their own patch to secure top spot. One reverse drubbing and a GF later...

1st priority: Win the GF
2nd priority: Win the CC
3rd priority: win the league

We are two victories from claiming the 3rd priority. Only clubs winning the CC or GF can claim to have had a better season. I think its quite ironic that the hardest one to win is the league yet its 3rd priority!

The thing is, the way teams play because of the play-offs and grand final changes when teams want to and need to peak in the season. What we Leeds have done for the last three seasons is deliberately waited to play our best rugby come the last 3 or 4 fixtures of the regular season, i.e v Cas last year. Bluey has publicly admitted we use the run in to the play-offs as the time to hit peak form. I think the reason why we haven't done as-well in the league and challenge cup from past years is because we hold back our best form for the play-offs. People may argue you have peaked to early and have played your best rugby already this season, who knows. But I think there is ALOT more to come from Leeds this year as we really know when to turn it on when it matters. I am in no way saying I don't think Wigan can't beat us or win the Superleague btw, far from it. You should also be congratulated for being the most consistent and best team so far, but we'll see come play-off time.

That is why I don't want to play Leeds

That was always Noble's stated strategy - and we saw how that worked out. Yeah, we always played better at the end of the season, but left ourselves too much to do.

My point exactly.

As I said on another thread, it will be interesting to see how Wigan perform in the playoffs. We know how Leeds and Stains will perform- they will crank it up a gear.

If Wigan can do the same then we will blow everyone away.

Two questions for me:

1. Can we up our game?
2. Are we mentally strong enough?


Certainly hope the answer is yes.

Just checked out our league form since we lost to you at the DW. We have won 12, lost 3 and drawn 1. We may not have played brilliantly but that must be close to being the "form" team in the comp. Can only see you guys having a better record. Anyway as far as us finishing 4th goes... It will be massively tough. 1 only have 1 relatively easy game before the end of the season. We play you guys on Friday which is hard anyway, never mind with the CC semi the week after. Then the Friday after the semi we play Cas away who will be tough to beat as it is due to them always raising againt us. Catalan at home is the week after and assuming we make the final maybe that will be playing on our mind. Then the week after the Final is Hull away which in essence may as well be a playoff game if we both need to win to make 4th.

If we win our next 6 games I will be conifdent that we are peaking again at the right time. IMO though stuff the cup. It's very difficult to win both with the finals being so close. Wembley would be a good trip out but for me it's the SL every time. I would love to have 4 in a row and the weeks rest before the Hull game would be worth more than anything.

If we get 4th though and you finish top can you imagine the atmosphere at the DW for that 1st game? The prospect is making me exited already. We may not bring many on a Friday in the regular season but we always take 2k-3k over in the playoffs. Not sure how it works but if it's a Saturday game I reckon we'd take more.

Leeds and Hull will be going full pelt from now until 3 September to get 4th spot. Meanwhile, we should have top spot wrapped up by the end of the Huddersfield game. That gives us 4 weeks to rotate our squad, give everyone a rest and take the field on 12 September with a fully fit squad against a side who have had to run through brick walls for the right to come to the DW and face us!

We should be able to batter any side, given those conditions.