Wire, bought my ticket on Monday to watch. The only problem is that it's in the Leeds end

Leeds for this reason but I expect Wire to do it.

Didn't notice Wiggin fans complaining when you got to the GF from 3rd in the table. If your team wants to waste energy in bowling over teams all season only to cock it up when the match really counts for something then so be it. Yep, I bet your 50 point hammering of the Rhinos was a distant memory after last week.

No team who finishes 5th deserves to win it given the way the play off system works but If I thought Leeds winning it form 5th again would finally destroy the credibility of the current format that would be a price worth paying especially if it meant returning to a top 5 system.

Alas the idiots in charge won't see it that way and will continue to bang on as if it is a hard task to win it from 5th. It's not.

So its got to be Wire. Hopefully they will expose Leeds as the mediocre team they are while they are at it.

i think any neutral has got to sway towards Wire in this one, even if they have got the most irratating fans in the league, and the gloating is going to be unbarable, I do think the team deserve it alot more than the Leeds team.

Being a Leeds fan, the answer is obvious.

As a RL fan, then hopefully a Leeds win will result in the changes needed, imo, scrap the 8 team PO system, scrap clubcall, give the team finishing top a bit more than a 10 minute celebration and photo opp with the hubcap!

Quite a few people suggesting a top 5 PO system would be better but people also suggesting you shouldnt be able to be crowned champions finishing 5th. So where do people suggest the line is drawn?

Top 2 straight final?
Top 3 with 1st place straight through and 2nd and 3rd play a semi. But then that would mean 1st getting a week off which isnt always beneficial.

Top 4 for me would be the best option. 1 v 4 & 2 v 3 semi finals. Final a week later. Simples.

I like top 5 with top place going straight through to the final.

2nd v 5th
3rd v 4th

Winners in semi

Semi winners v League winners.

So you feel good calling yourself champions knowing you've done it from 5th and been distinctly average all season but woken up for a few games? Don't be daft. 3rd isn't 5th either is it? And that wasn't under a ridiculous top 8 system. And if I'm not mistaken we were very close something like 1 point in it to 2nd that year you're a long way from the top 2 this year (9 points) it's not an attack on Leeds fair play you've found a flaw in the system and exploited it but its an attack on that flawed system which makes it possible.

Wire, gives the competition some credibility and they probably deserve it for the consistency they've shown over the last couple of seasons.
On the downside, this forum will be unbearable for months !!!

That sounds good to me. I'm actually surprised that no-one has mentioned that this years final is the side who finished 5th versus a side who lost a play-off game by 22 points. Although it's my team, is this right?

Sorry but disagree, having time off for 'good behaviour' doesn't seem to help, well not this year or last.

Do agree that something needs to be done about the regular season and profile of finishing top of the league. Well done by the way

But that would mean the team finishing top going two weeks without a game.
If we're going to have a play off system then I think the original Top Five way was the best we've had, if we're stuck with eight teams then it should be a straight knockout competition, 1v8, 2v7 etc.

Out of curiosity do you have a season ticket or pick and choose your matches? Such as don't bother from Febuary until mid September then show up?

I think if you win it from 5th under the old top five system it is far more credible because not only is it harder for the 5th placed team it is progressively easier for all the teams above them which IMO is not true with the current system and is a fact often lost on people when comparing systems.



That is a knockout competition and playoffs are not supposed to be knockout competitions. That system, like the current system, also negates all 27 rounds reducing the competition to two games.

That brings us to the other advantage of the top 5 system. The higher you finish the better chance you have of winning the GF so it makes the league competition a true qualifier for the play offs and therefore meaningful. There is a definite reason to try and win the league in a top 5 system.

-true--we will

Whatever happens on Saturday I hope that we will be as gracious in victory as in defeat, the former naturally gets my vote, but, it's time to show a bit of class. Either way it's not been a bad season?

I'd prefer Wire to win because they've been by far the better team over the season but some of their fans on here will be absolutely unbearable. What's the over/under betting on the amount of threads started or bumped on here after the game by whinos/wire fans?

chill-its a j/k

Wire because they are actually a good team and have been consistently for a few years. They deserved it last year probably.

Disagree. Leeds winning it from 5th goes to show how even the teams in the league are. On their day, any of the top 5 teams are capable of beating each other. I look forward to the day when the team that finishes 8th is good enough to win the Grand Final.

I think your comment about the parity between the top 5 may be valid but that doesn't validate this playoff system. Catalans reward for finishing above Leeds was to come to Wigan and get battered then have to back up against a Leeds team who had the easier task of playing Wakefield at home. Granted, you still had to do the job over in France but don't you see why people are questioning the format?

Yes, all we had to do was win at their home ground. A feat that we hadn't managed to do during the league. In fact, throughout the league they had only lost 1 game played at their home ground. If they had turned up against Wigan in their first play off game, things could have been very different.

You are entiltled to your opinion, of course. However, my opinion is that when a team has a 58% win return over a 2 yr period people shouldn't be criticised for questioning the system that allows them to be crowned champions, nor be criticised for deciding the previous 27 weekly rounds have an ever decreasing significance.
Of course we all knew the rules when we started but some of us have been airing our opinions for quite a while now, well before league positions were decided. The way things are at the moment it is virtually inevitable that 2 of the top 4 must play each other twice. Saints couldn't manage it this year and in my opinion Leeds' task was made a little easier because they didn't have to.

how even teams are in the league

i wonder what the actual-point-diff was between 8th and 1st,or 1 st and 5th,the present play off system is killing off normal league games,hence a lot of ppl not bothering to go most weekly games unless they are derby or cup games

No need to roll your veyes at me Mr Flyer, it wasn't particularly aimed at you.

I'm just hoping if we do it. we can be good winners and get rid of this notion that all Wire fans are crass, when in reality every club has their share.

BTW I'm all for a bit of banter and not a total a do gooder, but, most of the Leeds support on here is based on the rep of our fans, whereas most of the support for us is based on the rugby we've played over the last couple of years and the fact that most posters don't agree with the play off format and the impact on the regular season.

Sorry a bit dull carry on with the 'jokes'