If you finish top you are at home for every playoff game. No way the RFL would force the team finishing top into playing away to a lower ranked team.

What would be the point of a 27 game Super League season??????

They do in Oz. You lose and you lose your advantage.

Not so. The two winners of the week one qualifiers get home advantage in week 3.

If we finish top, and lose in week one, we're at home in week 2 but away in week 3 (if we win, of course).

Yeah remember Melbourne losing to Auckland then having to go to Brisbane. I thought that was disgraceful.

It doesn't happen over here, the RFL aren't that thick.

So if we we're to play Leeds, and they beat us in week one, which is 50-50, we would then have to play at home a week later, if we win that we would have to play away to Leeds???? Even though we will have finished 3 positions higher?

You sure about that? That can't be right. Why do we play 27 games? The advantage of finishing top is guarenteed home games. Its bad enough you have to win 2 games to get to the GF after finishing top when it was always 1 game previously.

We could be away at Wire if they choose to play us or even Saints if they don't.

Not saying I agree with it, but them's the rules.

The rules are fair. You get home advantage, which is ours to lose. If we lose a game, we lose home advantage. It's not THAT unfair. Think of it this way, if we finished 4th, beat the top placed team, had the week off then had to play that team we'd already beaten again in the semi final, wouldn't it be unfair to make us play away, even though we had already beaten the team that finished top?

So for finishing top over 27 matches getting one single home tie in what equates to a quarter final is fair? The playoff setup is complete and utter rubbish. After this season they should make it so top team is straight in the semi/final decider at home imo.

No, if you finish top you are guaranteed two home games.

Even if you are guaranteed 2 it still isnt great. You should be guaranteed one and if you win it you should get in the GF imo.

Saint's could end up finishing 3rd, beat Wire in the opening round of the Play Offs, Leeds could beat Wigan in the opening round and Saints get the club call in the Semi Final. Wigan's advantage is gone just by losing one game.
So the Hub cap stands for nothing really

Is it fair that one play off game carries more weight than 7 months and 27 games of Super League action?
It simply isn't.
It would be totally fair if we finished 4th that we had to play away again after beating top. We finished 4th, we haven't done enough to justify a home game. A one off game can by decided by the referee. A 27 game season evens out.

The Super League regular season and playoffs are more or less different competitons now. Bring back the old Championship trophy for the league winners.

you can't do that unless you scrap the Magic weekend and make it a fair 13 home and 13 away game season.

I used to think the top 6 system was cr@p but its positively brilliant compared to this new format.
If we'd finished top, under the top 6 format we would be playing Wire or Saints, after a weeks break for a place in the GF we both teams knowing that get a home final eliminator should they lose. This new system means if you lose in Week 1 you play the final eliminator away! Which is what we have done for the past 3 years after finishing 6th/4th/6th. Absolute b0110cks.

I never have and never will agree with the playoffs, but they're the rules

No i'm not saying top should be champions(even though really they should be) i'm just saying bringing the trophy back as its a bigger reward than the Shield. IN fact we have the old Championship trophy in the cabinet, we should just wheel it out anyway should we win the league and parade that around the stadium.

That'd be awesome

Really and truely, a 13 home, 13 away games fixture shows who the best team is and the top team should be given the Championship and then we can have the straight kncok out Premiership Trophy, with the Challenge Cup final played inbetween the Premiership QF's and SF's. That would be in an ideal world.
But.......the GF has proved great and it would be missed should that be taken away. But at least if we have a system that weighs heavily in the favour of the top 2 getting to the GF, then thats the best we can hope. The top 6 format weighed heavily in 1 and 2 getting to OT and that should be brought back. This current format is ridiculous and gives 1 and 2 less advantage than any other. teh RFL must change it back. Or at least guarentee top spot has home games all the way.

Need to go back to the top 5 or 6. How you can finish in the bottom half of the table and have the chance to win the league is beyond me. Imagine 11th after 38 games being able to win the Premiership. Ludicrous.

Totally agree. Top 6 should be brought back. I hope the RFL can do something about it. I don't know if they can change it for next year but i think they can change it for the next tv contact/next licenses are awarded. With the top 6, it was a real gulf between finishing 2nd and 3rd - which is how is should be, top 2 should be more or less guarenteed a GF spot.

If we have a play off system (and with the Magic weekend included it is the correct thing to do) then the top 5 is the better option as it rewards the team who finishes top by giving them the best chance of making the final.

IMO they only have the Magic Weekend to prevent an even fixture list and them having to give the Championship to the top team.

The play offs add excitement but i'm not a fan really , i think the team who finish top after the regular season should automatically go straight to the GF and let the others battle it out to see who plays them

The play-off system is a bloody joke! What was wrong with it the way it was before??