Proves my point the league leaders shield should decide the champions.

It's a bit ridiculous that two teams can be consistent for 2/3 games get to a final and then win it but wire can be so consistent over 27 games and not be.

Playoffs aren't the way and this shows why.

Imagine next week saying to a football fan that the champions finished 5th in the league (if Leeds win) they'd think our sport was silly.

Thats the system we have and the GF brings in much needed publicity and revenue. Wether we need a change to the system which sees a side form the top 2 in the GF thats another matter.

Come back when you tell us how 75% of all RL 'Champions' have been decided ... Or are you suggesting that you can only win the title when there's a league format to deciding the winners ?

By the way, in 1973, Stevo's Dewsbury were Champions after finishing EIGHTH .... Are you suggesting those titles are any less valid ?

But if you said it to fans of most other sports they would state that the champion is the winner of the playoffs. Theres only really football that decides it's champion team without a playoff. The playoffs have worked for years to provide an exciting finish to the season and, more importantly, another showpiece to help the coffers.

I agree with you there mate, I think it is a bit of a shambles that 3rd or 5th can win it now, whilst the two consistently better sides this year are out (which is deserving, but you get my point)


I'd like to think that this will open the eyes of some about the playoff system, and how it needs revamping, however the RFL will probably spew out some nonsense about how it proves the league is so competitive, that the team who were ranked 5th can win it.

But your team didn't finish top so why the whinging?!

They need to go back to the 1st vs 2nd qualifier at least one of the two most consistent teams are in it giving it more credibility and yes winning from 8th isn't right depending on the size of the league I wasn't alive then but if the league has 20+ teams in then it isn't as bad but 5th isn't far from the middle of the table.

And I'm saying it's proven my point from a debate about this subject two weeks ago.

But acceptable that the 2nd placed team can win it though?

1. Had Wigan finished 5th yet reached the GF would this thread have started? No.

2. Have plenty of you p!shed yourselves laughing at Wires' failure to reach the GF? Yes.

Hypocritical clowns!

I think like has been said its not all its cracked upto be.

if u finish top and dont make the GF u are well peeved, but finish 5th like leeds and u are rightly so happy.

I think more needs to be made of finishing the weekly rounds 1st defo.

but i think it keeps it interesting if u can reach the GF from a lower position.

if you were the better team you would have won

so getting to the premiership from 6th is wrong

get a grip dont winge about the rules now you knew them at the start

it takes mental strength that wigan did not have when it mattered

any announcement on the new coach now your season is over

Finish top and you are champions .
If we are going to include 8th in the playoffs we should include the other 6 teams and have an end of season KO competition . If we were to win next week then I for one wouldn't consider us as champs as we finished in 5th in the regular rounds . I wouldn't consider Saints as champs if they win . WIRE ARE THE CHAMPIONS .
OT is a good end to the season , but who plays there , and why they play there , needs to be sorted out so that it rewards the winner with something the really deserve .

Nuf said .

How long do you think SKY would keep investing if the league was over in August?

In football you can be the 'Champions' of Europe without even being the Champions of your own country (See Liverpool for details) so I hardly think they'll take the moral high ground. There's a possibilty this season a team could be the Champions of Europe and not even be the best team in their own city - now that's laughable!

Irrespective of my own thoughts on the play off system I can't help but feel you've really picked a bad time to air yours.

Are you going to send back any of the EIGHT league titles that Wigan won prior to 1973, where the RL Champions were decided via a Championship Final (see also Grand Final) and NOT on league positions ?

What about the legitimacy of those titles then, where you won the Championship Final, were crowned 'Champions', but didn't finish top of the league ladder during that particular season ....

If you want some simple, easy to follow system, why not go watch Wigan Athletic or someone .... Everyone knew the rules at the start of the season.

I don't have a problem with the current system which is designed to increase the competition not only at this stage but throughout the season. I have always felt that the team finishing top deserve to be Champions but if we are to have a play-off system, which I like to have for the end of season excitement, I thought the top 5 system was the fairest.

Fair do's to Saints and Leeds they have played well at the right time and taken their chances. It will be a good game next week. Not sure who will win.

Well said Admiral. The Rugby gods have spoken.

I'm not a fan of this myself, but teams are starting to play for the end of the season, this is how it is

All major sports decide their elite champions via an initial qualifying league then a playoff system

Wendyball believist fans tend to conveniently ignore the fact that all their major trophys are decided this way, be it the world cup, European championship, Copa America, European champions league etc etc.

I dont recall people complaining that England didnt really win the world cup in 1966 because they didnt even need to qualify for the competition.

True champion teams and individuals rise to the occasion. Wigan showed in their challenge cup win that they are made of the right stuff being Wire and Saints. Unfortunately they didnt have enough of it to go that extra mile and win two major finals.

Everyone knows the rules before the season starts so its no good whinging now. There is nothing between the 4 teams and the games this weekend have proved that. Good luck to Leeds and Saints next week.

I know everyone knows the rules, and I think that regardless of what's happened I still don't particularly think it is correct to award the winners of the GF as the champions. To me if you have been most consistent over the whole year, then you should be crowned champions. I think Warrington shoudl be crowned champions this year, but such is the way our sport works.

I know how it works, I've known the rules all year etc., doesn't mean I have to agree with them.

I'll put my hands up my first comment was wrong. I think whoever finishes first should be chapions, and more needs to be made out of it. I just don't like having the playoff system, as you don't need to push all the way for first, when you can play on half all year and finfish in the playoffs, then push at the end of the year and become champions.

The problem is when Saints were finishing top the league for 4 or 5 seasons on the trot, sometimes we didn,t win the Grand Final. A lot of the older Wigan and Wires fans on this forum said it not about finishing top its the play offs that matter. We seemed to have turned full circle on here in that 1st and 2nd place now matters.
Don,t forget the play off results have now relegated Wire and Wigan down to 3rd and 4th place in Superleague rankings.