Agreed. Hopefully 22 points is enough to avoid the Middle 8s as with 10 out I can't see any more wins in the regular rounds.

Obviously it’s enough

Nothing kills a thread like a good, accurate and uncontroversial post.

If you want to keep a thread alive, you need to be provocative and/or somewhat wrong.

Look at the ‘success’ Knockerbump has had posting controversial nonsense. The Mighty F90 was able to reiterate the same point over and over again by slightly misrepresenting something Pearson had said - people just couldn’t leave it alone, like a loose thread or a cavity in tooth. Mrs B used a similar tactic to repeatedly highlight the risk of the council underwriting our mortgage on the North Stand by appending something inaccurate to each post as response-bait.

With some posters I remain unsure whether it is deliberate. With others, i’m pretty certain.

I think we are safe now particularly with points difference as well. Rovers will be praying Cas win and that we roll Huddersfield next week both of which look to be big asks for me. Leeds are at Cas next week where another defeat would put them in real trouble. the other three middle eight Super League Clubs won't want Leeds in there as they will survive no question.

Show us the maths that says we're safe in the 8 please. I can't do it.

The 4 teams directly below us could all overtake us on points, putting us in 9th position.
However, Wakefield play cats, Leeds and Huddersfield. That's 6 points to lose by those 4 teams and I reckon it stops one of them from catching us.

Dont worry Mrs B, we are now secure.

For us to miss the top eight we'd have to lose all four and Leeds, Huddersfield and Catalans would have to win every game AND Wakefield would need at least another win apart from beating us. Wakey's other three games happen to be Leeds, Huddersfield and Catalans so they can't all overtake us.

Still a thread worth keeping open though as the battle to avoid the bottom four is fascinating as will be the middle 8s.

But what if... Leeds and Hudds won three games by big enough margins to overturn the gap in points difference (this probably requires Hudds beating Hull by 100+, but stick with me) and both [idraw[/i with Wakefield. They could all end up on 22!



Catalans then only need to win at least four of their last five and they’re on 22 as well. All to play for.

I knew you'd oblige.

23 points required then. Grrr...

Looking like a useful result for us in France. We just have to keep plugging away.

Oh no..

Catalans beat Wakey. Hmm, Hudds can still reel us in then? Leeds v Cas is interesting tomorrow.

I hope you end up in the bottom four just so you can come on here and say I told you so

On a more serious note, it looks likely this is the swansong for the 8s system. What have you thought of them?

As general RL fan, I think there are drawbacks - not least the complexity - but that is true in different ways for any system.

As a partisan Rovers fan, obviously i’ll be glad to see the back of them. Depending on whether Leigh make it, we could be the only ever presents in the middle 8s, I think. 2015 wasn’t so bad - 7-0, with some very slight salving of the wounds of Wembley. 2017 was cathartic, but what came in between would sour a person on anything. And here we are again in 2018, gearing up to start our season in July.

Obviously the same period has been much better for Hull FC - what have you made of them, as one of the four clubs who made the top 8 each time? Will you miss them, or do think change is due?

The weakness in the system is the disparity in tv money/salary cap between championship and super league teams.
I started off not liking the system but, ironically, they’re getting scrapped just when the system has settled down and showing signs of being more equal.
Rugby League needs to have courage and stick with a system long term.
Some hope.
Chopping and changing makes it look as though they’re being proactive, when in reality they’re just blagging it.

What? Have you not read Gareth Westmorland's acres of copy on Rovers making the 8 in the last couple of weeks? Not to mention both RL weekly papers printing the same.

Agree with most of that.

I think the top up of the Championship have stepped up well - possibly too well for the liking of the SL clubs, who thought the gulf in class would stay in the same place. The bigger gap now is arguably between the top and bottom half of the Championship, what with the sliding scale of central funding.

I guess we could look back on the last decade as a prolonged try before you buy. We know all the pros, cons and pitfalls now - so I don’t think there can be any excuse for any more harebrained chopping and changing.

Still like the idea of Super League 1 & 2, with a third tier as a development league.
It keeps the jeopardy of relegation, which people seem to like, but the less risk may mean clubs can put long term strategies in place.
The twenty clubs would need funding fairly equally so relegation wouldn’t mean financial meltdown, or mass panic towards the end of the season.
At the end of the day, I’m sure owners will vote for a system that benefits their club first and foremost, with the welfare of the general game second.

Imagine trying to have a decent conversation about the structure of our game only for some Barista sensationalism and attempt at irony to derail the conversation.

Why don’t you just give us your thoughts on it?

Let's hope sinfield can inspire leeds to do us a favour against cas today

tut tut, he isn't coaching, he is just taking the heat off Gary for poor recruitment.

Absolutely.
Whilst it would be amusing to see the Rhinos in the middle 8's again, in reality they would breeze through them.
So, far better to keep both Cas and Wire in our sights. If only just.

Salford appear to have imploded.

Pretty unlikely I'd say now. Rhinos in big trouble, although I think they still have Wakefield, Widnes and Salford to play so should finish with 19-21 points..