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..

No irony at all, read the table please to show how far of the mark MR's comment is.

I like the Super/Middle 8s. I think it does what it intended to do ie maintain interest in the late season for a bigger number of clubs.

Now mathematically safe in the 8. Panic over, Mrs B.

Not sure how you have made this assumption based on what can only be described as a terminal spiral at Headingley. Wakefield, if they turn up, will more than likely beat Leeds. Widnes showed us recently that they can play and without the albertoss of Betts hanging around them they will improve.

If we lost our last 3 games we finish on 22.

Catalans can finish on 24 beating Warrington, Salford & Wigan
Huddersfield can finish on 23 beating Wigan, Castleford and Wakefield
Wakefield can also finish on 22, beating Leeds and us and losing to Huddersfield. If they eroded the current 47 points goal difference between us and them in our 3 defeats and their 2 wins, wouldn't we miss out? It's been a long weekend, sorry if my maths is wrong.

…. but leeds, rovers, Salford and widnes can no longer catch us.

This. Leeds can only get 21 points. Another year away from the middle 8s.

Marvellous. More Pimms needed.

I'm becoming one of those people who openly declares victory in a quiz and then humiliatingly realises they've added the score up wrong.



Well, that's our preliminary goal achieved. With the worst injury scenario in years, a hugely honorable defence of back to back challenge cups and more gametime afforded to younger players than I can remember it's not been too shabby.

The Middle 8s look like they could be a right dogfight, I reckon Rovers will replace Huddersfield in the top 8 which could mean we play them at home again.

With Toronto and Widnes the only teams confirmed so far, the last 3 games could throw up absolutely anything. Could be quite the ending. I'm just glad we're no where near it!

Amen Brother. Pass the popcorn.

I agree the 8s maintains interest for more clubs for longer. That is one of its strengths.

However, selling it as ‘every minute matters’ set the bar too high, especially for those who interpreted that most literally. I’m also not sure it is sufficiently better in that regard than the version of 1 up, 1 down that was used before before 2008 to compensate for how much of the interest is based on fear rather than hope.

If Wakey beat Leeds next week, they’re okay. If they lose, they’re under real pressure. Which makes it an intriguing game. But, on the other hand, if they went down now instead of Widnes, it’d feel a bit messed up imo.

I sort of agree. The counter to that is that for us this year we've effectively been condemned to midtable mediocrity through a crippling injury list, so making the 8 feels like a milestone. With one up one down effectively we'd have 7 teams on the sunloungers in early July - barely any chance of troubling the top 4 and no threat of relegation - I like that there's interest at every level until the end of August at least. We're probably the only team with nothing really on at this point - in the 8 but too many key players out until the 8s start to make a meaningful push for the 4. That said if we had a number of them back we could mount some sort of charge. I prefer the 8s to 1 up 1 down. In a sport where jeopardy has decided the champions more often than not I like rolling that spirit across the different layers of the competitions.

Abdul was at our game today still had a bit of limp is he out for the season or due back sometime this