I would go back to the top five, as then teams would have to strive to finish as high up the table as possible to first make the five and then to give themselves the best possible chance of reaching OT. Also having 5 from 14 would give more of a sense that you are watching the elite teams from throughout the year and would give the playoffs that sense of exclusivity that they are supposed to have.

Realistically how important ( comparatively, as I know many on here do not even accept footballs existence) was yesterday's Wigan v Warrington game , compared with today's Southampton vs man city?

A true customer would eat that food regardless! They owe the restaurant a living goddammit!

Yeah but the difference is, if you are so unhappy with your energy supplier, you can always go to another one.

I question how much extending the playoffs to 8 teams has really changed the motivational landscape for lower clubs. Do they really think that scraping to eighth gives them a chance of winning the GF? Only Leeds have shown that a lower place finish is 'OK', but from fifth, not eighth, and even then, Leeds, with the quality in their squad would retain belief that a win from fifth was possible, regarding their lower regular season finish as something of an anamoly. Until someone wins from eighth, it'll always seem like a bit of afterthought - "oh go on, plucky loser, we'll let you have a few more games". But paradoxically, I think a lot of people, certainly me, would be very concerned about the eighth team winning in terms of the meaningfulness of the regular season.

I think top 8 is almost a lazy response to the problem of varied club ability - we sort of say " top 5 is more or less nailed on, so lets make it 8 just to let others have a go in the playoff". It should be top 5 at most, and get on with solving the real problem of uncompetitive teams.

I suspect that depends on the form of the team going into the play offs. Wakey certainly believed they were capable of beating Leeds last year and had they won I'm sure they would have had similar belief for their next tie. Conversely, had they gone into the play offs in the manner of Huddersfield, say, they'd probably have had very little confidence. Not defending the top 8 system in any shape or form but it is conceivable, albeit unlikely, that a lesser team placed 6th-8th might one day win a GF.