I wouldn't say wierd... I'd say more like weird.

the old aussie system had a champions challenge type thing in case of 'one' bad game. if the league leaders lost a semi or a final they could challenge the winners to another game - a grand final to finally decide the champions. only it had to be arranged a week after the normal final which was such a pain the they abandoned it and called the normal final a 'grand final'. maybe we could have that system? only joking.

Its amazaing what marketeers can do by throwing money at something!

Football has the champions league, where non-domestic champions can be crowned champions of europe. Where the group games on the whole are at best tedious and at worst, negative / dull. Yet the media would have you thik it was the epitomy of sport.

RL's problem has been it (lack of) marketing and the way it presents itself on TV.

The playoffs are ok. In fact the vast majority of sports play to a playoff system, the main exception is soccer.

Dooo u speke propa lyk wot I rnt?

Ahh, the Yorkshire education system.

Exactly.

It doesn't help when on TV you get the presenters (the main media output to most RL fans this side of the world) making a mockery of the play-off system on television. It rubs off on the viewer. If they did their job and fully understood the system before they went on air, and explained it properly, then maybe people would:
a) be able to understand it properly, and
b) realise what a clever system it is.

Rugby League's problem's are from within. It's the only thing I can't stand about the sport. It almost feels like you HAVE to be a negative nancy in order to be a proper fan of the game.

The RFL should have made an official complaint to Sky Sports. Do you honestly think those presenters would have acted like that when talking about football or cricket?

Exactly. I sat there watching it thinking "if I were new to this, I'd think it was a joke". It's not because of the system, but the presentation of it. People that don't understand it will look at these "experts" and think "well if they don't, how the hell is anyone else supposed to?"

Their job was to inform people, and they just didn't achieve that at all.

If the RFL are gonna stick with the top 8 then it needs fixing, this is the only sport I know were you have a play off comp (non group) where you could play a team twice before you get to the final.

Ive not looked it up but how often has this happened in say the last ten years?

who gives a toss what other sports do? seriously how does it matter? judge it either way by its own merits or drawbacks. rugby league is the most deferential of sports, which is so ironic it beggars belief.

I have no idea, but regardless it is an irrelevant point. It is more likely to happen in SL as teams aren't as closely matched as those in the NRL. You may get 5th beating 4th and 6th beating 3rd, but the rest I very much doubt.

ESPN and BBC Sport presenter Mark Chapman has thrown his support behind engage Super League’s new ClubCall play-off system which this Sunday will see Leeds Rhinos choose which team they play in order to reach October’s Grand Final.

[urlhttp://www.superleague.co.uk/article.php?id=15430[/url

That's not quite correct. What you call the normal final was replaced by the Preliminary Final, which was recognized from the start as being the game before the Grand Final. The Grand Final was always unique in having the potential to be a rematch between the top 2, who'd previously met earlier in the playoffs.

Quote ="Big Picture"That's not quite correct. What you call the normal final was replaced by the Preliminary Final, which was recognized from the start as being the game before the Grand Final. The Grand Final was always unique in having the potential to be a rematch between the top 2, who'd previously met earlier in the playoffs.'" to quote sean fagan, rugby league historian "For many seasons the minor premiers (the team on top after the home and away club rounds) had a "right of challenge" if they were beaten in a semi-final or final. " www.rl1908.com/clubcomps/by-decades.htm

Quote ="Big Picture"That's not quite correct. What you call the normal final was replaced by the Preliminary Final, which was recognized from the start as being the game before the Grand Final. The Grand Final was always unique in having the potential to be a rematch between the top 2, who'd previously met earlier in the playoffs.'" to quote sean fagan, rugby league historian "For many seasons the minor premiers (the team on top after the home and away club rounds) had a "right of challenge" if they were beaten in a semi-final or final. " www.rl1908.com/clubcomps/by-decades.htm

I've never heard a football fan laughing at the SL playoffs.

But even if they did, who CARES? They're only football fans! Their entire sport is a joke.

Quote ="jannerboyuk"to quote sean fagan, rugby league historian "For many seasons the minor premiers (the team on top after the home and away club rounds) had a "right of challenge" if they were beaten in a semi-final or final. " www.rl1908.com/clubcomps/by-decades.htm'" What Sean is talking about there is what happened before the Page system was adopted, I'm talking about after that. In the Page system there is no game called the Final, instead it has Semi-Finals, a Preliminary Final and then the Grand Final.

Quote ="jannerboyuk"to quote sean fagan, rugby league historian "For many seasons the minor premiers (the team on top after the home and away club rounds) had a "right of challenge" if they were beaten in a semi-final or final. " www.rl1908.com/clubcomps/by-decades.htm'" What Sean is talking about there is what happened before the Page system was adopted, I'm talking about after that. In the Page system there is no game called the Final, instead it has Semi-Finals, a Preliminary Final and then the Grand Final.

What he said.

Excellently put.

They can't work out that a timekeeper would be better than someone guessing what time they should finish a game!

They would be too confused by it to be able to laugh.

At least in previous years the playoffs have provided compelling viewing and unbelievable talent and skill. This year they haven't.............yet.

I hope everyone remembers this when Eddie & Stevo start banging on about the top eight ..................... in April

The World Cup was a disaster and we all knew it.... right up till around round three of Super League.
We'll get smashed in the Four Nations and we'll all realise that the standard of the game over here is poor compared to the southern hemisphere.
That will last till around March 2010, when we'll all go on about the vibrant, competitive SL.

Here, here. Spot on.