I get worked up because we're left with a plethora of joke games with one inevitable game at the end of it. All so Sky can show a few more adverts.

There is no excitement, no intensity, no potential to get people interested in the sport.

Leeds have finished top and won a playoff game. How that puts them in a position where they could lose a freak game and miss the final is beyond me.

if the games are so predictable in the play offs then they must be predictable in the league so why do you watch such a predictable sport, as opposed to watching manu/chelsea win the premiership every season?

Where rugby union moves ahead of other sports is it shameless 'borrowing' of ideas.
Video ref, playoffs, sin bin....

Noone is saying we any of those things.

What people are saying is that 8 teams from 14 is too many, that the system is unfair, that there is no real advantage for finishing top, that it reduces the league season to a pre-season tournament, that the games are predictable and dull, and that the fans are obviously not interested.

leicester tigers are currently 3 in the premiership,and yet they have not scored a try this season.perhaps they need to pinch a few more ideas off us.

It's not just him though is it ? He may not be making his point very well but the facts are that 27% fewer (or >11,000 people) watched the 4 games than watched the corresponding league fixtures. That has to be a worry.

yes you brave little soldier you. fighting against the mighty rfl. well done. people disagreeing are just that people disagreeing.

what people are criticising is the usual hysteria

the new play offs has a certain logic behind it. i suspect a 16 team comp is one. im not sold on it yet but i have this bizaare idea of waiting longer then a couple of games to judge the bloody thing.

I have definately seen the opinion I noted with regards to the playoffs voiced on this very website.



I'm inclined to agree, but if you already know the results of the initial stages, what's the problem? How, therefore, can it be that ...



when everyone knows the rules in advance, and those teams finishing, say, 6th and down have no chance?



As our Welsh friend has noted, why would you watch the regular season matches then?

That's a big statement.
People didn't go to the playoff games last weekend because they don't like them.
Three in our household didn't go because they didn't have the money.
The idea for us is that we'll save and put the money towards a grand final or maybe even semi ticket.
I don't imagine we're alone.

In some ays that supports what he's saying, though - that there are too many playoff games this year.

So they're hardly a 'must see' event then - you generally find people can always find the money for a genuinely exciting event. For whatever reason, be it financial, dislike of the format, expecting to win/lose easily, the fact is that the Week 1 fixture format didn't spark people's imagination enough to persuade them to attend. The numbers speak for themselves.

of course its a worry just not the coming of the end times where only the righteous will ascend and the rest of humainity will burn in hell fire and its all r lewis's fault. thats all.

of course the season ticket effect seems to impact.

look in the end i wish i really do that we were strong enough to have a league system, challenge cup, meaningful european and international game but we dont and sometimes we have to make best of what we have. its crushing reality that motivates the rfl, not conspiracy, not stupidity. hard to face for some people.

i think if it beds down it will grow backwards from the grand final. that was criticised as well but is a proven success. i think the semi's could see the same growth over a time.

We all remember the first grand finals. They were derided largely dur to their poor attendances.
I'm willing to give the new playoff system a chance. If it doesn't work I'm sure it will be shelved. What does get me is the sudden outcry from some fans. We all knew the situation before the season started so why are people coming out saying they'll never watch a game of rugby again now?

As for last week's attendances, the fact that they aren't on the season ticket has hit a lot of fans.
It might be an idea to offer half price admission for season ticket holders next time round.

I just don't get that concept at all.

You buy a season ticket, you know it's for defined number of games for a defined price.

The Play Offs are an additional, almost separate competition, if your assertion earlier about the league being a qualifying competition is correct. You should therefore expect to pay full price to watch this additional competition.

I can't comprehend why people would watch a team all season and then not go and watch their most important games just because it's a couple of quid extra.

Try 20 quid extra. With two kids you're talking over 50 quid for the day and I like many just can't afford that. If you fancy inviting me and the family to the game at Hull KR next week fantastic. If not best not jump to conclusions about people not attending games. It's no fun being skint.

I recognise that for some it's a lot of money and I'm not deriding anyone, I just find the 'season ticket holders should get advantages' concept a bit of a nonsense. At some clubs, a walk up fan who attends 10 of the 13 games but doesn't have a ST actually brings in more cash than a ST holder who attends all games. It's the attitude that ST holders are the 'most important' fans that I disagree with.

I'd love to be at every game from the first till the last, league or cup, but it's just not possible.

Like I said, I'm more than willing to give it a go.
If come the final whistle in the Grand Final I'm not convinced then I'll put my argument forward. I just don't see the sense in moaning about it before it's even half way through.

bar the choosing your opponent gimmick, the play-off system is 'traditional' rather than a new innovation, as prior to 1973 we had play-off system already in place to determine the league champions.

just a boring point

Couple of things.

a) Lets see if either Hudds or Kr get turned over this week, that would answer your argument re: the advantages of finishing first/second.

b) Defend the 8 team system..okay, how pathetic was the 6 team system where you'd have the 'dress rehearsal' every year.. tbh i didnt watch it last year because the game the year before bored me senseless. Yes 8 teams is a little much from a 14 team league but for example Bradford and Warry didn't qualify, 2 decent sides, im fairly sure given a couple more years we could support an 8 teamer, teams finishing very close on points etc

c) I stated on another thread that initially I thought the AFL system (the one we're using) was the right choice, however I now accept it probably would have been better to use the NRL system. 7th and 8th would of had to go to Leeds and Saints to advance and it gives 1 and 2 an easy ride to week 3. However in this system the freak result on week 3 is really highlighted however if say Leeds lost to Catalans and then Hull kr both at home would they deserve to be in the final.
It also means the chances of repeated games e.g. dress rehearsals like we imo saw on fri and sat are nil as there's guaranteed to be at least one team per game HAS to win. Id love to dicuss the pro's and cons of this system more but that isnt really the issue.

d) I said on the other thread, you solve the attendance problem by knocking a 3rd off for season ticket holders home and away, it goes into a central pot anyway and i guarantee you'd of added another couple of thousand to each game

In Australia everyone is brought up to believe that playoffs are the best way to determine the champions. Over here we are brought up to believe that finishing top of the league is the only way that champions should be decided, even though I would say that sports who operate that way are in the minority.

on sky sports news the other day the presenters were all laughing because even they had no idea who would be playing who.

i beleive one of them said "this system is like latin, only a few understand it and non really care".

Only those of us who know nothing about the history of the game. The 'first past the post' was only a brief experiment for 20 odd years. On the other hand, we've used play-offs to decide the champions for the remaining 70-odd years of our history.



Only because they're fools who and spent all week's build-up saying "and on Sunday we'll tell you exactly who's playing who next week" like it was some mystery, before realising it was obvious.

I would suggest its the hapless presenters that are stupid and not the playoff system.

So after years of Wigan winning everything, then the 'big 4', we now get to a situation where teams like Rovers & Hudds are in with a shout of glory and in true RL style it is somehow a 'joke' or 'a farce' or 'lowering standards'.

I genuinely believe some RL fans are not happy unless they are complaining about something...there can be no other explanation. And anyone who doesn't agree is somehow a RFL puppet or Richard Lewis' best mate.



Lets look at football: AFC Wimbledon are (I think) now one division below the Football League. If they were to gain promotion back into the FL, would this mean soccer standards were lower? Because you can guarantee you will only hear stories about their brilliant revival, not about how Barnet or someone have had to move out to accomodate them.

Incidentally, I met a AFC Wimbledon fan in Edinburgh this year (not at a game, in the pub after) and he was a great admirer of RL. Not necessarily a fan, but as he put it "it's real, it's supported by real fans". Clearly some non RL people think more of the game than some RL fans.