No i'm not and not at all.

Crusaders would win more prize money and would win the Grand Final and therefor be Champions. But Wigan would still finish 1st in Superleague and keep the league leaders shield, or are you suggesting that, as they didn't win the grand final, they would effectively come 2nd and Crusaders 1st so then Crusaders should get the league leaders shield???

Sorry you didn't, I misread what you said in your post before that. As you say in the league standings we finished 6th and 'prize money wise' we finished 7th... the point is though that what you call 'prize money wise' is what is actually the final standings of the competition and therefore by far the most important thing!

I realise a lot of people don't think this is a fair system (i.e. we finished ahead of Rovers in the league over a 27 game league season, but overall they finished above us), but it is the way it is.

Now i may be wrong here but i'll stick my kneck out:

The playoff format was dropped completely when Superleague was created and the league leaders where the Champions, it wasn't until Superleague 3 when the playoff system was introduced or re-introduced. It was purely brought in as a money spinner and a chance to create more media coverage!!

Correct, GF was not brought in till 1998 when SL was in its 3rd year.

Thank f*** for that, i was in for a right roasting there if not

But regardless of when it was brought in or what the reasons were for bringing it in, it became part of the existing SL competition and was not a stand-alone addition to the RL calendar like the old premiership was.

Maybe so, but at least i've been officially correct about something today





More than you i suppose

Nobody gives a rats ar$e about the league leaders shield. It's a tin pot trophy worth nothing. The position merely gives the team an advantage going into the play-offs.

There are 2 trophies all super league clubs start the season aspiring to win and that is it

Beg to differ, league leaders are the true champions to a lot of supporters regardless of the GF.

Including me!! It is far harder to win the league than it is to win a cup/playoff competition.

That is absolute tosh!!!

Grand Final winners are super league champions full stop.

I personally don't like a play-off system, it is purely a cash cow. I agree that after the completion of the regular season, the team at the top of the table SHOULD be the super league champions. That is simply not the case unfortunately.

Officially they are champions, however a lot of supporters still see the team that finishes top as the best team of the season and rightly so.

You reckon people would see Crusaders as champions if they won the GF from 8th??? Officially they would have been but a lot would not agree.

It's an opinion a lot of people have but it doesn't stop it being irrelevant, them's the rules and you have to judge performances accordingly.

It may be irrelevant but that doesn't mean you judge the performance based on that.... I'll judge my team on the basis that they, rightly or wrongly, finished 6th in the league which is still an achievement and i'd expect 5th next year!!

Any true judge of performance has to be based in the context of the whole competition, not the part of it that you think makes the most positive reading.

The playoffs are essentially a knock out competition. Wigan were by far and away the best team in 2010, if they had been knocked out of the play offs in the first round it would of been irrelevant imo. The play offs are a money spinner and that's all.

Quote ="garry brindley"Makes it all the more intriguing where Berrigan's Bitch has got these emails from then, although it would be funny if the club had a different opinion on where they finished to the RFL! To clear this up please forward them to: g_brindley@yahoo.co.uk I suspect I won't be getting anything '" Firstly I would never send you an e-mail...why would I want you to have my e-mail address The e-mails are on my works e-mail address, I will show them to a well know ex Moderator (Ian P) who will confirm the contents of each....Both confirm we finished 2010 6th!!!

Quote ="garry brindley"Makes it all the more intriguing where Berrigan's Bitch has got these emails from then, although it would be funny if the club had a different opinion on where they finished to the RFL! To clear this up please forward them to: g_brindley@yahoo.co.uk I suspect I won't be getting anything '" Firstly I would never send you an e-mail...why would I want you to have my e-mail address The e-mails are on my works e-mail address, I will show them to a well know ex Moderator (Ian P) who will confirm the contents of each....Both confirm we finished 2010 6th!!!

That doesn't change what I'm saying? Most people acknowledge that Barcelona were the best football team in Europe last year but they didn't win the champions league.. people don't go around saying that Inter Milan aren't the real champions though.

Before SL starts you know that the competition comprises a league element and a knockout element, to win it you have to be successful at both.

'never give your email address out to strangers.. anything could happen!"

I knew you made it up

I have my doubts now that you actually are Zod, because unbelievably you are an even bigger kn0b than him

Oooh a mean name!



Still, better a 'knob' than someone who tells lies and then claims that giving out their email address somehow impinges on their personal safety to try and get out of it

Personal safety...WTF

I'm not sure why you think the date of introduction is relevant?



Over it's history RL has traditionally chosen it's champions via a playoff system. Alternatives have been tried from time to time but the current system is the traditional one. It may well be a money-spinner but it's not an invention of SKY. The 'minor premiership' is, however, wholly invented.

Well that's what you implied?

You claim to have evidence that could settle a long-standing debate on these boards, but conveniently enough won't send me it because you 'don't want me having your email address'.

I've never heard such rubbish in all my life.

People think all sorts of things. Doesn't make them right.



The current system is the traditional one. End of. And in fact the whole time we had an uneven fixture list it was the fairest judge of the best team over the season, as in the league rounds not every team had the same fixture list. Now that we don't have that problem I'd generally prefer a system where the league leaders were declared champions and we had a separate Premiership in place of the playoffs and GF. I'm in a minority though.