No offence but Champions should be the consistent team through the season and who are top.Imagine Liverpool winning champions tag from 5th?

hudds away last game of season lol...

Think you might want to re-read the post. He's talking about Leeds' mid-season slump which then meant that in the run in they could barely afford to lose a game in order to ensure a play-off spot.



Leeds peaked 3 times in the season - a true achievement...now if only we could win that bloody Challenge Cup Final

Ideally RL would not need play offs, they tend to be used by sports that dont have an ' even ' regular season of games , but like most things in our sport whatever we do has a negative effect on something else



A play off system devalues the regular season, no play off means the season could be over for most clubs after a few weeks, licencing financially secures clubs at the lower end of SL, but also removes meaning to their games



There is no simple answer, and I doubt things are going to change any time soon, the sport is between a rock and a hard place with nowhere to go

The system is contrived to finish the season on a high note.

However the weekly rounds are the best attended games compared to the abysmal gates in the challenge cup and play-offs.

Winning the league (finishing top) should have, at least, equal status to winning the GF otherwise league games will become increasingly meaningless and the game will wither as a result.

Leeds dont go into any game wanting to lose, but they play at about 75% throughout the regular season to avoid burnout. Then when September comes around they turn it up a notch. It's called knowing the rules and playing to the system. What is the point of having a playoff system and then moaning afterwards when the "top" team doesnt win. Oh, and if say the playoffs did get changed to say top 4, I am almost certain Leeds would be pushing top 2 every year because as shown, when the big games come around at the end of the season, they are as good as everyone.

We need Leeds to play half a team in the 27 game regular season and finish 8th. They can bring in there big gun players for the play offs and win the Grand Final from 8th. This would show up the weakness of the play off process.



From 2000 to 2005 there were quite a high percentage of intensive games at all levels in Superleague. Over the last 3 years intensive games have been replaced by momentum games, so there is a margin of acceptable loss with a top 8 play off.



Also, I don,t think the RFL have control of the play offs and challenge cup. Sky own the Play Offs and the BBC own the Challenge Cup schedules.

Ah, my bad. Still, the point re the playoff setup still stands.

I imagine that most people accept the playoffs as necessary and also find them (or at the very least the GF) an entertaining and spectacular way of ending the season. However, I also imagine most people would be happier if the playoffs had a clear sliding-scale of difficulty based on your team's finishing position. If nothing else, teams in the bottom half of the top 8--if we must stick with a top 8--shouldn't be playing home fixtures against teams lower down the table than them, whilst teams that finish higher than them play tougher opposition away.



On the subject of the playoffs being a necessary spectacle with which to end the season, in that respect we must simplify this convoluted and contrived format which can see repeat fixtures and losing teams advancing to the next stage and instead make every round a knockout round.

Don't remember Catalans busting a gut in the game at Wigan. Leeds on the other hand had a tough game against Wakefield who were the form team at the time. Leeds then also had to travel to the South of France and back before facing Wigan. Not saying the system is perfect but lets not try and belittle Leeds' achievement.

Typical of RLFANS (I say that as people on here are the minority), what a great spectacle last night showcasing our sport at it's best, the toughest athletes playing the tougest game, no other sport can match even poorer performances yet people continue to do the game down.

Finishing top has got to be recognised better and rewarded more generously.Perhaps the top club should qualify straight to the final with the also rans fighting it out between them for the other spot.There doesn't seem to be much incentive now and soon teams will be spelling their players even more throughout the regular season happy with a 3rd or 4th place finish.Home advantage as well counts for very little now as this seasons play off has once again shown.