The playoffs may need looking at. But 12 games? Don't be ridiculous.

If a team finishing 8th manages to make it all the way to the GF and leave victorious then in my mind they bloody well deserve to be champions.



As an aside, which match has more potential in terms of intensity;



Match A – Team X v Team Y, 8th and 9th respectively, are battling it out for the last play off place.



Match B – Team X v Team Y, 8th and 9th respectively, are playing in a match which decides who finishes 8th.

But that'd be the case if 6th played 7th etc.



I thought it was too many when half of the league qualified for the play-offs; now you can have a mediocre season, finish in the bottom half of the table and still qualifies. It cheapens the whole concept of it being considered an achievement to qualify for them.

They should have in theory stuck with the top 6, however, that would mean teams giving up and having nothing too play for earlier.



The more teams in the play offs the better i'm just not a fan of this you get too choose your oppo rubbish.

Indeed. It's even worse when you the consider possibilty of being crowned Super League Champions even though you finished in the bottom half of the league!

in theory, as the league gets closer and closer there will be less of a gap between 1st and 8th so in the future finishing 8th might not be such a bad position.

The rights and wrongs of the number of playoff places available is very much a matter of opinion, but the comparison was between a league with a playoff structure succeeding it and one without.



I feel the intensity of a match is not diminished by the presence of the play offs. Without relegation, a play off position is the only thing more then professional pride which should install a bit of drive in the players to compete to the best if their ability.



Take the play off out of the equation then your left with one or two teams with something to play for and perhaps yes, the games involving those will no doubt be very hard, but the rest of the league will subconsciously take their foot off the gas and play out the campaign with one eye on the following season.

It needs looking at but I can't think of how really. leeds have been at sea most of this year because the league fixtures dont matter. 1st spot with a guaranteed GF spot would certainly add to the intensity however.

But the more teams you allow in, the less the regular season games mean. You can have an absolutely horrible season and still get in. It doesn't reward effort like it should.



My initial post and title probably shouldn't have been about scrapping the playoffs but more about changing the format as its terrible in its current form.



Super League needs fewer games that mean more. How this happens is up for debate but something has to be done. The sport developed with the Sky money but has now stagnated and we've been firmly overtaken by club rugby Union. How long do we trudge on like this before they do something about it?



SL this season is just so utterly dull and lifeless. Is this just me that thinks this? IMO the reason is that there are so many playoff places. All the decent sides know they need nothing more than an average season to be, there is no incentive to go all out every week and attain a high placing, it's all about gearing yourself to do as little as possible so you are fresh for the playoffs.

the top 5 system really meant that each place higher in the table gave a definate advantage to the team involved.



The current system doesnt really do that - at least the 2008 system didnt, where there was no big advantage between 1st and 2nd. They need to devise something that involves 7 teams and gives proper benefits to every team higher up the league.

But.. but it's competetive????

Once home, once away and top five play off. That is ample for Super League.



Bring in a pre-season knockout cup competition to get rid of those meaningless friendlies, and bring in a couple of "international windows" to complement the existing international fixtures, and we once again have an exciting, meaningful series of competitions.