There’s plenty of advocates for the current six team play-off system. After all, it gives a suitable advantage to the top two, gives us three brilliant weeks of Super League action and also makes it incredibly hard for fifth and sixth to make it to Old Trafford which is the way it should be.
In fact, there’s a lot of positives to every play-off system proposed with limited teams. The other iteration of a top six play-off system we’ve seen in this country gave the top two a second bite at the cherry if they lost and included six scintillating play-off encounters. The top five system used in the very early days of the league and brought back in 2019 offered a very similar set of positives and is arguably the most sensible play-off system. After all, in order to win the Grand Final in this system you have to beat every team who finished above you.
However, I’ve always had a problem with these play-off systems. For me they don’t include enough teams. Now, I know there’s a philosophy that says allowing teams who finished too far down the league in the play-offs is ridiculous because what if a side who finished in the bottom half wins the Grand Final? I understand this notion but there seems to be too much space between the play-offs and relegation to me.
If you’re a side like Salford or Wakefield, although the play-offs remain possible, they’re at this moment unlikely. However, relegation is equally unlikely. So, what are they playing for? Perhaps a more apt example would be Huddersfield. The plight of Leigh at the bottom has left a seismic gap between them and the rest meaning that an injury ravaged Giants side at this moment will see little risk of relegation whilst their play-off hopes are virtually gone owing to their poor form and pile of injuries. So, I’ll ask again – what are the Giants playing for?
I recently suggested that now is the time for the Giants to look towards 2022 which could potentially be a fruitful year for the club. But that’s no good for paying supporters. They want to see competitive rugby, they want stakes.
Now, imagine if instead of a six-team play-off system we used the old eight-team system which we still see in the NRL. Salford’s, Wakefield’s and Huddersfield’s seasons would be far from other. Moreover, there’d be excitement right through the league with fans knowing they stand a better chance of Grand Final glory in fifth rather than eighth for instance conjuring up a need for the teams to keep pushing for the highest possible position.
There’d be more to play for, more important games and, perhaps most significantly, more intrigue. Furthermore, the play-offs – one of the best times to be a rugby supporter and a real chance to grab a new audience – would be longer and more action packed which can only be a good thing.
Ultimately, some of my favourite ever play-off series involved the eight-team system from 2009-14. There were so many twists and turns and so much to play for throughout the entire season. Yes, I can understand the reasoning for shorter forms of play-offs but the old saying is the more the merrier.
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Tony Townend
July 25, 2021 at 1:45 pm
Super League needs to expand the play offs like it needs a hole in the head. if winning the competition from 5th in the regular rounds isn’t bad enough, winning from lower down the table would stretch the bounds of credibility beyond breaking point.. The play offs need to be scrapped. The team who finishes top becomes champions, correctly rewarded for season long consistency. Then and only then we can have an divisional premiership with a separate trophy up for grabs.
Jon
July 25, 2021 at 6:16 pm
The play offs shouldn’t be expanded unless the number of teams in Super League is increased.
As it stands HALF of the twelve teams in the competition qualify for the play offs.
If it was increased to eight places that would be THREE QUARTERS of the teams in the competition would qualify for the play offs. Statistically it would be harder to finish OUT OF the play offs than it would be to finish IN them.
Personally I have always preferred the top five play off format. The team top of the pile after the regular rounds gets a well earned advantage of a week off and only needs to win one game to get to the Grand Final. They also have a second bite of the cherry if they need it and always play at home.
Just to digress…
We need to expand the number of teams in Super League by one per year until we get to sixteen, no relegation until we reach sixteen teams. Then we can scrap the loop fixtures that dilute the novelty of derbies and big games. I’ve read that it’s the chairman who want the loop fixtures to “balance the books”, but doesn’t that mean they are overspending? I think the salary cap is currently £2.1million or half of the clubs total income which ever is lower but I maybe mistaken about the half of the income rule.
Obviously ANY expansion is extremely unlikely to happen. It could only happen with either a bumper TV deal or clubs agreeing to a reduction in central funding. Seeing as the money in the latest TV deal was reduced this is very unlikely. If clubs would take less central funding (TV Money) the only outcome I could see is the divide between the bigger clubs and the smaller clubs getting bigger. That is unless the salary cap actually works!?
Realistically we won’t get any meaningful changes while SL clubs govern themselves. They will only ever vote in their own interest.
When you have a very possible scenario of Saints v Wigan three times in the regular rounds and then in the Magic Weekend, then they get drawn in the Challenge Cup and then in the play offs or Grand Final its not “special”, its “repetitive”. The only people interested in the scenario above are the chairman of Saints and Wigan as they count the gate receipts, which they need so they can keep spending the total salary cap to keep them out of the reach of the chasing teams. Lets have each team play twice in the regular rounds.
I vote Quality over Quantity.