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Thread: New SL Format 2019.

  1. #51
    In The South Stand Paul Newlove's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by SaintH517 View Post
    But then it’s not really the Grand Final because what are you actually winning?
    Good point, I mentioned this years ago, you could still play for the SL trophy at OT with the league winners being awarded the old RL Championship trophy lifted by all the past greats of the game.
    The title of Champions to me would be far more important than the trophy awarded. To me you win the league you're champions, I have learned to accept the GF has changed this and I enjoy the day out but It'll never fully sit well with me.

  2. #52
    In The North Stand With All The Old Folk Scouse Don's Avatar
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    As far as I am concerned if Hetherington is against it it must be a good thing. The current system has presided over the game sliding into an abyss.

    Hetherington is whining because the current system suits Leeds. End of story. He is against reserve team rugby as well. I have no time for him.
    Learned comment from The Don

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    In The South Stand Sean Day's Avatar
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    I've said it many times, the team finishing top should be champions. So what if mediocre teams have nothing to play for come June - get your act together so you aren’t in the same position again next year - that’s life unfortunately.

    And with nonsense, contrived systems to keep the season alive (and it’s debatable whether that’s what happens in reality when you look at some crowds) we are always running at the speed of the back markers. Same goes for the minuscule salary cap

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    Good to see hetherington is upset, he has had his way for too long. He is under pressure at the Rhino's too with elements of their support suggesting he needs to get his cheque book out. I honestly don't know what positive things Wood has done for league. Hopefully this is a changing of the guard. Perhaps with momentum we can get back reserve team football? I think a 14 team league is probable with 1 up 1 down, and a 6 team play off

    Sent from my PRA-LX1 using Tapatalk

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    There seems a bit more to this than GH just having a whinge. Comments from a member of Coventry Bears who was at the meeting:

    “Elstone and co have done a preemptive strike.

    Thats why GH is fuming.

    Meetings are still in progress and nothing has been agreed.

    It is obviously designed to pull the rug from under the RFL , Championship and League 1 clubs.”

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    In The North Stand With All The Old Folk Belgian Saint's Avatar
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    For me we definitely need to bin the Hub Cap and have a proper trophy for the Super League champions (league leaders). We could then have a Super Series (call it what you want) for the top 5 or 6.

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    The 3x8 concept clearly hasn't worked, not many people wanted it in the first place, not many want it now and it's incredibly confusing for the casual passer-by of RL. With the 8s and the absence of a proper reserves league being the brainchild of Hetherington and his Yorkshire mafia it's good to see he's no longer getting his own way. Given that we're now in June, all teams needed some clarity on what next season is going to look like.

    I do think it's key though that whatever structure we go with beyond 2019, it has to be for the long term. From year to year, you rarely know what's coming, whether that's structure changes, rule changes etc. I'd be making sure that the new structure is guaranteed to be in place for the next three World Cup cycles (up to 2029), none of this changing every three or four years. It also needs to be decided on by the end of this year so teams of all divisions can prepare.

    For what it's worth I don't think we have the player base to support an extension to a 14 team league without diluting the quality even further. Personally I'd stick with two divisions of 12 with one up / one down. I'd even stick with the simpler play-off structure we have now of just the top four in a semi-final / GF format. Fewer games but greater intensity.

    The one thing we'd lose from the 8s is the opportunity for some of the top Championship teams to get experience against SL opposition, I'm not entirely sure how to address that. With a shorter season though there would perhaps be the option to introduce something different like a three-event 9s league (the sort of thing the likes of the Hearn's could work with, separate TV/sponsorship deal, decent prize money, teams across the divisions). Or we could have a greater commitment to an international schedule with perhaps three tests per year during the season.

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    Quote Originally Posted by eddiewaringsflatcap View Post
    The argument about 'nothing to play' seems to rear its ugly head whenever rugby league is mentioned for but it doesn't seem to be an issue for a range of sports (e.g Soccer, Cricket, American Football). The constant change of the sport's competitive structure is symptomatic of a game that is unable to lay out any sort of strategy to grow the game without cheap gimmicks and is too compliant to the sports broadcasters for often unhelpful suggestions which have made the game look like WWE.
    Totally agree. I don't believe there is a structure where every game has something to play for other than a knockout cup competition.
    All leagues are based on teams wanting to finish as high as they can, to claim a team in the middle doesn't want to win is questioning the integrity of the players. How many times do we hear there are no friendly in RL? I've played in so called friendlys and mid table games and when your on the pitch you don't think about anything other than trying to win.

    I do like the play offs though,probably top 5 is the best format

    I would quite like million pound game between bottom and top of championship

    I'd prefer a return to 14 teams regardless of quality, create opportunities and the younger players are less likely to drop from the game, how can we grown when we reduce opportunities?

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    Quote Originally Posted by eddiewaringsflatcap View Post
    Here's a revolutionary idea... The team at the top of the table after all the fixtures have been played are the champions.

    .
    I'd vote for that.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Belgian Saint View Post
    For me we definitely need to bin the Hub Cap and have a proper trophy for the Super League champions (league leaders). We could then have a Super Series (call it what you want) for the top 5 or 6.
    Against this, the best thing to happen to the sport in years is the super league final, good numbers and good interest, gives us something to sell

    The old premiership was an add on at the end of the year when people where already thinking of their holidays, almost worthless other than a good day out

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    Quote Originally Posted by 49er View Post
    Let’s not kid ourselves here. Whatever system is brought in there will always be games near the seasons end that are totally meaningless.
    Not to players, coaches and fans

    You could make the same claim for any league structure

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    Quote Originally Posted by Tez the Saint View Post
    Not for me, it’s a contact sport and injuries happen to multiple teams every year. It takes time to rebuild, Cas, Hull and Leeds are going through it now, we’ve had so many injury plagued seasons in recent years, if you lose a couple of players mid season you’d be done for. It would be a race to sign as many average squad players as possible, everyone would panic and the quality of the competition would decrease massively IMO.

    I don’t see why they didn’t just stick with something, I’ve really liked the 8’s format to be honest. I’ve found it exciting to watch, it rewards consistency through the year because you’ve got to make the four, top two get home semi finals, I haven’t had a problem with it. I don’t know what the non-rugby related effects are to it though.
    I've also enjoyed middles eights, thought it was interesting and gave me a chance to watch more top championship clubs, however it did feel like a gimmick with a short lifespan. I think it cheapens the game so happy for it to go

    As for the clubs arguing over power, seems like playground bickering, everyone trying to look after their own interests. This is the problem with diplomacy, asking opinions, liaising, you get many different views and some people end up unhappy.
    Let's just try a dictatorship, the super league who bring in the money make all the decisions and tell us as it is

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    Quote Originally Posted by Upside View Post
    Not to players, coaches and fans

    You could make the same claim for any league structure
    The ardent fans (like most of us on here) will still support our teams but we need to bring in the floating fans.
    In every Rugby League town for every fan who goes to the game regularly there's at least one or more who take an interest in the game but never go.
    We need to get these fans through the turnstiles but I don't think tinkering with the league achieves that either way

  16. #66
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    Any end of the season playoff system that isn't for overall champions is a waste of time, you think attendances are bad for the challenge cup..

    Whilst we're getting 70k plus, and 400k watching on TV, the grand final is here to stay, have no doubts about that.. Rugby Union, Cricket (limited overs) have followed suit, I think it's very much the modern day spin on sport where the last game is the biggest, ignore football, it's massive, and could do whatever it wanted!

    I like the 8s system, but that's me, people like Lenaghan, Moran and McManus (no to mention the other eight chairs) who have made a lot more money than me, and have access to more of the facts than me believe in another system.

    The only thing I'd mention is why do we need to have a vote on everything, because there's a lot of situations which will be turkeys voting for Christmas, super league should be telling the chairs what's happening, not the other way around

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    The whole constantly dicking about with the format just gets me down.

    I personally quickly grew to love the Super-8 system and think, as a test for Championship clubs vying for SL, it's close to perfect. The move back to 1-up, 1-down has me holding my head in my hands, as it has for years (even before SL was incepted) been a failure - the yo-yo'ing of teams, the panic-buying by the promoted clubs (often of past-it journeymen, who just drag the excitement of the sport down), the fear of giving young players a chance. Hate it, hate it, hate it. A massive backwards step.

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    Here's a controversial one for you, how about the 'loop fixtures' are the old Lancashire/Yorkshire [or call it East Vs West] cup

    11 home and away
    Magic, Lancashire Vs Yorkshire (6 games)
    Last five games Lancashire Cup:
    Saints, Wigan, Wire, Salford, Catalans, Widnes
    Last five games Yorkshire Cup:
    Leeds, Huddersfield, Hull, Hull KR, Castleford, Wakefield

    We've had crazier ideas.

    Not Ideal, but something a little different rather than just a drawer for the inevitable extra fixtures

    League points still count

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    Quote Originally Posted by jackbit View Post
    "leeds rhinos are not party to this..." good, now pi55 off gary and go fetch your doll back!
    roy litherland it's happened i told you it would

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    Quote Originally Posted by Private Pyle View Post
    Disappointing lack of historical references

  21. #71
    In The South Stand Paul Newlove's Avatar
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    Although I will never agree with it completely I realise the Grand Final deciding the champions isn't going anywhere. One thing I would really like to see would be the old RL Championship trophy being awarded to the league winners. It would be a great nod to the past and all the RL greats who competed for that trophy, the hub cap for topping the league is insulting I think.
    I've been banging on about this for years, disgraceful that Wigan have been allowed to keep that magnificent trophy what RFL chief exec would allow that?...oh right Maurice Lindsay.
    Last edited by Paul Newlove; 12th June 2018 at 23:21.

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    We've got three pages with a variety of opinions so chances whichever format we have next year isn't going to please everyone.

    This chap Elston has been lauded as the best thing to happen to Super League and he is going to lead us to the promised land.
    Well based on this statement I'm not too impressed.
    "Lets scrap Super 8s and have 1 up and 1 down relegation" nothing new there But where is the rest of the info
    How many teams in Super League?
    How many games are we going to play?
    What play off system are we going to have ?

    Ok he's only been in the job 5 mins but why bother releasing a half cooked statement.

    Surely the most important bit is how we determine who is the Champions perhaps he hasn't got to that page in the CEO handbook yet

  23. #73
    In The West Stand Dux's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Infamous Grouse View Post
    This chap Elston has been lauded as the best thing to happen to Super League and he is going to lead us to the promised land.
    Well based on this statement I'm not too impressed.
    "Lets scrap Super 8s and have 1 up and 1 down relegation" nothing new there But where is the rest of the info
    How many teams in Super League?
    How many games are we going to play?
    What play off system are we going to have ?

    Ok he's only been in the job 5 mins but why bother releasing a half cooked statement.

    Surely the most important bit is how we determine who is the Champions perhaps he hasn't got to that page in the CEO handbook yet
    I quite agree. There is a lot of noise in this about what the game needs to do, but absolutely no suggestion whatsoever of how it’s going to do it. All we’ve learned is that the 8s are going. My suspicion is that the result will be a return to an over-inflated playoff system, which means more meaningless games — in fact a largely meaningless regular season — for everyone.

    As much as I enjoy seeing Gary Hetherington lose his marbles, he’s got a point. This is another step towards the SL clubs having complete control of the game, and the SL clubs will ultimately make the decisions that suit them, and not the game, best.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Infamous Grouse View Post
    We've got three pages with a variety of opinions so chances whichever format we have next year isn't going to please everyone.

    This chap Elston has been lauded as the best thing to happen to Super League and he is going to lead us to the promised land.
    Well based on this statement I'm not too impressed.
    "Lets scrap Super 8s and have 1 up and 1 down relegation" nothing new there But where is the rest of the info
    How many teams in Super League?
    How many games are we going to play?
    What play off system are we going to have ?

    Ok he's only been in the job 5 mins but why bother releasing a half cooked statement.

    Surely the most important bit is how we determine who is the Champions perhaps he hasn't got to that page in the CEO handbook yet
    You’ve just answered your own question. I think the whole press conference was a bit over the top at this stage but what’s wrong with giving people an idea on how we are moving forward? I do think the optimism on Elstone should be a bit more reserved as well given the lack of praise from Everton fans (possibly because their expectations aren’t exactly in line with reality) but at the same time I like most of what’s been said at this stage. Not sure I like just 1 up, 1 down though.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Dux View Post
    I quite agree. There is a lot of noise in this about what the game needs to do, but absolutely no suggestion whatsoever of how it’s going to do it. All we’ve learned is that the 8s are going. My suspicion is that the result will be a return to an over-inflated playoff system, which means more meaningless games — in fact a largely meaningless regular season — for everyone.

    As much as I enjoy seeing Gary Hetherington lose his marbles, he’s got a point. This is another step towards the SL clubs having complete control of the game, and the SL clubs will ultimately make the decisions that suit them, and not the game, best.
    I could accept his concerns if they weren’t so hypocritical and were held due to him having the game’s best interests at heart. The reality is, Hetherington doesn’t like it because the power that he’s had for so long is being taken away from him and being spread out amongst other clubs. This on the back of the move to Manchester essentially sparks the end of the Yorkshire dictatorship that’s been led by himself and Wood and that’s something he obviously isn’t going to like. There’s only two things that he cares about and that’s himself and Leeds. For that reason I can’t accept his point at all and I think he’s made himself look like a complete and utter fool with that pathetic statement.

    Also, surely if SL clubs collectively have more power and collectively make decisions then surely those decisions will suit Super League. I imagine you are talking about the Championship and leagues below that as well but the first priority has to be Super League. Success for the rest of the game only comes when Super League is built into a well marketed, strong commercial brand so I think the clubs having more power is a good thing and gives a better chance for Super League to increase in size and popularity and this can then be filtered down to the lower leagues. That’s if clubs can agree on important decisions between them, of course.

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