He is the right man for us
Well it isn't.
We dominated last season and Cas dominated the season before and what have either team got to show for it?
Rugby league just isn't that exciting a sport these days when you compare it to other sports, there's not enough on the line week to week to make it so. We should be rejoicing right now that were 6 points clear but we all know it means nothing unless we get to the Grand Final and win it. It's one of the reasons rugby league lags behind other sports so badly.
The league leaders shield was only brought in because Bradford finished top twice and won nothing. All the johnny come lately fans whinged enough for the Yorkshire mafia to come up with the hubcap.
It's never been taken seriously as a result
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Football is the same now with the champions League. Tottenham and Liverpool have the chance to be the champions of Europe, neither are the champions of England. Modern sport I guess...it's all about TV
If the system is flawed, and the previous one was, which system should we adopt?
You know the one were '90%' isn't meaningless
You are correct about Bradfords involvement here, but I'm not sure where you're getting the 'johnny come lately fan' idea from. Many pre-SL fans wanted to retain some sort of trophy for finishing top of the league before play-offs (which, as you know, used to be played for a separate, less valued, trophy).
I guess it's just an age thing?
I have had a Season ticket for as long as I can remember and have been to every sort of final involving Saints since 1961, and now I only go to the Grand Final out of loyalty, it brings out the drunken once a year spectators, not fans, a hostile aggressive atmosphere between the two sets of so called fans who are fuelled up due to a day of drinking Manchester dry. I know it is supposed to be the culmination of the season, but give me regularly walking out of the ground on a Friday night after a good win any time, and then having a few pints
There is a large element of truth in that, where the last 3 games of the season has much greater value than the 29 games that preceded it. Look at the scenario of two teams Saints and Leeds, Saints could win 27 games out of 29 and most of those games have been entertaining and a decent brand of rugby. Then we have Leeds who could sneak into the top 5 having only won 14 games out of the 29 and most of those games of a poor standard and boring to watch. They (Leeds) then play outstanding over the last 3 games and beat Saints in the final.
I don't think we have that type of competition in any other sport were consistency is devalued so much to be perceived as the comp being really a bunch of friendlies.
It would also be interesting to see other peoples perspective would they accept 50% of a clubs game being very poor and win the grand final over the last 3 games or would they like to see 90% of high quality rugby but missing out on the grand final.
The SL grand final did not replace the premiership
The premiership was dropped as was regal trophy and Lancashire and Yorkshire cups
The league was also dropped, going purely to a grand final play off system
After a few years the pressure to reward the league leaders with something came from many and as such was introduced
There were to many cups, diluted the games to much. The league meant many teams had nothing to play for in the second half of the season, the play off with one down keeps many teams interested and the pay master happy
Again I ask the question of everyone , if this isn't a suitable system what is? Where is this mythical system that keeps every team alive and interested all year?
To answer your point many fans just want their day in the sun and win the big game
But if we went to an all out league we would lose a massive amount of money, reduce our gates and return to a system where many games for many teams are meaningless as if your not in the tile few or bottom few your season is over half way through
The structure of pre-SL in the decade before was more or less what we have now. It was just that the prize for finishing top of the domestic league, and the prize for winning the end of season play-offs has been flipped in importance. We all know why SKY wanted to do this, and I take your point about there once being too many trophies.
To answer your question, I'm fairly happy with things as they are now. I value the LLS, but I can see the greater importance of winning the GF. It just saddens me when folks see the LLS as 'nothing'.
For what it's worth...For each game, I strip things back to the basic object of the sport. To beat the other team! In this way, NO games are meaningless and trophies are a bonus.
Ive long argued that the league should decide the champions. As for ‘keeping the interest going’ for other teams, I’m not sure I agree with that as a principle as it’s meant to be an elite league, not a school sports day. For years I said they won’t ditch the GF as long as there are 70,000 plus turning up, but that’s not even the case in the last couple of years
For me, the CC needs a revamp. It could be initially be played in groups/pools to guarantee a certain amount of games which could then remove the need for the SL loop fixtures, followed by a knockout stage like the Champions League. Put these group games onto people’s season tickets in place of the loop fixtures and straight away you have better crowds, a more appealing product for sponsors and TV viewers and a more sensible home and away format in SL. If you played the cup games generally towards the back end of the season it means you keep their interest going in another competition that they aren’t potentially dumped out of after one game