Brilliantly put and bang on the money!Yep. His quote in the Mirror....
We’ve been having talks internally and think a good way to look at the competition now would perhaps be looking at starting the play-offs earlier with more teams in it. We’re in a position where if we can navigate our way through to the play-offs it will leave us in a fair old state at the end of it. The whole win percentage stuff is getting called into question.
This is most definitely emanating from Leeds. Remember it was Hetherington who spearheaded the change from Top 6 to Top 8 when we went to a 14 team SL, which left his own side as champions twice despite finishing 5th, because the system allowed the team in 5th to build momentum with a home game against an awful 8th placed team whilst the Top 4 were all killing each other on the same opening weekend of the play offs. Those three years of utterly pointless regular season games under that Top 8 format was an all time low in my interest in the sport to be honest.
Didn’t the league decide that 15 games was the threshold? Catalans can still squeeze 15 games in. If they can’t, they’re out. If they can, they are the rules that were set out. If you can play 15 and have one of the best 4 win percentages you’re in. Clubs like Saints have taken the pursuit of a Top 4 place seriously, whilst others haven’t. Others have almost given up on it and will now be given another chance because the almighty Leeds aren’t happy. They’re happy enough when they decide to bother and beat Wigan in a cup semi or beat Salford to win the Final. But when they can’t be bothered they lobby for rules to be changed so that their mediocrity is rewarded.
Agar and Leeds may argue that the system isn’t fair because Catalans may sneak in on 15 games. It isn’t fair, but nothing we’ve done in the last 20 years in RL has been fair. It hasn’t been fair that they’ve won 2 titles after being awful for an entire season. It isn’t fair that the team that wins the most points only gets a hubcap and a 50/50 chance if they make the Grand Final. It isn’t fair that well run clubs that achieve consistent success get handcuffed by a salary cap just so badly run clubs can artificially compete, etc, etc. The whole structure is artificially engineered to promote mediocrity over success, and it’s been that way for decades. But for the first time it’s not benefitting Leeds we get complaints.