Parra Steve
Juniors
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http://www.illawarramercury.com.au/...e-in-the-grand-final/1637365.aspx?storypage=0
The Eels shouldn't be in the grand final
The fact that Parramatta is in the grand final on Sunday is proof to me that the NRL's finals system is wrong.
Put simply, the Eels shouldn't even be there. And the reason they are is because of a big fault in the McIntyre Top Eight.
The McIntyre system has been hit with criticism this season, all of which misses the point. It's not the "Top Eight" part that's the problem.
That's just too many teams.
I know why it exists - and it's everything to do with revenue and nothing to do with what's best for footy.
It exists because it keeps more fans interested in the finals chase for longer. Then, once the final placings are decided, it means there are eight groups of supporters to sell finals tickets, T-shirts and whatever else to.
But a top eight means that, in any given year, half of the competition makes the finals (or more than half in years we only had 14 teams).
The finals are supposed to limited to the best of the best. They're supposed to be something to strive for and it cheapens that aura somewhat when the league lets in half the teams.
It cheapens it more when some teams who make the finals have an ordinary win-loss record. By ordinary I mean a team that lost as many games as it won. I think we can agree that a team with a 50-50 record or worse has no business even thinking they deserve to be in the finals.
Yet, since we got rid of the top five in 1995, an ordinary team has made the finals in nine of the 15 seasons. Even worse, a team with a losing record played finals footy in six of those seasons.
Particularly embarrassing was the 2002 season, where three teams - Canberra, St George Illawarra and Parramatta - all had losing records yet all made the finals.
What a joke. The finals shouldn't be about rewarding mediocrity, letting teams stumble into eighth spot like a drunkard trying to make their up the front steps to their front door.
What we should have is a top five - make a finals position actually mean something rather than giving them away to any team that wants one. It used to be good enough for the league - from 1988 to 1994 we had a top five with a 16-team comp.
And I bet it's no coincidence that that brief six-year window gave us arguably the two greatest grand finals ever - 1989's Canberra-Balmain match-up and the 1991 Canberra-Penrith game.
So, if we'd done the right thing and had a top five this year, the Eels wouldn't have played finals footy.
But there's another reason to punt the top eight. It rewards hot streaks over consistency.
The Dragons and Dogs were the two most consistent teams all season, yet they dropped a few games and they're gone. But a team who was absolutely bloody awful for most of the year, who was in 14th spot going into Round 18 on five (yes, FIVE wins) is playing in the grand final.
Jeez, if a grand final berth is the reward for stringing together a few wins late in the season, what's the point in anyone busting their backsides between March and June?
Might as well start the comp in July
:lol::lol:
The Eels shouldn't be in the grand final
The fact that Parramatta is in the grand final on Sunday is proof to me that the NRL's finals system is wrong.
Put simply, the Eels shouldn't even be there. And the reason they are is because of a big fault in the McIntyre Top Eight.
The McIntyre system has been hit with criticism this season, all of which misses the point. It's not the "Top Eight" part that's the problem.
That's just too many teams.
I know why it exists - and it's everything to do with revenue and nothing to do with what's best for footy.
It exists because it keeps more fans interested in the finals chase for longer. Then, once the final placings are decided, it means there are eight groups of supporters to sell finals tickets, T-shirts and whatever else to.
But a top eight means that, in any given year, half of the competition makes the finals (or more than half in years we only had 14 teams).
The finals are supposed to limited to the best of the best. They're supposed to be something to strive for and it cheapens that aura somewhat when the league lets in half the teams.
It cheapens it more when some teams who make the finals have an ordinary win-loss record. By ordinary I mean a team that lost as many games as it won. I think we can agree that a team with a 50-50 record or worse has no business even thinking they deserve to be in the finals.
Yet, since we got rid of the top five in 1995, an ordinary team has made the finals in nine of the 15 seasons. Even worse, a team with a losing record played finals footy in six of those seasons.
Particularly embarrassing was the 2002 season, where three teams - Canberra, St George Illawarra and Parramatta - all had losing records yet all made the finals.
What a joke. The finals shouldn't be about rewarding mediocrity, letting teams stumble into eighth spot like a drunkard trying to make their up the front steps to their front door.
What we should have is a top five - make a finals position actually mean something rather than giving them away to any team that wants one. It used to be good enough for the league - from 1988 to 1994 we had a top five with a 16-team comp.
And I bet it's no coincidence that that brief six-year window gave us arguably the two greatest grand finals ever - 1989's Canberra-Balmain match-up and the 1991 Canberra-Penrith game.
So, if we'd done the right thing and had a top five this year, the Eels wouldn't have played finals footy.
But there's another reason to punt the top eight. It rewards hot streaks over consistency.
The Dragons and Dogs were the two most consistent teams all season, yet they dropped a few games and they're gone. But a team who was absolutely bloody awful for most of the year, who was in 14th spot going into Round 18 on five (yes, FIVE wins) is playing in the grand final.
Jeez, if a grand final berth is the reward for stringing together a few wins late in the season, what's the point in anyone busting their backsides between March and June?
Might as well start the comp in July
:lol::lol:
