No real reward for winning the minor premiership

[OVP]

Everyone knows that the ONLY reward for coming first in the regular season is simply just getting to play the 8th placed team in the first round of the finals. Which i suppose isnt too bad, as first spot has never lost to eighth spot, i believe.

Realistically coming second these days is just as good as coming fourth or third or first. All get first round home games in the finals. Id like to suggest that ONLY the minor premiers get a home game for every finals match they play up until the Grand Final. All the others get a neutral venue (one game at SFS, one at Telstra or the Telstradome in Melbourne, one at Suncorp). Could this work ? Or am i punishing those who finish second, 3rd and 4th too much ? I know there are issues like giving more semis to the interstate teams ... but thats why i suggest making Suncorp (and possibly even the Telstra Dome in Melbourne) as neutral venues for semi final matches.

What are your thoughts ? I need to think about this more, so therefore your input would be greatly appreciated on this idea. I just think we arent doing enough to reward the minor premiers. Your thoughts and ideas are welcome.

 

[Stormboyz]

Not the worst suggestion I've heard.
But you can solve it all by abandoning the sick joke that is the McIntyre System.
Revert to the AFL system which is far from perfect, but infinitely better than the McIntyre.

 

[Holla if ya hear me]

N oooooo one remembers the minor premiers esp if they done go on with the job..the only thing that counts is the big one..you still see some parramatta supporters with their 2001 minor premiers and ya just laff and point around newcastle .......its embarrasing.
Its like "yer you finished first but big deal..now the real football starts" instead of.."hey congrtulations thats a big effort!"..unless that attitude changes then there will be little change in the way people view the minor premiership

 

[Y2Eel]

Not the worst suggestion I've heard.
But you can solve it all by abandoning the sick joke that is the McIntyre System.
Revert to the AFL system which is far from perfect, but infinitely better than the McIntyre.

The Afl System would get more complaints that First place has a harder run now that they have to play team 4 in the first week instead of team 8....

 

[beave]

i think you are punishing those who finish 3rd and 4th. There really is no way to reward the 1st place, in the end they cant loose in week 3 like every other team, i like the old top 5 system but it won't ever go back to that I'm afraid.

I like the changes that were made this year in regards to home finals all the way through the 3 weeks, but the farce of playing a day game up here in Townsville should never have occurred. And the fact that this week we only have a 6 day turn around and Parra have 8, it just would have made more sense for many reason to have swapped last weeks games around, the warriors wouldn't have been roasted in the sun and the winners from last weeks games would have had the same amount of days to prepare for this week, i thought the NRL were after a system that was more flexible yet were unmovable in this example.


The AFL system should be tried next year, i don't know why they persist with the Mcintyre system to be honest........

 

[OVP]

Not the worst suggestion I've heard.
But you can solve it all by abandoning the sick joke that is the McIntyre System.
Revert to the AFL system which is far from perfect, but infinitely better than the McIntyre.

I dont like the AFL system at all. When 1st played 4th (Geelong vs Nth Melbourne), it took about one quarter for Nth Melbourne to realise they couldnt match it, so therefore plainly and simply just gave up for 3 quarters of the match as they simply couldnt be eliminated. The same would happen in rugby league for sure. They could easily just give up and save themselves for next week, like what Nth Melbourne did.

 

[Stormboyz]

The Afl System would get more complaints that First place has a harder run now that they have to play team 4 in the first week instead of team 8....

As I said, it's far from perfect, but the first week of the NRL is a dead rubber. 5th and 6th are virtually guaranteed of being around in the 2nd week of the finals even if they lose. McIntyre system rewards mediocrity.
At least under the AFL system, the loser of 5th v 8th and 6th v 7th goes home as they should.
I think it could all be solved by abandoning a final 8 which really is a joke when you look at who finished 7th and 8th this year. Revert to a top six, but that's not going to happen because of TV rights.

 

[MattJ]

Isnt there some type of cash reward for the club that finsihes with the minor premiership?

 

[OVP]

Isnt there some type of cash reward for the club that finsihes with the minor premiership?

Yeah there is but i think its only about 100k or so. Not really much in today's times. Maybe if they increased it to $1 million, then maybe thats all we need to do then.

 

[Stormboyz]

I dont like the AFL system at all. When 1st played 4th (Geelong vs Nth Melbourne), it took about one quarter for Nth Melbourne to realise they couldnt match it, so therefore plainly and simply just gave up for 3 quarters of the match as they simply couldnt be eliminated. The same would happen in rugby league for sure. They could easily just give up and save themselves for next week, like what Nth Melbourne did.

But North earned the right to have another crack by finishing in the top four. By playing the top side in the first week of the finals, it was the hard path but they earned a double chance...the double chance wasn't handed to them on a platter like it was to the Warriors in the NRL.

 

[OVP]

But North earned the right to have another crack by finishing in the top four. By playing the top side in the first week of the finals, it was the hard path but they earned a double chance...the double chance wasn't handed to them on a platter like it was to the Warriors in the NRL.

Yes but the match itself was atrocious. There were millions of complaints about it in Melbourne and they themselves want to use the NRL system to stop non-events from happening in finals matches. The McIntyre system is far from perfect, but you wont see any matches where a team isnt trying to win.

 

[shear_joy9]

I dont like the AFL system at all. When 1st played 4th (Geelong vs Nth Melbourne), it took about one quarter for Nth Melbourne to realise they couldnt match it, so therefore plainly and simply just gave up for 3 quarters of the match as they simply couldnt be eliminated. The same would happen in rugby league for sure. They could easily just give up and save themselves for next week, like what Nth Melbourne did.

Thats a bad example. The Geelong - Kangas game was the greatest winning margin in finals history.

I prefer the AFL system. Allows fans to see the best sides (top 4) play each other, with the teams 5-8 playing for their lives.

 

[Stormboyz]

Thats a bad example. The Geelong - Kangas game was the greatest winning margin in finals history.

I prefer the AFL system. Allows fans to see the best sides (top 4) play each other, with the teams 5-8 playing for their lives.

There have been greater winning margins than the 107 points that Geelong beat the Roos by.
Agree with your second para. Also it gives 1st and 2nd home finals and an advantage over 3rd and 4th. But 3rd and 4th are rewarded somewhat by having a guaranteed double chance, but also a shot at a direct path to a prelim. Also the losers of the 1st v 2nd and 3rd v 4th, get a home final the following week. It rewards the best 4 teams of the season.
As i said, neither system is perfect, but I found the greater of the two evils to be the McIntyre system as the first week of the finals is almost a non-event.

 

[dimitri]

i dont see whats wrong with mcintyre

benefits are:

*1st and 2nd are guaranteed to go through the first week
*1st gets benefit of playing 8th
*1st-4th get home matches first week

 

[Azkatro]

The minor premiership presentation is exactly that .. too minor. They need a post-grand-final-like ceremony when it's been confirmed, give it the fanfare it deserves.

 

[Mr Angry]

$100,000

2nd 3rd and 4th don't get that.

 

[Lowdown]

No contest. AFL system is vastly, vastly superior to this sh*te.

Minor Premiership is nothing more than a token award, an excuse to print some tee-shirts, and a measling, insulting cheque for $100k.

$100k! Do you know how little money that is for an organisation to receive for winning the comp after 25 weeks? Its 2% of the salary cap ffs!! 2%!

Its a joke. Has an absolute minimum, the minor premiership should be half a million to fairly reflect the accomplishment it is to finish first. Because, ffs, the mcintyre system does not reward them. You play the easiest team to beat, you get 1 week off, then play for your finals life against a hardened, on form opponent.

If both Melbourne and Manly advance to the GF, it will be against all odds. And thats the joke.

 

[Prodigiousman]

The advantage of a Minor Premiership should be that you only need to win 1 game to qualify for the Grand Final. You've earned that right and every other team in the Finals should have to win at least 2 games to make the GF.

But the whole anti-'tougher games for top teams in the semis' complaint is a bit pathetic given you hear the players say 'to beat the best we've gotta beat the best'.

The way it has worked out this year Melbourne only have had to beat the #8 and #5 teams to make the Grand Final. Now Parra are a good side but that was their ranking going into the finals. I'm not sure that matchup is the best run in for a Grand Final. Think of Melbourne last year - beat the #8 Eels in a close one then beat the #6 Dragons to make the GF. Brisbane lost to the #6 Dragons, beat the #4 Knights and then beat the #2 Bulldogs to make the GF. The McIntyre allowed the Broncos to play two top 4 teams in the two games leading into the GF while Melbourne got 2 of the bottom 3 Top 8 sides to warm up against.

I don't see playing lesser-ranked teams as an advantage.

The Top 5 has it perfect for every Finals contesting side (bar perhaps the fact the Storm would've potentially played only 2 games over 4 weekends but they'd have had a game against the winner of the 2 v 3 Major Preliminary Semi Final to warm up with). The Top 3 get a second chance in the first game they play, the 4/5 seeds live sudden death and the top side only has to play one game against a quality opponent to make the Grand Final.

The comp might appear even but it is incredibly diluted as a result from quality football in all but the last two weekends of the season. And the McIntyre format just puts an exclamation point on that - at least the AFL (the old ARL system) format has good matchups each week and you earn your Grand Final birth in every week of September.

 

[Bobby DIGital]

The JJ Giltitan Shield is more than enough. Some legendary sides have done laps of honour with that shield.

1 win to get into the Grand Final is pissy. It's the only thing I didn't like about the top 5 system.

 

[Lego_Man]

Top 5 is never coming back, f**ken deal with it you dinosaurs...