NRL Finals System Changed

[[FKN-SIK]]

If you are good enough to keep winning then you deserve to be in the finals.

If you are in the top 4 and get knocked out then you don't deserve to be there.

The Bulldogs won the GF in 1995 and finished 6th on the ladder under the ARL finals system which has just been brought back into place.

I like that the higher finishing team will always be the team who gets the home ground advantage too

 

[Eels Dude]

why should a losing team benefit?

the old system was better

You mean like team 6 getting belted in the first week but still surviving and make the Grand Final?

 

[the_flight_of_the_magpie]

if a team loses in the finals it should be eliminated straight up no second chances

 

[Tommax25]

Thank god. I've been passionate about this for a long time. I'm now officially a supporter of the new omission. Their first major decision is a home run.

The system we used until now just didn't reward consistent high achievers enough. It made the 26 weeks about little more than "close enough is good enough".

The critics will say it makes it too hard to get to the GF from the bottom 4. Well guess what, it's supposed to be hard. It should take a truly special September from a bottom 4 team to get to the GF to make up for their less than spectacular year.

I've been for this change for a long time. Now the top 2 have a big advantage over 3rd and 4th. And the top 4 have a big advantage over the bottom 4.

Another bonus is in the last week or two of the home and away season when some fixtures get boring will now be more likely to be important. If your 6th you'll be desperate to get 5th. Same as 5th-4th and 3rd-2nd.

Also, now there is real value to coming top 4 when until now you could be eliminated in the 1st week from 3rd. Especially with home finals being moved around more often these days, there needed to be a bigger carrot to push teams to compete for the top 4.

I wholeheartedly applaud the commission.

Pretty good points, but as a Souths supporter why would you support this new system? It gives less power to the bottom 4 teams, which is the only place Souths have speaked into the finals, once, in the past...as long as I can remember lol

 

[Timmah]

Well about f**king time!!!

Can't believe we had a system where a teams fate was decided on other games. Absolutely f**king ridiculous.

This is the other reason the McIntyre system shat me. During Week One, you had to wait until Sunday to find out who played who. Now, once a game is complete, the team is directly seeded to their next game, regardless of when that game is.

 

[adamkungl]

Haha...Can't wait for the sooks to come out when they notice the "flaws" in this system. Where "flaws" = "their team actually having to win difficult games to advance" much like the old system.

Making the GF just became a lot harder for the minor premiers.

 

[Quidgybo]

I think the benefits for each finishing position under the "new" system could be summarised as follows...

Top two: 2 home games, second chance in week 1, 2 wins to get to GF
Top four: 1 home game, second chance in week 1, 2 wins to get to GF
Top six: 1 home game, 3 wins to get to GF
Top eight: 0 home games, 3 wins to get to GF

Leigh.

 

[VictoryFC]

About time. Its a far superior system. Why should a team who has been consistently good over the course of an entire season be pipped by some laggard that just made the grade? "Yeah but if theyre so good, why cant they beat 8th placed team"... because one off losses happen. But that still doesn't explain why you would punish a team that has played well over a 26 round season. The McIntyre system is a joke when half the clubs make the finals. And yes, it will probably mean fewere 5th-8th placed teams will ever come close to a GF. But thats fair enough - reward the teams that do well in H&A season. Whats the point of playing a long home and away season if the top teams don't have any incentives/prizes to take advantage of?

Commission off to a good start.

 

[Timmah]

if a team loses in the finals it should be eliminated straight up no second chances

After finishing in the top four?

Ridiculous.

 

[the_flight_of_the_magpie]

getting a second chance after losing rewards failure

 

[VictoryFC]

getting a second chance after losing rewards failure

The second chance is a reward for the work done in the bulk of the season. What then is the point of home and away season?

 

[the_flight_of_the_magpie]

the home and away season is to see who finishes where in the bigger scheme of things

 

[Haffa]

the home and away season is to see who finishes where in the bigger scheme of things

So you're pushing for two weeks of finals footy before the GF?

 

[Timmah]

getting a second chance after losing rewards failure

Might as well not bother with the 26 rounds prior then.

Without resorting to a 3 week 4-2-1 match system where everyone is eliminated in every game (which would not pass muster with the NRL - they want more games, not less), there's not really a viable solution to run an 8 team finals series without giving higher placed teams a fallback should they lose week one.

 

[BunniesMan]

Pretty good points, but as a Souths supporter why would you support this new system? It gives less power to the bottom 4 teams, which is the only place Souths have speaked into the finals, once, in the past...as long as I can remember lol

It would have made life harder for my team in 07. But I'm for this not as a Souths fan but as someone who wants the best system for the entire competition.

And besides, I'm confident my team will be in the top 4 and triple the amount of finals games we've played in the last 23 years even if we lose both weeks.

And if we get 5th-8th, well we'd deserve to have a harder road and I won't be complaining.

getting a second chance after losing rewards failure

Teams have second chances under the previous system. Only now it's limited to top 4 teams rather than 5th and 6th as well.

 

[Eels Dude]

the home and away season is to see who finishes where in the bigger scheme of things

Silly argument. You may as well just scrap the regular season all together and just have a 4 week knockout comp involving all 16 teams.

 

[Card Shark]

why should a losing team benefit?

the old system was better

Because they have been winning for best part if 26 weeks, so why should they be thrown to the wolves after 1 semi loss.

In the McIntyre system 2nd could & has lost in the 1st week & played away the next week in distant places. It's not so much the 1st week being bad, it's the 2nd week where a season's hard earned position is forgotten.

 

[the_flight_of_the_magpie]

it should be a top 8 knock out system to make the grand final you have to keep winning

this would make the finals more interesting

 

[VictoryFC]

If the top 8 teams all won a similar amount of games, you'd be right. The truth is that they don't, and 1st and 8th win percentage ranges wildly, to the point where an 8th place team winning the comp just looks like trolling. The system in auskick has basically killed any chance of 5th-8th winning a GF. Thats the way it should be frankly.

Could've, would've, should've, the right system is in place.

 

[adamkungl]

Under this system finishing 4th is pretty much identical to winning the minor premiership. Hooray!