Super 8's

[CC_Roosters]

Tonight was a perfect example of why the last round should be played all games simultaneously. Leeds to the shield steal from Wigan like that was amazing. Feel for Huddersfield, dropped their bundle

Will it be dubbed helicopter Friday haha. Top quality at the leeds game from what i have heard. Looking forward to next week and hoping for a leeds v huddersfield GF

 

[langpark]

Holy crap Bradford are getting flogged! If they play like this against Wakefield it's gonna be a cricket score!! Luiaki is a complete waste of space.

 

[Harrigan]

Holy crap Bradford are getting flogged! If they play like this against Wakefield it's gonna be a cricket score!! Luiaki is a complete waste of space.

They had 9 out today. I still expect them to get flogged next week though. Wakey aren't great but still a world apart from the Championship. Especially in a game where a lot of players will be playing for contracts.

 

[Tigers1986]

The Super 8s concept was great but ultimately I think it's been a flop. The SL top 4 bolted off with a canter, leaving the others playing for pride. The SL sides in the middle 8 proved their worth (minus Salford being belted by Bradford and Sheffield doing in a reserve Wakefield side). The championship shield sounded like a waste of time. Leigh were the biggest loser of the concept though, absolutely went to jelly in the format. 1 win, 7 defeats. So much for the promoted-in-waiting they claimed to be. Sheffield and Halifax gained a lot from it, but when Hull KR cantered to 7 straight wins, and Widnes were seldom challenged, it seems a little...unnecessary. Perhaps the Bundesliga model would be more adapt - bottom SL side relegated, top of championship promoted. 11th in SL vs 2nd in Championship in a promotion playoff.

 

[Patorick]

Million pound game underway.

Wakefield v Bradford.

 

[natheel]

Been an alright game but both these sides will get touched up in super league

 

[CC_Roosters]

The Super 8s concept was great but ultimately I think it's been a flop. The SL top 4 bolted off with a canter, leaving the others playing for pride. The SL sides in the middle 8 proved their worth (minus Salford being belted by Bradford and Sheffield doing in a reserve Wakefield side). The championship shield sounded like a waste of time. Leigh were the biggest loser of the concept though, absolutely went to jelly in the format. 1 win, 7 defeats. So much for the promoted-in-waiting they claimed to be. Sheffield and Halifax gained a lot from it, but when Hull KR cantered to 7 straight wins, and Widnes were seldom challenged, it seems a little...unnecessary. Perhaps the Bundesliga model would be more adapt - bottom SL side relegated, top of championship promoted. 11th in SL vs 2nd in Championship in a promotion playoff.

Its all a bit complicated and unneccesaary. Its a nice concept just poorly applied in that you cannot seriously expect part time clubs to come up with anything other than the odd heroic win, given the disparity in finances. Someone might get promoted eventually but its hard to see that happening until the 2nd tier is properly funded and i mean all 12 teams on the same grant, albeit lower than super league. Whether the rfl do anything about it is another matter

 

[Tigers1986]

It was a lot closer than I'd expected. Perhaps if the RFL want the lower sides to have a chance the million pound game should be at the championship sides home ground to add that extra benefit to them. Who knows.

 

[Sinman]

I think that for it to work long term the salary cap gap needs to be closed a little.. otherwise it will always be unlikely that a team gets promoted

 

[CC_Roosters]

I think that for it to work long term the salary cap gap needs to be closed a little.. otherwise it will always be unlikely that a team gets promoted

Definitely, that s the only way it can work otherwise we will find in 3-5 years another structure revamp :/

 

[Evil Homer]

Definitely, that s the only way it can work otherwise we will find in 3-5 years another structure revamp :/

So either you want the top clubs to be severely limited and brought down the level of glorified park teams, or you want the top Championship clubs to be allowed to spend beyond their means, risk administration and spend 5 of 7 months needlessly paying over the odds for players to destroy glorified park teams.

 

[adamkungl]

Why is your season so long...awful system.
Huge gap between 4th and 5th, can't see it closing after another pointless 7 rounds.

Should just play a top 5 finals after 22 rounds, and a 4 team round robin for relegation/promotion. Let the rest enjoy their offseason..

 

[roughyedspud]

Hull fc getting battered by cas..

I hope marc sneyd doesn't go missing again when it counts..remember his last season at castleford? Was outstanding all season but he crumbled in the play offs,that actually cos him the england #7 jumper for the world cup..

 

[Evil Homer]

Why is your season so long...awful system.
Huge gap between 4th and 5th, can't see it closing after another pointless 7 rounds.

Should just play a top 5 finals after 22 rounds, and a 4 team round robin for relegation/promotion. Let the rest enjoy their offseason..

Might surprise you to hear that clubs and the competition do actually need to make money.

 

[adamkungl]

Might surprise you to hear that clubs and the competition do actually need to make money.

Play 52 games a year then, maximum cash

 

[Evil Homer]

Play 52 games a year then, maximum cash

If you cut the number of matches by ~25% as you suggested then you cut the gate receipts by 25% (gate receipts is a thing here), you cut the TV deal by 25%, you also suggested scrapping the Magic Weekend which brings in millions of dollars of revenue for the competition through hosting rights and sponsorship. All this for a competition where most of the clubs are already struggling financially means you would need to cut players and staff wages by at least 25%, meaning almost all the decent players would either go to the NRL, rugby union or just become part-time because they could make more money doing a regular job. Yeah, not a great idea.

The English soccer season lasts anywhere between 38 to 46 matches for the regular season plus up to three different domestic cup competitions depending on the division, plus European competition for the top clubs, plus all the internationals they play on top of that. The top clubs also spend almost their entire off-season doing overseas tours. RL probably would play 52 matches if it was not physically impossible to do that. It's not like American or Australian sport, we don't have a billion dollar TV deal or teams funded by pokie machines, clubs here do need to play matches to make money.

 

[adamkungl]

If you cut the number of matches by ~25% as you suggested then you cut the gate receipts by 25% (gate receipts is a thing here), you cut the TV deal by 25%, you also suggested scrapping the Magic Weekend which brings in millions of dollars of revenue for the competition through hosting rights and sponsorship. All this for a competition where most of the clubs are already struggling financially means you would need to cut players and staff wages by at least 25%, meaning almost all the decent players would either go to the NRL, rugby union or just become part-time because they could make more money doing a regular job. Yeah, not a great idea.

The English soccer season lasts anywhere between 38 to 46 matches for the regular season plus up to three different domestic cup competitions depending on the division, plus European competition for the top clubs, plus all the internationals they play on top of that. The top clubs also spend almost their entire off-season doing overseas tours. RL probably would play 52 matches if it was not physically impossible to do that. It's not like American or Australian sport, we don't have a billion dollar TV deal or teams funded by pokie machines, clubs here do need to play matches to make money.

Didn't mean to suggest scrapping Magic Weekend, should have said 23 rounds.

52 weeks sarcasm aside though - you don't think there's a better balance? Currently a 30 game season + Playoffs + Challenge Cup. Some teams will be playing 35 or more games. Aside from fatigue issues (which I think are overblown by Australia fwiw) the longer the season the less each match means. Look at Wakefield, they're playing for nothing for the next 6 weeks, and probably be joined by a couple more in the next fortnight.
A shorter season can raise the intensity and interest in each match. Teams playing for nothing crowds will dwindle. Is there a point where staging a match (ground hire costs etc) becomes more costly than the gate receipts?

 

[CC_Roosters]

Hull were rubbish this morning. Positions 1-5 is certainly not sewn up, if Catalans can recover there form with players returning it will be an interesting battle for fourth with Saints.

I have mixed view on the super 8's, it gives those top 4 championship sides exposure to super league sides each year. But more often than not no clubs will go up. The salary cap is apparently going up closer to that in super league so those that have the means will be able to better compete, however I worry it will put a huge gap between the full time and part time clubs in the 2nd tier.

I have had some thoughts that a 12 team super league could use the same split as they do in Scotland. That is the top 6 play a final set of fixtures against each other after the home & away schedule, culminating in the top 4 semi final knockout we have now. The bottom 6 also play against each other to avoid relegation; bottom spot goes down automatically and 2nd bottom goes into a playoff with a team from the league below who goes through a promotion playoff series. Gives a total of 27 games + semi's + GF + challenge cup.

The 2nd tier would have 10 teams and go into a similar top 5/bottom 5 split. Top spot goes automatically and 2nd & 3rd playoff for the right to face the 2nd bottom super league side. Obliviously the league games are less being 23 + other fixtures, but this can be supplemented with the Championship cup combining league one and championship sides into a group stage + knockout cup

 

[adamkungl]

Hull were completely taken by surprise I think. Very flat. Cas looked great.

 

[CC_Roosters]

Crowds in week 1 of the super league 8's probably reflect that the top split is the weakest sell when only 5 teams are in contention. Its really only about jockeying for position 1 and 2 to get a home semi final. Nice win for Cas but in reality it is meaningless.

Strange thing is kind of devalues the home and away season and the split at the same time. So unless the gap in table between 1 and 8 reduces drastically in coming seasons its very hard to see the concept having legs long term. So coming back to the Scottish football style split I think it would be more appropriate to only have an internal split within each league to determine the season finale.

Leeds smashed Featherstone last night 62-6, but in front of a tremendous crowd of 6,671 at rovers.

Leigh also got off to a winning start beating London 34-30. I reckon the "million pound game" will come down to Leigh v Hull KR, although I wish they just left it as the top 4 in the qualifiers ladder as by the time everyone has played each other the top 4 sides surely deserve to be there on merit without an added high pressure game were anything can happen