Ten points, 4 league wins, half the dream team and the man of steel - time to say stop !

[Tonka]

With a bit of forward planning, you could wash your hair and watch the game...

[bobbruce]

On 05/10/2017 at 8:08 AM, Old Frightful said:

Come on folks, you know you want to have a guess...

1906

[Ullman]

3 hours ago, deluded pom? said:

I'll take the Old Frghtful teddy bear and throw the darts at it please.

Not these days I'm afraid. Hull Fair's not what it was. Not even allowed to give you a goldfish in a plastic bag.

The world's gone mad.

[Wholly Trinity]

3 hours ago, TMF said:

Does that mean that any team in history aren't really champions before the GF was invented?

When do you think the grand final was "invented"?

[AiredaleMike]

BenGilesRL - Rubbish ?? !!!

Cas have run away with the league this season, and have beaten the second best team of 2017,  4 times - yes 4 times !

For a sport to be taken seriously, it has to seek to put forward a structure that rewards the best team in the respective competition, the most rational approach is to have each team play each other home and away, and the team finishing top is the rightful champion - the addition of the magic weekend is a mere blip on the rationality of this justifiable system - and of course may be another debate entirely.

It really shouldn't be that difficult to see this.

The Grand final is no doubt a wonderful occasion to those who see merit in it, but it is a system that rewards mediocraty, and it has to be folly and crass to support that approach.

Believe in the concept of the grand final if you wish, but accept it as a separate competition, that provides a one-off trophy, that is not seen as establishing the so called 'champions' and therefore the best team of the competition.

If Leeds win, there will always be people saying that they were not really the best team of 2017 - kind of sad state of affairs really ! 

[Spidey]

1 minute ago, AiredaleMike said:

BenGilesRL - Rubbish ?? !!!

Cas have run away with the league this season, and have beaten the second best team of 2017,  4 times - yes 4 times !

For a sport to be taken seriously, it has to seek to put forward a structure that rewards the best team in the respective competition, the most rational approach is to have each team play each other home and away, and the team finishing top is the rightful champion - the addition of the magic weekend is a mere blip on the rationality of this justifiable system - and of course may be another debate entirely.

It really shouldn't be that difficult to see this.

The Grand final is no doubt a wonderful occasion to those who see merit in it, but it is a system that rewards mediocraty, and it has to be folly and crass to support that approach.

Believe in the concept of the grand final if you wish, but accept it as a separate competition, that provides a one-off trophy, that is not seen as establishing the so called 'champions' and therefore the best team of the competition.

If Leeds win, there will always be people saying that they were not really the best team of 2017 - kind of sad state of affairs really ! 

Have you decided on what shampoo you are using tonight?

[Maximus Decimus]

26 minutes ago, AiredaleMike said:

BenGilesRL - Rubbish ?? !!!

Cas have run away with the league this season, and have beaten the second best team of 2017,  4 times - yes 4 times !

For a sport to be taken seriously, it has to seek to put forward a structure that rewards the best team in the respective competition, the most rational approach is to have each team play each other home and away, and the team finishing top is the rightful champion - the addition of the magic weekend is a mere blip on the rationality of this justifiable system - and of course may be another debate entirely.

It really shouldn't be that difficult to see this.

The Grand final is no doubt a wonderful occasion to those who see merit in it, but it is a system that rewards mediocraty, and it has to be folly and crass to support that approach.

Believe in the concept of the grand final if you wish, but accept it as a separate competition, that provides a one-off trophy, that is not seen as establishing the so called 'champions' and therefore the best team of the competition.

If Leeds win, there will always be people saying that they were not really the best team of 2017 - kind of sad state of affairs really ! 

Seeing as though the majority of sports the world over use a system like this to determine the champions I really don't think it affects whether the sport is taken seriously. 

The Grand Final is the only real event we have in this country. To scrap it in favour of a system that is apparently more fair would be lunacy.

As for having a separate tournament, the last time we held a playoff series after the league season, the entire attendance was less than what tonight's will be and that was including a Saints-Wigan final at Old Trafford.

 

[bobbruce]

34 minutes ago, AiredaleMike said:

BenGilesRL - Rubbish ?? !!!

Cas have run away with the league this season, and have beaten the second best team of 2017,  4 times - yes 4 times !

For a sport to be taken seriously, it has to seek to put forward a structure that rewards the best team in the respective competition, the most rational approach is to have each team play each other home and away, and the team finishing top is the rightful champion - the addition of the magic weekend is a mere blip on the rationality of this justifiable system - and of course may be another debate entirely.

It really shouldn't be that difficult to see this.

The Grand final is no doubt a wonderful occasion to those who see merit in it, but it is a system that rewards mediocraty, and it has to be folly and crass to support that approach.

Believe in the concept of the grand final if you wish, but accept it as a separate competition, that provides a one-off trophy, that is not seen as establishing the so called 'champions' and therefore the best team of the competition.

If Leeds win, there will always be people saying that they were not really the best team of 2017 - kind of sad state of affairs really ! 

The problem with this is because of the system we are playing to not everyone is going all out in the league. It's like me seeing Usain Bolt walking down the street running past him and then claiming I'm the fastest man in the world. 

[Liverpool Rover]

38 minutes ago, AiredaleMike said:

BenGilesRL - Rubbish ?? !!!

Cas have run away with the league this season, and have beaten the second best team of 2017,  4 times - yes 4 times !

For a sport to be taken seriously, it has to seek to put forward a structure that rewards the best team in the respective competition, the most rational approach is to have each team play each other home and away, and the team finishing top is the rightful champion - the addition of the magic weekend is a mere blip on the rationality of this justifiable system - and of course may be another debate entirely.

It really shouldn't be that difficult to see this.

The Grand final is no doubt a wonderful occasion to those who see merit in it, but it is a system that rewards mediocraty, and it has to be folly and crass to support that approach.

Believe in the concept of the grand final if you wish, but accept it as a separate competition, that provides a one-off trophy, that is not seen as establishing the so called 'champions' and therefore the best team of the competition.

If Leeds win, there will always be people saying that they were not really the best team of 2017 - kind of sad state of affairs really ! 

Having the title up for grabs makes the Grand Final the occasion it is. If it was the old style Premiership nobody would care about it. 

[Maximus Decimus]

12 minutes ago, Liverpool Rover said:

Having the title up for grabs makes the Grand Final the occasion it is. If it was the old style Premiership nobody would care about it. 

As proven by the 33,000 in attendance the last time the Premiership was contested (Wigan vs Saints too) compared to 75,000 tonight.

[AiredaleMike]

Scrap the Grand Final and make the League even more exciting than what it is already.

Play the latter rounds of the Challenge Cup after the League Season finishes - therefore ensuring further interest for those not in the contest for the League Title towards the end of the Season.

Oh, hang on, Sky do not have comprehensive rights for the Challenge Cup ! perhaps they could buy-out the rights from the BBC - who may of course be happy to have some extra cash !

[JohnM]

2 hours ago, AiredaleMike said:

....., the most rational approach is to have each team play each other home and away, and the team finishing top is the rightful champion 

There is so much wrong with your post, i just chose this one...

This is just not true in any way shape or form.

[Maximus Decimus]

1 hour ago, AiredaleMike said:

Scrap the Grand Final and make the League even more exciting than what it is already.

Play the latter rounds of the Challenge Cup after the League Season finishes - therefore ensuring further interest for those not in the contest for the League Title towards the end of the Season.

Oh, hang on, Sky do not have comprehensive rights for the Challenge Cup ! perhaps they could buy-out the rights from the BBC - who may of course be happy to have some extra cash !

Yes it's all a conspiracy.

Nothing to do with most people being perfectly happy with the Grand Final.

[Gerrumonside ref]

Been chatting recently with a few soccer mates who all agree that the Grand Final is a great idea and is sometimes the only rugby league game of the season they will watch in full.

I can only agree with them to be honest and think 99% who might disagree over the structure all believe the Grand Final should be here to stay.

As for the doubters - if you’re a champion team then you do it when it matters!

 

[Maximus Decimus]

2 minutes ago, Gerrumonside ref said:

Been chatting recently with a few soccer mates who all agree that the Grand Final is a great idea and is sometimes the only rugby league game of the season they will watch in full.

I can only agree with them to be honest and think 99% who might disagree over the structure all believe the Grand Final should be here to stay.

As for the doubters - if you’re a champion team then you do it when it matters!

 

A Grand Final wouldn't work in Football because of the unpredictable nature of the sport. It's perfect for RL because if you're the better side you're much more likely to win. It is a blessing and a curse for RL (see Kangaroos for evidence!).

This poster reminds me of someone I came across on Twitter who said 'Super League was the only competition where being the best didn't mean you'd be crowned champions.'

I promptly pointed out that the NRL, AFL, NFL, MLS, MLB, NBA, GAA, Premiership RU, Super RU etc all use the same system.

[Ullman]

On 04/10/2017 at 1:25 PM, Old Frightful said:

 

Ullman only mentioned him last week on the coach to Headingley. In spite of the fact we both knew who we were talking about, it took a while until one of us remembered his name.

From now on I'll always remember it's Hairdale Mike.

[deluded pom?]

On a scale of 1-10 how smug is Mike going to be?

[Old Frightful]

2 hours ago, deluded pom? said:

On a scale of 1-10 how smug is Mike going to be?

Why...does his hair look nice? 

[deluded pom?]

29 minutes ago, Old Frightful said:

Why...does his hair look nice? 

It was a hair raising performance from Cas'.