A side with negative points differential could be champions!

[Scubby]

Hull in third, Catalans in fourth both with hefty negative points differentials. How likely are they to win SL? Not likely, but these teams will probably be in the big games at the end of the season having finished the league programme with negative points difference. Has that even happened before? It is a really strange one.

[Essai Machine]

Hull and Catalans have been shocking in some games and have conceded heavily , but have been missing key players for much of the season . Saints and Wire , however , have had their prefered 17 to select most weeks . If the injuries start to pile-up for them it could be anybody's GF .

[Oxford]

A side with negative points differential could be champions!

 

So you've ruled out Salford then, you monkey?

 

[Scubby]

57 minutes ago, Oxford said:

A side with negative points differential could be champions!

 

So you've ruled out Salford then, you monkey?

 

"could" don't get too giddy!  

[DEANO]

1 hour ago, Essai Machine said:

Hull and Catalans have been shocking in some games and have conceded heavily , but have been missing key players for much of the season . Saints and Wire , however , have had their prefered 17 to select most weeks . If the injuries start to pile-up for them it could be anybody's GF .

So what your saying is it doesn’t matter what you do throughout the season just don’t get any injuries for the play offs 

[Dunbar]

Wigan won the 2016 Grand Final in 2016 after finishing the regular season with a points differential of just +15 so it would be far from unbelievable if it was won after a negative differential. 

[paulwalker71]

If the stars align for Hull, and they hit their very best form on the day, then I absolutely could see them winning the GF

And given how abject they have been in some games this season, that really does seem strange.

The weird thing this season has been the diametrically-opposed form of some of the teams. 'When they are good they are very good, when they are bad they are horrid'...

[deluded pom?]

56 minutes ago, DEANO said:

So what your saying is it doesn’t matter what you do throughout the season just don’t get any injuries for the play offs 

Of course it matters. You still have to do enough to make the play offs.

[Big Picture]

1 hour ago, DEANO said:

So what your saying is it doesn’t matter what you do throughout the season just don’t get any injuries for the play offs 

Of course it matters what teams do throughout the season.  The better they do, the more advantage they get in this playoff system and the better their chance of winning the league title.

[Essai Machine]

1 hour ago, DEANO said:

So what your saying is it doesn’t matter what you do throughout the season just don’t get any injuries for the play offs 

Kinda .The op was about 3rd and 4th having negative points for/against but potentially winning the GF (remember Catalans are the only side to have beaten both Saints and Warrington this season)

My point was that Hull and Catalans have been beset by injuries/absent players , many of whom are returning to their respective squads - hence the upturn in performance . Saints and Warrington have been largely unaffected in that way - arguably the cause of their early season dominance .

So a team that suffered from absences at the start of the year could overtake a team that loses a few key players at the end of the season .

[DavidM]

Theoretically yes but it won’t happen . Saints are way superior to everyone and will win the grand final . The quality beneath them has been very average and inconsistent . May as well just give them it now and go on holz 

[dixiedean]

Just as how they'd win the CC last year. How I laughed.

[Denton Rovers RLFC]

Norwich City were -4 and came in third in the premier league in 1993/94

[The Hallucinating Goose]

London were the first team to get into the playoffs with a negative points difference in 2003 and lost to saints in first round of playoffs. 

Wasn't until 2008 when another team got in with negative points, in fact 2 with Wigan and Warrington. Warrington out in first round, Wigan got to elimination final, so one game from final, losing to eventual champions Leeds.

2 in 2009 with cas going out in first round and Catalans in semi-finals. 

2 got in in 2010 with crusaders 8th on -185. Other team Hull. Both went out in first round. 

Wakefield made it in in 2012 with a -131 difference. Went out in first round. KR got in in 2013 with -118. Went out first round. Widnes -114 in 2014, out first round. All these got into playoffs in 8th.

None in playoffs through super 8s era although a few teams got into the top 8 on negative points.

Often teams have just missed out on playoffs with massive negative points differences and as I've said, twice teams have got to the semis but none in final and none have won the league. 

BTW, that's not a geeky encyclopedic knowledge of super league, just what I found on Wikipedia.

[deluded pom?]

19 minutes ago, The Hallucinating Goose said:

BTW, that's not a geeky encyclopedic knowledge of super league, just what I found on Wikipedia.

Little does he know I went on Wiki yes and altered lots of points differences because I knew someone would take the easy research option (laughs maniacally ).

[The Hallucinating Goose]

32 minutes ago, deluded pom? said:

Little does he know I went on Wiki yes and altered lots of points differences because I knew someone would take the easy research option (laughs maniacally ).

Well I could have got out the yearbooks but they aren't to be touched. They have never been read and are perfectly lined up together on the shelf. They are kept out of direct sunlight, get a very delicate dusting once a day at exactly 12 noon and I then place my wing over my heart and swear allegiance to the rugby league gods on them. 

[Cheshire Setter]

20 hours ago, Essai Machine said:

Wire , however , have had their prefered 17 to select most weeks

No, we most definitely haven’t I’m afraid...  not for about half the games we’ve played.   And we’ve had last season’s reserve hooker standing in for Brown who hasn’t even played.

19 hours ago, Dunbar said:

Wigan won the 2016 Grand Final in 2016

That’s good to know.   Imagine the conspiracy theories on here if they were declared champions for seasons where they didn’t even contest the grand final? Shaun Wane in a white lab coat and a DeLorean n all...

[Essai Machine]

3 hours ago, Cheshire Setter said:

No, we most definitely haven’t I’m afraid...  not for about half the games we’ve played.   And we’ve had last season’s reserve hooker standing in for Brown who hasn’t even played.

 

But you've got Blake Austin - surely he's worth 2 Kevin Browns and half a Jackson Hasting ?

[Clogiron]

4 hours ago, The Hallucinating Goose said:

Well I could have got out the yearbooks but they aren't to be touched. They have never been read and are perfectly lined up together on the shelf. They are kept out of direct sunlight, get a very delicate dusting once a day at exactly 12 noon and I then place my wing over my heart and swear allegiance to the rugby league gods on them. 

So you never found the 2 grand included in every other edition of the 1988 Rothmans I take it

[Cheshire Setter]

3 hours ago, Essai Machine said:

But you've got Blake Austin - surely he's worth 2 Kevin Browns and half a Jackson Hasting ?

You are Sky Sports’ commentary team and I claim my five pounds...

You’re getting uptight about opinions that are held by a few pundits, not most sensible fans.   Warrington fans know he’s a great player and have seen what he can do, but we don’t pretend he’s a one-man band.

[Oxford]

On 13/07/2019 at 12:50, Scubby said:

"could" don't get too giddy!  

It's just the mention we miss!

[Essai Machine]

4 hours ago, Cheshire Setter said:

 

You’re getting uptight about opinions that are held by a few pundits, not most sensible fans.   Warrington fans know he’s a great player and have seen what he can do, but we don’t pretend he’s a one-man band.

Now you're sounding delusional (is it still your year ?) Without Austin you'd be 6th or 7th at best .

[Padge]

Why does this actually matter?

[Cheshire Setter]

I

2 hours ago, Essai Machine said:

Now you're sounding delusional (is it still your year ?) Without Austin you'd be 6th or 7th at best .

Okay, I’ll be honest here - I have absolutely no idea what point you’re trying to make.   There’s one thread running where everyone’s complaining that Blake Austin shouldn’t be awarded so many man of steel points because he isn’t as good as Hastings etc.    Then this thread pops up saying Warrington are only second because we haven’t had injuries (which I pointed out is not true) and you respond with a sarcy comment about us only being where we are because of Austin whilst also referencing the Hastings debate (‘half as good’).   So what’s your actual argument?

Ive stated most Warrington fans think he’s a great player but not the messiah and can’t run the team all by himself.   And yes we’d probably also not be as high up the table without him.   Which is pretty much what you’re arguing!

1 hour ago, Padge said:

Why does this actually matter?

I’ve no idea and I apologise for even entertaining an argument where I agree with what’s being argued by the other side  

[Eddie]

On 14/07/2019 at 02:08, Denton Rovers RLFC said:

Norwich City were -4 and came in third in the premier league in 1993/94

We got plenty of dickings that season (7-1 at Blackburn springs to mind) but could have won it if we’d had a deeper squad - hard to believe now.