Double chance final 8s

[N2022]

New to following NRL. Now I've got my head round the final 8 system giving a second chance to the top 4 sides beaten first game, I think it looks quite a good system for a league of that size. Probably been mulled over tegularly on here but thoughts? 

[Irish Saint]

Personally, I would go straight knock out 1 v 8, 2 v 7, etc.In play-offs there should be no second chances. Also , I have given up trying to understand the Australian meanings of semi final and Preliminary Final.

[Anita Bath]

34 minutes ago, Irish Saint said:

Personally, I would go straight knock out 1 v 8, 2 v 7, etc.In play-offs there should be no second chances. Also , I have given up trying to understand the Australian meanings of semi final and Preliminary Final.

Not forgetting qualyfying finals and elimination finals.

[DoubleD]

I don’t like the second chance games, I agree that it should be straight knock out. 

I’m not that bothered about watching the top 4 games this week because of it. 

Be interesting to see what they do with the play offs when they expand the league further 

Edited September 10, 2025 by DoubleD

[N2022]

23 hours ago, Irish Saint said:

Personally, I would go straight knock out 1 v 8, 2 v 7, etc.In play-offs there should be no second chances. Also , I have given up trying to understand the Australian meanings of semi final and Preliminary Final.

I get where you are coming from but I feel there should be more advantage to finishing higher in the league. Sometimes 8 are on a bit of a roll or buoyed by qualifying, where 6 or 7 might be missing someone key - hence club call trial though too far. Giving 1 a bye to a semi and making 6 more play 3 qf is better, but maybe too few on 16.

[Anita Bath]

25 minutes ago, N2022 said:

I get where you are coming from but I feel there should be more advantage to finishing higher in the league. Sometimes 8 are on a bit of a roll or buoyed by qualifying, where 6 or 7 might be missing someone key - hence club call trial though too far. Giving 1 a bye to a semi and making 6 more play 3 qf is better, but maybe too few on 16.

And roosters are on that roll this year….I wouldnt want to play them in the first two rounds.

[Graham]

13 hours ago, Anita Bath said:

And roosters are on that roll this year….I wouldnt want to play them in the first two rounds.

Yes, Roosters are worth tipping.

[N2022]

Was thinking more about this and actually wondering if opening your playoffs against the team that finished second is really that much of a reward for coming third in a 16 team season (and vice versa). Sure you have the back up of a second chance against a lower ranked side if you lose, but it's not much better than beating a mid table ish side and getting a crack at one of the top 4 who've just lost a bruising encounter, which is a pathway for 6th or 7th.

[Anita Bath]

20 minutes ago, N2022 said:

Was thinking more about this and actually wondering if opening your playoffs against the team that finished second is really that much of a reward for coming third in a 16 team season (and vice versa). Sure you have the back up of a second chance against a lower ranked side if you lose, but it's not much better than beating a mid table ish side and getting a crack at one of the top 4 who've just lost a bruising encounter, which is a pathway for 6th or 7th.

They do get home advantage though.

[N2022]

1 hour ago, Anita Bath said:

They do get home advantage though.

Fair point, though I wouldn't be surprised if the actual results-outcomes benefit of that turned out to be quite limited, and the real gain is financial. Playoffs throw up odd results. In English soccer (admittedly a lower scoring game where a single chance taken or missed is often decisive), data shows the highest ranked team rarely progresses. I'd be interested to see if data shows home advantage counts for much in these NRL games, when you compare it with win %ages with similar ranking discrepancy in regular season.

[Sports Prophet]

On 10/09/2025 at 03:51, N2022 said:

New to following NRL. Now I've got my head round the final 8 system giving a second chance to the top 4 sides beaten first game, I think it looks quite a good system for a league of that size. Probably been mulled over tegularly on here but thoughts? 

Probably better than the original system where 1 v 8, 2 v 7, 3 v 6 and 4 v 5 and the two lowest ranked losers are out, which means only top two are guaranteed a second chance. Certainly fairer reward for teams 3 & 4.

However the jeopardy for teams 3 & 4 in that old system does give their matches a little more intensity, especially where matches are played in order from 4th on Friday to 1st on Sunday which will keep losing teams on the edge of their seat up until the final first round match.

[Sports Prophet]

5 hours ago, N2022 said:

Was thinking more about this and actually wondering if opening your playoffs against the team that finished second is really that much of a reward for coming third in a 16 team season (and vice versa). Sure you have the back up of a second chance against a lower ranked side if you lose, but it's not much better than beating a mid table ish side and getting a crack at one of the top 4 who've just lost a bruising encounter, which is a pathway for 6th or 7th.

You get a home game though in the second round, whereas the alternative is that you will play that losing team away.

NRL history using this current system shows the importance of finishing in the top 4 to win the premiership, so it seems that those top 4 teams are getting the reward for their season (or that they are the better teams as the regular season would suggest).

Looking at all this from a different perspective, what I don’t like about the 1v8, 2v7 etc model is that teams finishing 5th and 6th may get a second bite of the cherry after losing in week 1 and then pull off a lucky win over 3rd or 4th who won their previous week’s game anyway. More than anything, I’m most uncomfortable with teams 5 and 6 getting a second chance in the alternative model.

The third model is to have 1v8, 2v7 etc and make all games knockout, but you won’t see that happen because it really does give too little benefit to the top 2 especially and takes away a week and two finals fixtures from the calendar and bank account.

Edited September 12, 2025 by Sports Prophet

[Graham]

On 11/09/2025 at 10:37, Graham said:

Yes, Roosters are worth tipping.

Really...

that was a dud call!

[Anita Bath]

On 11/09/2025 at 00:11, Anita Bath said:

And roosters are on that roll this year….I wouldnt want to play them in the first two rounds.

Thats why I never participate in tipping comps.