Quote Wigan/Leeds Andy="Wigan/Leeds Andy"Why do we need to drop the 27th game to have a proper trophy with substantial prize money?
Personally I wouldn't even give the hubcap as we have the play-offs to determine who our champion team is. It was only introduced in the first place to stop Bradford whinging.'"
I remember Bradford whinging when coached by Peter Fox they wanted a play off because they finished on the same points as Wigan but lost the championship on points difference.
So if they whinged they wanted a prize for first place there is some irony there for those who know their RL history.
I always thought the prize for first placed was dropped so as not to detract from the then new playoffs because the RFL knew if there was a prize for finishing top it would be harder to hoodwink people into thinking a few knock out games was the right way to determine who was the best team in the league. There could only be one prize.
If the 27th game is dropped (which IMO it should be in favour of a mid season international v France) then you would get loads of debate as to which team was better, the team finishing top or the GF winners and I don't see any problem in such debates. It's all part of the fun.
Given the latest play off format gives even less advantage to the top two sides and a side can win the GF without beating all others who finished above it (as is needed in a top 5 system) I don't think it would take much to see this devalued version of the play offs supplanted in the majority of supporters minds by the league as the true indicator of which side is better if the league went to 26 games.
Dave