: Mon Jul 06, 2009 11:30 am  

Inflatable_Armadillo wrote:

Sorry, you are of course correct... would not want to lull them into a false sense of their ultra-slim potential of reaching the GF!

Which is exactly McBananas fiendishly deceptive master plan – you didn’t think that the Bulls were playing this crap because they have an inept coach, shizer off season signings and internal player wrangling?

NO – it’s all part of a genius season-long plan, to scrape a play-off place then pull out the big guns and steam to the GF undefeated.

: Mon Jul 06, 2009 11:36 am  

LS16_Rhino wrote:

Which is exactly McBananas fiendishly deceptive master plan – you didn’t think that the Bulls were playing this crap because they have an inept coach, shizer off season signings and internal player wrangling?

NO – it’s all part of a genius season-long plan, to scrape a play-off place then pull out the big guns and steam to the GF undefeated.

Sh*t just got real.

I don't think people realise how far bradford have fallen. If the league wasn't extended they'd be bottom and if there was still relegation they'd be staring down the barrell.

Odsal sports village is crucial to their long term future and if they don't get that it looks pretty bleak.

I couldn't care less either way.

: Mon Jul 06, 2009 12:02 pm  

The only way to avoid the extra motivation given to your opponents by picking them is to do it before they've even qualified. Whoever gets the pick after week one needs to turn round and say they're playing either the lower, or higher, placed qualifier in week three. That way they've picked a position, rather than an actual team.

: Mon Jul 06, 2009 12:05 pm  

Snake Eater wrote:

Sh*t just got real.

I don't think people realise how far bradford have fallen. If the league wasn't extended they'd be bottom and if there was still relegation they'd be staring down the barrell.

Odsal sports village is crucial to their long term future and if they don't get that it looks pretty bleak.

I couldn't care less either way.

Actually, when you put it in that context I had not fully appreciated how much sh*t they were in!

It adds to it when you know that both Celtic and Salford club/fans all went into this season with there eyes open and the knowledge that they were likley to finish in the bottom two and that they have another two seasons to attain their goals!

: Mon Jul 06, 2009 12:27 pm  

Lord_Percy wrote:

The only way to avoid the extra motivation given to your opponents by picking them is to do it before they've even qualified. Whoever gets the pick after week one needs to turn round and say they're playing either the lower, or higher, placed qualifier in week three. That way they've picked a position, rather than an actual team.

I know where you are coming from but given that I might have the opportunity to pick, I would like to maybe wait and see how things looked after the PSF's had been played.

I finish 1st and win my first round game and go straight to the QSF. Lets says the 8th placed team really pull it out and against all odds make the QSF and the other teams to make it is the 2nd placed team who had to come the long way after losing in the first round and the 3rd place team who beat 2nd to get straight through also!

Now whom do you pick?

My gut would tell me that the 8th placed team might be running out of steam, so do I select them thinking that I don't care if they get extra motivation as I think that is better than playing either the 2nd or 3rd team?

Now, if as is very likely and we have places 1 to 4 through to the QSF, do I decide I am not bothered and THEN and very publically draw them out of a hat, saying I really don’t care and I am just going to chance it, so the extra motivation is almost lost??

: Mon Jul 06, 2009 12:45 pm  

Sorry, I am turning this into my own thread of getting my head around the new play-off system!

Actually, it is not clear if the highest placed QPO winner can select either of the three other teams BUT I think not and they would in actual fact have to pick from the two PSF winners but not 100%?

So, forget the 3rd team being involved above and you just get to pick from 8th or 2nd placed!

How about this though... Saints finish top, we finish 2nd. We bollox up the home draw and go the long way round to get to the QSF. Now Saints can pick us, or the other side. If I were Saints, would I be tempted (given the last two years) to say balls to it, pick Leeds and play them at home in the QSF rather than in the GF and if I lose I say... oh well, not our year and not having to face the prospect of three GF's and three defeats!!!!

: Mon Jul 06, 2009 12:48 pm  

Inflatable_Armadillo wrote:

Actually, it is not clear if the highest placed QPO winner can select either of the three other teams BUT I think not and they would in actual fact have to pick from the two PSF winners but not 100%?

I've always understood it to be the pick of the 2 second week qualifiers and clubs are not able to pick the other winner from week one.

: Mon Jul 06, 2009 12:59 pm  

Lord_Percy wrote:

I've always understood it to be the pick of the 2 second week qualifiers and clubs are not able to pick the other winner from week one.

Yes, that is what I think it is but I can not find a 100% answer as yet!

What I do now think is that the picking system has the potential, although slight, of making the final a damp squid by design. Everyone is coming at this from the point of view of picking the weakest team to reach the final, when the more I think about it, do I pick the strongest team to have the potential to get a weak team in the final. Take the all or nothing approach and say well, if we don't make the final we don't have the heartache of losing but if we do I could engineer this so that the final is eaiser than the QSF, so if I get through I am more likley to win!!!