Toronto tragedy .. : Sun Oct 07, 2018 8:23 pm  

Thank goodness those maple syrup eaters lost ..
Well done London.

Re: Toronto tragedy .. : Mon Oct 08, 2018 7:40 am  

A little surprised this morning seeing the score, the Championship next year could be described as extremely warm.

Re: Toronto tragedy .. : Mon Oct 08, 2018 9:48 am  

I was hoping for a Toronto win as I felt this would spice up Super League more next season as owner David Argyle would certainly have splashed the cash to make Toronto very competitive.

Having said that, London were the better side and deserved to win. There's a certain irony that both St Helen's and Toronto (clearly the best teams in their league based on the league table evidence) have drawn a blank at the end of the season.

Personally, I'm in favour of the team that wins the league being crowned champions and getting all the glory for doing so. Could you imagine the uproar if the football Premiership was decided by a play-off between the teams in the top four or five, and the fifth team was crowned champions? In football terms, I can live with the third to seventh placed teams having a 'play-off' to decide the last promotion place, as the top two go up automatically, but the credibility of rugby league must be questioned if the 'champions' can be the fifth best team over a full season.

[Jemmo]

Re: Toronto tragedy .. : Mon Oct 08, 2018 10:39 am  

I hear that a lot, we can never compare football to any other sport in this country. Football is an absolute freak of a sport with more money than sense, it's the national game which pretty much everyone knows something about. It is also in the minority of the nations sports that don't decide their champions by a play off. Most of the countries popular team sports decide their champions at a grand final; League, Union, Cricket, Basketball, Netball, Ice Hockey

Re: Toronto tragedy .. : Mon Oct 08, 2018 11:13 am  

There's enough room in rugby for there to be three major competitions: The League Champions, Play-Off Champions, and Challenge Cup. We don't need to devalue the League Champions by calling it the League Leaders Shield. It makes it sound like an egg cup competition. I thought we'd got the balance right many years ago when the end of season rugby play-offs played second fiddle to winning the league.

The current system is going to stay albeit with the league leaders getting a second chance to reach the Grand Final next season when Super League reverts back to a top five play-off, not a top four play-off. That seems slightly fairer although I'd much rather see the league leaders getting an automatic entry straight to the Grand Final.

For sure, we crown the World Cup football champions based on what is mainly a knock-out competition and in the main we seem to think that is okay, but I believe that where a league structure can decide who the champions are, we should adopt that method as it is much fairer. By determining the best team over a longer period of time it means injuries and suspensions are likely to play a lesser role in the outcome, and skill is more likely to prevail than luck.

I also think that rugby league is reaching another one of its 'crossroads'. The attendances at the Wigan game was 13,461 and the attendance at St Helen's was similar, slightly lower I believe. I can't find the actual attendance but saw it was disappointingly low when Sky showed it after the game last week. These figures are incredibly poor for the showcase games of the season. There is a huge marketing job waiting to be done on our game. If the 2022 TV deal is worse than the present one, I do fear for the future of the game. The powers that be need to move swiftly - before it is too late.

Re: Toronto tragedy .. : Mon Oct 08, 2018 1:14 pm  

It might be better if the League winners went straight into the final.
I do hope the pie-munchers don't beat Warrington ....
They must be happy that the Wire did a job on Saints and think that Wigan's name is on the trophy because of it.

[Jemmo]

Re: Toronto tragedy .. : Mon Oct 08, 2018 1:22 pm  

Think Wigan will win, they barely broke sweat on Friday where as Warrington just had their cup final, and are perennial bottlers

[Wanderer]

Re: Toronto tragedy .. : Mon Oct 08, 2018 1:38 pm  

Double Movement wrote:

There's enough room in rugby for there to be three major competitions: The League Champions, Play-Off Champions, and Challenge Cup. We don't need to devalue the League Champions by calling it the League Leaders Shield. It makes it sound like an egg cup competition. I thought we'd got the balance right many years ago when the end of season rugby play-offs played second fiddle to winning the league.

The current system is going to stay albeit with the league leaders getting a second chance to reach the Grand Final next season when Super League reverts back to a top five play-off, not a top four play-off. That seems slightly fairer although I'd much rather see the league leaders getting an automatic entry straight to the Grand Final.

For sure, we crown the World Cup football champions based on what is mainly a knock-out competition and in the main we seem to think that is okay, but I believe that where a league structure can decide who the champions are, we should adopt that method as it is much fairer. By determining the best team over a longer period of time it means injuries and suspensions are likely to play a lesser role in the outcome, and skill is more likely to prevail than luck.

I also think that rugby league is reaching another one of its 'crossroads'. The attendances at the Wigan game was 13,461 and the attendance at St Helen's was similar, slightly lower I believe. I can't find the actual attendance but saw it was disappointingly low when Sky showed it after the game last week. These figures are incredibly poor for the showcase games of the season. There is a huge marketing job waiting to be done on our game. If the 2022 TV deal is worse than the present one, I do fear for the future of the game. The powers that be need to move swiftly - before it is too late.

12,309 at St Helens.

Re: Toronto tragedy .. : Mon Oct 08, 2018 2:42 pm  

Wanderer wrote:

12,309 at St Helens.

Thanks Wanderer. I saw the attendance on the Sky caption at the end of the match but haven't got a rugby paper this week. I couldn't find the attendance in the internet.

I agree with S/O that Wigan didn't seem to break sweat against Cas. Perhaps last week was Warrington's cup final and they'll come up second best on Saturday.

Re: Toronto tragedy .. : Mon Oct 08, 2018 4:48 pm  

Double Movement wrote:

Thanks Wanderer. I saw the attendance on the Sky caption at the end of the match but haven't got a rugby paper this week. I couldn't find the attendance in the interne


I agree with S/O that Wigan didn't seem to break sweat against Cas. Perhaps last week was Warrington's cup final and they'll come up second best on Saturday.

'Twas Jemmo what wrote that not I ...
I happen to think that Wire will do 'em.