Playoffs

[Leyther_Matt]

4 hours ago, perth_white said:

It's getting closer to the sort of nonsense they have over here. Nobody gives a shit who wins the league (the minor premiership), the real prize goes to the winner of the Grand Final tournament played out by the top 8. You can finish first and then end up losing to the eighth place team and they are then considered the best team. Absolute bollocks. I've had to try to explain how winning the league in England is the highest prize, they were under the impression it was winning of the FA Cup, baffling.

Tbf if I had a choice of us winning the FA Cup or the Premier League then I’d always choose the FA Cup

Know what you mean though. Always enjoy going to the Super League Grand Final but still don’t necessarily agree with that being the method to decide the champions 

[DirtySanchez]

36 minutes ago, Leyther_Matt said:

Tbf if I had a choice of us winning the FA Cup or the Premier League then I’d always choose the FA Cup

Know what you mean though. Always enjoy going to the Super League Grand Final but still don’t necessarily agree with that being the method to decide the champions 

Read somewhere that in RL Leeds, at their peak, wouldn't bother with topping the league and just make sure they got in the play offs, which they would usually do without making it into top gear 

Then make sure all the big guns were fit and go all out for the Grand Final 

[Leyther_Matt]

9 minutes ago, DirtySanchez said:

Read somewhere that in RL Leeds, at their peak, wouldn't bother with topping the league and just make sure they got in the play offs, which they would usually do without making it into top gear 

Then make sure all the big guns were fit and go all out for the Grand Final 

Yeah think they did it from both 4th and 5th

Tbf not entirely unlike when a team sneaks in to 6th after a good run of results and the momentum takes them to at least the play off final if not winning it. Although I don’t think it actually happens as much as people tend to think. 

[perth_white]

1 hour ago, Leyther_Matt said:

Tbf if I had a choice of us winning the FA Cup or the Premier League then I’d always choose the FA Cup

I'd love to see us win the FA Cup but being Champions, for me, is the ultimate. I know we never will be Champions but it's unlikely we'll ever win one of the 3 major honours, with the 2 League Cup finals the best chances we have had in my lifetime, very happy to have been at those though. The Middlesbrough game still stings as I felt we would win that.

[tomski]

Fa cup is shit now. League any day of the week. 5 years ago and before it would have been the cup. I was late to the party in realising it.

[tomski]

1 hour ago, perth_white said:

I'd love to see us win the FA Cup but being Champions, for me, is the ultimate. I know we never will be Champions but it's unlikely we'll ever win one of the 3 major honours, with the 2 League Cup finals the best chances we have had in my lifetime, very happy to have been at those though. The Middlesbrough game still stings as I felt we would win that.

Interesting on the league cup finals. Left both relatively fine as opposed to the play off defeats that were a real kick in the balls. Seasons work v cup final seems so different to me

[e2e4]

2 hours ago, DirtySanchez said:

Read somewhere that in RL Leeds, at their peak, wouldn't bother with topping the league and just make sure they got in the play offs, which they would usually do without making it into top gear 

Then make sure all the big guns were fit and go all out for the Grand Final 

when nfl teams do this, the better team craps out and loses to the 6th seed. 

like they take their eye off the ball, were the team that played the extra game the week before is still firing. 

rugby league has a "Repechage" (dunno what thats french for) bracket,  to give the better team a second bite at the cherry when they balls up in that way. 

[Leyther_Matt]

Just now, e2e4 said:

rugby league has a "Repechage" (dunno what thats french for) bracket,  to give the better team a second bite at the cherry when they balls up in that way. 

Only in the NRL. That ended in Super League when reverting to top 6 (top 2 have advantage of only having to win one home game to qualify for the final)

[Rival Son]

And highest finisher has home advantage. No two-legged affairs, which help the lower finishing sides.

[e2e4]

1 minute ago, Leyther_Matt said:

Only in the NRL. That ended in Super League when reverting to top 6 (top 2 have advantage of only having to win one home game to qualify for the final)

didnt even know the NRL used those playoffs at all , thought they used the normal ones

took me ten minites to figure out what the weird word were. 

[Casino]

32 minutes ago, Rival Son said:

 No two-legged affairs, which help the lower finishing sides.

How?

[Rival Son]

27 minutes ago, Casino said:

How?

By levelling up the teams. Rewarding the highest finishing team with home advantage in a one-legged tie, rightly confers an advantage. I’d have thought that was obvious.

[Krimzon]

9 hours ago, perth_white said:

 I've had to try to explain how winning the league in England is the highest prize, they were under the impression it was winning of the FA Cup, baffling.

Always used to be the FA CUP as the ultimate prize back in the "good" old days. 

[frank_spencer]

3 hours ago, tomski said:

Interesting on the league cup finals. Left both relatively fine as opposed to the play off defeats that were a real kick in the balls. Seasons work v cup final seems so different to me

Liverpool was beaten by a better team, Middlesbrough we fucked it up royally.

Edited September 13, 2025 by frank_spencer

[Eddie]

Wrong thread 

Edited September 13, 2025 by Eddie

[Rival Son]

4 hours ago, frank_spencer said:

Liverpool was beaten by a better team, Middlesbrough we fucked it up royally.

I’m not sure Liverpool were much better than us. I recall that McManaman had one of the best games of his career but, aside from that, we matched them in most areas and Alan Thompson was head and shoulders above the rest of both midfields.

The reason Middlesbrough is remembered is we just didn’t turn up. I’m pretty sure we were favourites for that game, but we just couldn’t get going, for some reason. We weren’t helped by the double-kick penalty (which VAR would have disallowed, by the way) but that game was a real missed opportunity of our own making.

[Zico]

5 hours ago, frank_spencer said:

Liverpool was beaten by a better team, Middlesbrough we fucked it up royally.

 

9 minutes ago, Rival Son said:

I’m not sure Liverpool were much better than us. I recall that McManaman had one of the best games of his career but, aside from that, we matched them in most areas and Alan Thompson was head and shoulders above the rest of both midfields.

The reason Middlesbrough is remembered is we just didn’t turn up. I’m pretty sure we were favourites for that game, but we just couldn’t get going, for some reason. We weren’t helped by the double-kick penalty (which VAR would have disallowed, by the way) but that game was a real missed opportunity of our own making.

We weren't bad at all v Liverpool, they just had James and McManaman having great games and making the difference at both ends