XIII Oceans

Super League XVI – Preliminary Finals

Do we really need to hold some sort of official inquest into why only one great contest has appeared during the play off stages?  We all know the main factor that is contributing because us in the RL intelligentsia, who don’t have to slave mercilessly to tradition, warned about it several years ago.  Our competition does not have sufficient strength in depth to support a fourteen team competition.  This has been mentioned time and time again by those of us who know what we’re talking about.  Now, it seems, more people are on board with that idea.  It stands to reason that if we cannot fill fourteen teams with talent then we dilute the intensity of the overall competition.  Never has it been more obvious that this year.  Having a six team play off may reduce the likelihood of blow outs but it doesn’t solve the fundamental problem of not enough resources to fill the spaces we have on the grid.

Alongside the lack of intensity, attendances have not taken off like they should.  I don’t think you can blame the match-ups created because people started voting with their feet in the first round which begs the question why?  Is it really that difficult for us to answer?  There are two reasons thatI believe have the most significant correlation.  For some reason, and I am at pains to guess why this is, people don’t like to pay to go.  It can’t be because the match-ups aren’t there because everybody was talking about how Catalans were going to give Wigan a great test last week.  You might suggest that, following Wigan’s fans’ reluctance to turn up to Murrayfield when expected to lose, you could rightly presume there wouldn’t be the five figure gate.  More likely however (and this links with the first point about having to pay) is that the game is on SKY.  SKY doesn’t affect attendances too much during the course of the season because of season ticket holders.  You go to the game whether it is on SKY or not.  Floaters do not demonstrate the same behaviour so when it comes to the play offs this difference is magnified.  A local blackout of SKY transmissions of the game is the only way but we know that isn’t going to happen.

If somebody is going to examine this issue I fear simple facts like the live televising and number of teams in the competition will get shifted to the side because they’re too controversial or difficult and issue to deal.  Ignore them and there’s no point in going further because they are bigger structural issues than even the format of the play offs itself.  If we changed to a top six the issues of attendance will still be there, as might concerns of intensity (I’m less inclined to give that thought credibility when under a 14-team, top eight system that can’t support 14 teams no matter what the play off numbers are).  We need to concentrate on these big reasons why people aren’t attending rather than looking for something to blame.  We are only lying to ourselves when we do so e.g. a point raised by a fan in LE about short notice of fixtures impacting the attendance, which I’m sure it does but not to the extent of knocking 8,000 off a Saints-Wigan derby.

Warrington v Leeds
Now is the time to pause and congratulate Leeds on reaching the preliminary finals.  Only six weeks ago we’d all written them off yet they’re here now talking about no Wembley hangover and feeling fresh.  Freshness maybe, with a few key players having missed significant parts of the season.  Still now I have this conversation going on in my head with one part saying “It’s form, it’s returning players, it’s experience” whilst the other chirps, “Against nobody and they still lack rest.”  I’m sure you’re sharing similar thoughts.  It’s why you and me are different.  Can Leeds be different and pull this off?  To do so will require another of last week’s Zak attacks or perhaps more accurately a strong overall defensive display.  Hull and Huddersfield have looked further away from the summit than their positions suggested.  Leeds are about to find out how many more rungs there are up the misty mountain of Super League.  When my romantic nature gets the better of me I catch glimpses of Leeds’ defence being Testudo like.  Click my heels and I’m drawn back to Kansas where a colour drained palette reminds me of the clarity of memory.  Warrington have found it relatively easy to get over Leeds try line this year so you know they will score.  The question is are Leeds going to be able to hold out enough to keep in the game because close going into the final twenty is up for grabs.  Leeds can be physical enough to match Warrington.  Again though it’s ‘can’ and not are.  I suppose what we are all saying is that Leeds can win this if they play well even if Warrington play well, but, based on assessing the season as a whole that probability isn’t high enough for us to commit.  Warrington.

St Helens v Wigan
Our one true game of sporting contest in the play offs returns to no doubt become a blow out and why couldn’t this go either way?  Last week I said the time to assess Wigan’s energy for the quest was on Monday.  Right after the game I could assess.  Wigan still have enough in the tank for more.  Will the extra game be as beneficial as Madge says it is or is he simply putting the suggestion in the mind of his players to keep them fresh from other subconsciously received signals?  He believes it so the players will believe it.  It matters not what we think.  What do we expect from this?  Seriously.  Warrington-Leeds we imagine to be an open and eye-catching affair, drenched in sun, with cocktails, sunglasses and maybe a few more knocks ons.  Dream of Saints-Wigan and it’s likely to be a brutal tank battle, somewhere on the Russian front, winter winds phantoming over a graveyard of heaped bodies, with the odd chicken wing sticking out.  For that has been the way of most minutes between them.  Wigan know the need for a good start is important to eradicate concerns over vigour.  A good start to me is avoiding being behind in this instance because Wigan have shown an ability to hang in with Saints even when being dominated.  This is a lot tougher to call than people think.  Champions respond like they did last Sunday.  Catalans looked tired yes, because Wigan ran them off their feet.  Stepping up to the top is always much harder than you think it is.  For either of these teams to make the Grand Final now would be a great success.  Saints were written off a while ago and a few gamblers flippantly did the same with Wigan.  If Wigan are drained this will go the same as before but my own eyes saw them lift again last week so my thoughts are back to where they were.  Wigan.