Assuming fixtures will be out next week, been pondering how this will be done to be as best as possibly fair
will it be based on season before last finishing positions - if so that would be a benefit for us
but knowing the RFL we will probably end up playing the top 2 away and not at home
still will be nice to ponder the fixtures
Having the fixtures will be good - will give us a lot to speculate (and argue !!) about and will let those who like such things come up with loads of conspiracy theories about how we’ve been robbed before we even start - in short a return to the normal fans banter at the start of a season. Bring it on I say.
Are they not using the 2019 finishing positions as a basis?
Sure I read that somewhere...
You forget, this is the RFL organising it. They might change it the day after.
It was reported on one of the RL websites a week or two ago that the fixtures would be based on the 2019 finishing positions.
Yes I thought it would be on the 2019 table, with London swapping for Toronto, Leigh removed and Whitehaven,Oldham and Newcastle being bottom 3
our position is interesting as finished position would become 10th without Leigh, however if based on playing performance the 12 points returned would put us 7th
reckon they will go on top 7 home and away, bottom 7 home and away, topped up with 3 other home and away and 4 playing once.
The extra 3 home and aways will be the contentious ones !
Each team will play 9 teams twice and 4 teams once, depending on which position they finished in 2019 season. So with Widnes finishing that year near the bottom, we should only play the top 4 clubs once.
Sounds fair to me!
Each team will play 9 teams twice and 4 teams once, depending on which position they finished in 2019 season. So with Widnes finishing that year near the bottom, we should only play the top 4 clubs once.
understand that, but if you were not Widnes, you surely would want positions based on playing performances in that season, so the 12 points deducted would be stopped, putting us in 7th
also it’s not as simple as playing the top 4 once
i would take 10th place for sure !
Try working out a fixture structure based on 9 and 4 !
Each team will play 9 teams twice and 4 teams once, depending on which position they finished in 2019 season. So with Widnes finishing that year near the bottom, we should only play the top 4 clubs once.
understand that, but if you were not Widnes, you surely would want positions based on playing performances in that season, so the 12 points deducted would be stopped, putting us in 7th also it’s not as simple as playing the top 4 once i would take 10th place for sure !
In that case, maybe we could claim the higher payment for finishing 7th!!!
I cannot understand why the RFL could not have fitted in a further 4 fixtures to enable each team to play each other home and away.
Having said that, a March start to the season is far from certain and no idea when crowds will be allowed back, in which case can clubs like Widnes afford to play.
They're more likely to take money off us!
We finished 11th. Crack on and get over it. Give us more money because we should of finished 7th not 11th :)))))) Do you seriously think the RFL would even consider such an idea??[/quote]
No - just being ironic!!!
Apparently, the 4 "spare" fixtures are being allocated on the basis of finishing position in 2019. We finished 11th and I presume that this will favour us in allocating games. Someone suggested that for the purposes of allocating fixtures, the RFL may well ignore the 12 points deduction, which would have put us in 8th position in the league. The Sky money was distributed on the basis of league position ie 11th. Therefore the points deduction resulted in a reduction of funding in 2019.
Anyway, who knows what the RFL will come up with and when - and if - the 2021 season will start?
Serious question - why 2019’s finishing position ? It’s just an arbitrary year - why not 1963 or 2004 or 2020 ? Or why not run a computer program to generate random fixtures based on the teams that will be playing (hopefully) in the league this season ? I am not a fan of the ‘guess what we’ve thought of now’ way the RFL chooses to run the game.
It may have escaped your attention, Leigh are now in super league so they may have difficulty in fulfilling the 4 th place team fixtures in this years championship