NRL proposed new finals format to extend to top 10 from top eight

The NRL has revealed a proposal set to replace the current top eight format with a wildcard format which has already been slammed.

The Roosters celebrate their win over the Storm during the 2018 NRL Grand Final.

The NRL has proposed a huge shake up for NRL finals with a wildcard to be introduced.

The finals format would be a top 10 with the top six to get the first weekend of finals off.

Then seven would play 10, and eight would host nine for a chance to make the main draw of the finals.

Last year, the Raiders would have made the finals from 10th with a 10 win, 14 loss season, as well as the 12-12 Tigers.

The Dragons would have played the Raiders and Warriors against the Tigers with the top six getting a week off.

Speaking on NRL360, host Paul Kent and The Daily Telegraph’s Phil Rothfield — who broke the news — had a heated discussion about the move.

“I really like it. The idea is to stop having so many dead rubber games,” Rothfield said.

“This year there were 36 matches where there with nothing hanging on the result for some of the sides. What they’re trying to do is to get more people to the games, get more interest to the back end of the season.”

“What I like is the fact it’s a huge advantage for the top six clubs. They get the first week off, they get to rest, rehab and get ready for the finals like they do in the AFL. We’re putting on two more games for the teams finishing seventh to 10th.”

The Raiders would have liked the idea last year.

For Kent, he rallied against the idea, calling it a “gimmick”.

“I intensely dislike it. It just rewards mediocrity,” he said.

“Why should the Raiders who finished 10th on 22 points get a shot at the Dragons who finished seventh on 32 points to make the playoffs? I just don’t think they deserve it.

“I think we already have we have too many teams in a top eight in a sixteen team competition make the playoffs, to now extend it to 10, so more than 50 per cent get a chance at the finals. The Raiders who had 10 wins an a bye, they just don’t deserve to be there.

Fellow host Ben Ikin added that there have been instances in the past where the teams seven through 10 have been separated by points differential.

Kent hit back, saying “That’s true, that’s happened once in 21 years”.

The one time it happened was the 2014 season where the Brisbane Broncos, New Zealand Warriors and Parramatta Eels all finished on 28 points with the Broncos in eighth and the Eels tenth on differential.

Looks like the 2018 NRL Finals team’s album launch.

Sharks halfback Chad Townsend wasn’t a huge fan.

“To be honest, I’m not a fan of it,” he said. “The top eight is the top eight for a reason and I don’t think teams who win less than half their games, a 40 percent strike rate would probably get you in tenth spot and I don’t think that’s good reward or a team taht should be playing semi-finals.

“Ten teams get a bite of the cherry and I think they proposed to have the six teams to get a week off but I’m a big fan of the system we’ve got now, it’s only be changed a few years ago and I think the top eight is definitely the way to go.”

NRL CEO Todd Greenberg said the decision would be the biggest change to the finals since the top-eight system was introduced in the 1990s, and would be used to combat dead rubbers at the end of the season.

“There’s some work we’re doing behind the scenes, which today we’re starting to brief some people on including our clubs about a different type of format from our finals series,” Greenberg said. “It’s very much exploring it as a concept rather than signing it off.”

NRL CEO Todd Greenberg spoke at the 2019 NRL Season Launch.

However the NRL accept it would raise questions over the fact 65 per cent of teams would advance past the final round, and that 10th finished a full 10 points behind eighth last year.

“It’s probably not fair on the face of it, but in any finals system it’s not fair in itself,” head of football Graham Annesley said.

“Because you are playing a competition over four weeks involving eight teams where not everyone plays each other. All finals systems are inherently unfair to some degree.

“It’s all a balancing act.”

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According to NRL figures, the introduction of the wildcard weekend would reduce dead matches - featuring a team that cannot make the finals- from 22 to 13 based on the last 11 years.

Those figures also show there is a decline of around 3,300 in crowd numbers for those games, as well as an eight per centdrop in television ratings.

“It’s all intended to try and maintain interest in the competition for the participants, for ourfans and members and people who come through the gates each week,” Annesley said.

Annesley admitted the feedback has already been mixed.

However the fans have fired up about the decision.

Congratulations to the @nrl on leaking the perfect dumb idea to distract everyone from a horrendous cavalcade of off-field scandals. Right out of the @afl textbook. Did they hire Andrew Demetriou as an advisor? #NRL

— Mark Gottlieb (@MarkGottliebFOX) March 4, 2019

So just get rid of the regular season and have a 16 team knockout Comp. Need more games? Include nswcup and qldcup teams. Let’s just get rid of the nrl and have a rugby league FA Cup. Then every game matters. https://t.co/T5AreZi8uc

— Mark Gottlieb (@MarkGottliebFOX) March 4, 2019

Right now AFL exec are having a snap meeting:

"The NRL have just out-stupid us. We need to think of something even dumber, to get back the lead"

— Greg Jericho (@GrogsGamut) March 4, 2019

Do not rate the idea of a wildcard weekend in the #NRL at all. If you can’t finish in the top half of the competition, you don’t deserve the chance to play finals.

— Caden Helmers (@cadenhelmers) March 4, 2019

— with AAP