Re: SL Trophy 2020 : Sat Sep 05, 2020 11:55 am  

Plenty of football fans referring to Liverpool's title as an asterisk, or tainted. I feel it'll be the same for us

Re: SL Trophy 2020 : Sat Sep 05, 2020 5:14 pm  

sally cinnamon wrote:

1. Do we accept Catalans victory and celebrate it as a progressive move for the sport to see the first French winners of the competition?
2. Do we fire Price for failing to win another Grand Final?

1. Yes.
2. No.

Re: SL Trophy 2020 : Sat Sep 05, 2020 6:35 pm  

None of Wigan's past trophy wins get an asterisk saying *Wigan were full time and with a massive wage bill, compared to other clubs.

If we win the Grand Final I will be overjoyed.

In some ways it's actually more difficult to win, when you have situations like this week.

Re: SL Trophy 2020 : Sat Sep 05, 2020 8:57 pm  

2020 is going to be a shallow championship, but better us winning it than Saints.
I rather have...”you can’t win a proper championship” jibes, than “ you can’t even win a championship under the easiest season ever” jibes.

[Uncle Rico]

Re: SL Trophy 2020 : Sun Sep 06, 2020 1:14 pm  

Why would anyone think its the easiest season ever? The bottom team has already gone there's no potential gimme at Magic Weekend we had a few prior to running into Wigan as our extra game.

Follow this up with a short sudden death play off programme against the other three best sides no second chances no winning it from 5th.

Not to mention the squad management where you could lose half your first choice 17 week on week beyond the standard injuries or trips to the disciplinary Whoever wins it wins it end of IMO

Re: SL Trophy 2020 : Sun Sep 06, 2020 5:36 pm  

Uncle Rico wrote:

Why would anyone think its the easiest season ever? The bottom team has already gone there's no potential gimme at Magic Weekend we had a few prior to running into Wigan as our extra game.

Follow this up with a short sudden death play off programme against the other three best sides no second chances no winning it from 5th.

Not to mention the squad management where you could lose half your first choice 17 week on week beyond the standard injuries or trips to the disciplinary Whoever wins it wins it end of IMO

It's not the easiest, it's the most random. A team could end up winning playoffs/Grand Final by virtue of their opposition being stripped to academy players because of covid absences. So there is more chance that the best team in the competition doesn't end up as the winner. Obviously the teams at the bottom are not going to win as they won't be able to make the playoffs so the teams most likely to benefit from the randomness are us, Castleford and Catalans, maybe Leeds.

Re: SL Trophy 2020 : Sun Sep 06, 2020 6:13 pm  

It’s not an easy season at all, and teams will have varying levels of success on how well they deal with these circumstances. Smarter coaches will try out their academy players when they can to be better prepared for a covid hit.

Somebody might argue that one team’s league win is less valid because, for example, that team got to the final with an easy club call fixture. Or their opposition lost a star player to an unfair suspension. Maybe one year’s playoff system was more fair than another.

You can only play in the conditions presented to you. How well you deal with those conditions, however, is completely up to you. If the trophy is awarded, it will be completely valid. Opposition fans will detract from it because their team lost.

Re: SL Trophy 2020 : Sun Sep 06, 2020 6:36 pm  

sally cinnamon wrote:

It's not the easiest, it's the most random. A team could end up winning playoffs/Grand Final by virtue of their opposition being stripped to academy players because of covid absences. So there is more chance that the best team in the competition doesn't end up as the winner. Obviously the teams at the bottom are not going to win as they won't be able to make the playoffs so the teams most likely to benefit from the randomness are us, Castleford and Catalans, maybe Leeds.

If it's random, then there's an equal chance it will benefit Saints or Wigan.

[Winslade's Offload]

Re: SL Trophy 2020 : Sun Sep 06, 2020 7:53 pm  

MorePlaymakersNeeded wrote:

If it's random, then there's an equal chance it will benefit Saints or Wigan.

I can see some of the arguments here, but lets assume we have a competition that is completely random. That means everyone has an equal chance of winning it. It also means the competition can not be won more regularly by sides that are fitter, work harder, have more talented players or a better coach. You throw the dice and have an equal chance of it coming up from 1-6. Most fans would say that there was no point to this because it was no longer a competition but a simple lottery. This is the point that Ms Cinnamon is making (I believe).


We already have some randomness in our competitions which we accept. Ask the Cas head coach about injuries. You can be very unlucky and loose a lot of your best players during the season which prevents you from making the playoffs. Thats tough we say, its part and parcel of the game. But the more randomness you add in, the closer you get to the simple lottery above. And that is what Covid can do to this season. Sally's first example was a good one where two teams get to the final, one retains all their best players whilst the other loses say 9-10 through Covid. The first team wins 50-0 and are crowned champions which to my mind at least feels very unsatisfactory for the winners, losers and spectators.

Re: SL Trophy 2020 : Sun Sep 06, 2020 9:38 pm  

My point was that in a "random" (SC's word, not mine) competition, that circumstances would equally assist or impede Wigan or Saints in the same way as the other teams stated by Sally C.