Have your say: Should the structure be changed or should we leave it as it is?

Drew Darbyshire

There has been a lot of talk this season about the Super 8s structure and we want to know if you would like to change it or keep it.

The Super 8s were brought into fruition in 2015 and are played in Super League, Championship and League 1.

Teams are split into smaller divisions of eight based on their finishing places in their respective leagues after the regular season.

The top eight of Super League form the Super 8s. After 23 games the league table is frozen and the top eight teams will play each other once to compete for a place in the semi-finals by the end of the seven games.

The bottom four of Super League and top four of the Championship form the Qualifiers. The points are reset to zero and every team plays each other once. After the seven games, the teams who finish in the top three will gain qualification to the following Super League season. The teams who finish in fourth and fifth will play in the Million Pound Game which will earn the winner a place in next year’s Super League, while the loser will be relegated to the Championship, along with the three teams at the bottom.

Leigh Centurions gained promotion to Super League in 2016, with Hull Kingston Rovers being relegated. The two teams swapped divisions again the following season.

Elsewhere, the teams finishing fifth to 12th in the Championship play a game against each other, with the top two contesting the Championship Shield Grand Final and the bottom two teams in the group will be relegated to League 1.

In League 1, there is no Super 8s system and the season will just consist of 26 games, with each of the 14 teams playing each other home and away. The team who finishes top of the league will achieve automatic promotion to the Championship. The teams finishing second to fifth will meet in the semi-finals, with the winners meeting in the League 1 promotion play-off final. The winner will of course gain promotion to the Championship.

There has been a lot of talk about whether the league structure will change for the 2019 season and beyond, but there has been no word from the Rugby Football League yet on any plans for structure change, which gives a good hint that it will remain the same.

Some fans love the concept of the Super 8s as it gives lower league sides the opportunity to gain promotion to a higher division, while others are against it because if a team loses in the Million Pound Game then they are relegated and contracts of players become void, leaving them without a job.

But we want to know what you think.

If it was up to you, would you change the Super 8s structure or leave it as it is? Let us know in the comments below.