Dave Craven: Grand Final should more than make up for disappointing prelude

There are many observers in the game and supporters of the sport who feel rugby league currently needs some sort of lift.

There is a danger strides made in so many areas will be overtaken by a foreboding sense of gloom.

What this injection required is exactly, and where it should happen, remain the pertinent questions.

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However, let’s start with the current day and the tricky subject of play-offs.

Love them or loathe them, the end-of-season bonanza is here to stay, the Grand Final which it results in still rightfully being a source of pride and enjoyment.

The only problem is, it just has not been much of a bonanza this year.

Where the play-offs should be highlighting the finest Super League has to offer, the best teams who have battled consistently over 27 rounds to win the right to fight for Old Trafford, bringing all the quality to the surface, instead we have witnessed some dismal dross.

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When Warrington inflict a 47-0 scoreline on fourth-placed Huddersfield Giants, the signs are already alarming; if the top eight clubs are involved, what hope have the rest?

When Catalan similarly surrender so meekly against Wigan, capitulating 44-0 when there’s a place in the last four at stake, it raises further concerns about the depth of quality especially as the French club had also embarrassed Hull KR in another one-sided play-off previously.

Hull FC’s opening loss to Leeds was similarly unappealing so this weekend certainly needs some magic to rescue the series.

The main critics will say there are too many clubs challenging for the title of champions to start with and it should be no surprise we are not seeing regular vintage.

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In a 14-club competition it means a side from the bottom half of the table can actually win the whole thing. Not that they ever do given the top-three monopoly.

There are obvious benefits to the current eight-club play-off system though and I have been an advocate of it in the past.

The principal one is it gives scope for so many teams to keep striving throughout the season meaning there are competitive fixtures until the very end.

Witness the Hull KR v Castleford Tigers game on the final regular weekend, for instance, which became a winner-takes-all battle for the last play-off berth.

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However, in essence, the play-offs are supposed to be about the best of the best and it is difficult to include either of those clubs or Hull FC, for that matter, in such a category. When the RFL is busy striving to secure a new sponsor for next year onwards, given Engage’s decision not to re-negotiate their deal, it is imperative the product on the pitch is more alluring at this crucial time.

The sight of so many empty seats – season-ticket holders really do not fancy paying for these added games – is damaging and it is hard to attract new supporters as well when the whole process seems so convoluted.

While most fans now know the system, try explaining to a man in the street that a club has to win two semi-finals – a preliminary and then a qualifying one – to reach the Grand Final and you are more often than not met with sheer ridicule.

Throw in the idea of Club Call where you attempt to persuade them that choosing an opponent as your (qualifying) semi-final foe does actually make sense and they begin to look around for the white coats.

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When two of the head coaches in the last four publicly express their dislike of this concept, you know it is time for a rethink.

However, Leeds Rhinos could do so much to give it a reprieve and some much-needed gravitas by actually winning at Warrington tomorrow evening.

Knocking out the team who actually selected them (as opposed to Wigan) is just the sort of unexpected fillip the sport requires to drag it back from the ritual it has become of late.

It would also make for some interesting quotes from Tony Smith, the Wolves coach so against the idea that he refused to turn up to the live announcement.

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Neither Catalan or Huddersfield have managed to do it in either of the two ‘Calls’ yet and so, if it is to continue, it needs an upset to make it worthy and interesting.

Regardless of who wins this weekend, and the non-contest of some of those previous play-offs, the Grand Final itself should yet again be a splendid occasion.

There can be no denying it has become the jewel in the crown of rugby league, even surpassing the Challenge Cup final.

Any showpiece involving two from Leeds, Warrington, or, as was the case last year Wigan and St Helens, pictured left, has the makings of a classic and the sport needs such a stellar affair to rise above what has been an average season in general.

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But maybe the best way to raise spirits will come further down the line from an unlikely source – England and the Four Nations.

There is little pressure on Steve McNamara’s side given everyone, as always, expects the Australians or Kiwis to prosper.

But, more than any tweaks to the play-off system, raising of the salary cap or reduction in Super League’s numbers, it would give everyone involved in the sport here the greatest boost of all.

Easier said than done, of course, but it’s almost October and England is enjoying a heatwave so who knows?