Dave Craven: There’s nothing Grand about play-offs so let’s make changes

It is time for change. Possibly drastic ones.

Before my sportsdesk colleague, the YP’s chief football writer Richard Sutcliffe, starts getting all giddy, thinking after years of berating I’ve finally bowed to his stance that football’s age-old first-past-the-post system of defining a champion is indisputable, I’ll just clarify.

Sutcliffe might get his other bugbear – a lack of of promotion and relegation – cured in the not too distant future but let’s not throw the baby out with the bathwater.

Play-off football still has a place in the game of rugby league. It doesn’t need to abandon 15 years of history. The concept has enriched the competition and, undeniably, the Grand Final now holds its own as a true beacon in sporting waters.

But the current play-off format is flawed, almost to the point of neglect, and it is now damaging the sport.

One-sided scorelines, empty stadia, obvious lack of intensity when the season is supposed to be rising to an uncontrollable climax...

Sat in the KC Stadium on Sunday night, there was something utterly miserable about what unfolded. And it wasn’t just because the pre-match coffee was cold.

Seeing disappointing Huddersfield wilt again in another play-off ‘contest’ was like stepping back in time but why was anyone truly surprised?

This is a side that had won just one game in 10 matches before a late rally papered over the cracks. Can anyone really expect a magical renaissance? The truth was outed. They should not have been there.

It’s not Giants’ fault they were. They finished seventh and it follows that they should be far more competitive against sixth-placed Hull FC than a 46-10 hammering suggests. But the problem is, with the play-off spots stretching so low down to eighth, you are always going to dredge up some sides whose only consistency is in being inconsistent performers.

It is time to revert back to the original idea of having just five teams in the play-offs which was the case for the first four years of their existence up to 2002.

Generally speaking, the games then were far more keenly contested.

Back then and, indeed, right through the next six-club guise which ran until 2008, the league leaders only had to win one game to reach the Grand Final.

Personally, I would go further than ever before and actually catapult the No 1 team straight to Old Trafford; the side that finishes top does need to be rewarded more for that excellent effort.

With this format, Wigan would be fast-tracked direct to the big night on October 6 and there would have been two preliminary semi-finals of Warrington Wolves (2) v Leeds Rhinos (5) and St Helens (3) v Catalan (4).

Everyone knows the calibre of contest the first pair can produce while, if those awkward Frenchman knew they’d only have one chance at success, you could guarantee a more intense performance at Saints than shown in their 46-6 capitulation at Wigan.

From there, you would have a genuine semi-final to reach Manchester and certainly no need for the mired Club Call system. It would mean one less weekend of action, and effectively just four games instead of nine, which would not sit well with those Super League clubs keen to boost the coffers. But it has to be quality rather than quantity at this stage of the year.

Of course, the downside is such remarkable stories as Wakefield would not occur, their splendid surge to take eighth spot, but perhaps there would be a greater drive for consistency throughout the entire season. That would only force standards up.

In this time when both the Super League and Challenge Cup are struggling to secure decent title sponsors, it is crucial that the game is shown in the best light possible. Currently, it might as well have the lights off.