When the new format for 2015 was announced, the RFL were quick to trumpet the return of the Million Pound Match. www1.skysports.com/rugby-league/ ... eath-match Well if it's such a good idea, why don't they introduce it this year? Instead of a straight relegation of the bottom two, how about we automatically relegate the bottom club and then have a play-off, 12v13, for the other relegation spot. I mean it's not like we have an 'even' fixture list is it - because of the Magic Weekend. And if a play-off is deemed good enough to decide the Champions (where you could theoretically win it from 8th!), what's wrong with using it at the other end of the table? And what a massive game it could be.

When the new format for 2015 was announced, the RFL were quick to trumpet the return of the Million Pound Match. www1.skysports.com/rugby-league/ ... eath-match Well if it's such a good idea, why don't they introduce it this year? Instead of a straight relegation of the bottom two, how about we automatically relegate the bottom club and then have a play-off, 12v13, for the other relegation spot. I mean it's not like we have an 'even' fixture list is it - because of the Magic Weekend. And if a play-off is deemed good enough to decide the Champions (where you could theoretically win it from 8th!), what's wrong with using it at the other end of the table? And what a massive game it could be.

Too late.



We're trying to get away from the RFL making it up as they go along.



The rules for the 2014 season had to be set before the first match kicked-off.

i hope the 'million pound match' next year isnt as godawful as the last one, which was one of the worst RL matches i have ever watched

The excitement of a Million Pound Match?



Pah!



Nothing beats the excitement of a 5th V 8th play-off game.



6th v 7th is pretty awesome too.

Bloody hell Smokey, what do you want from a game of RL.

Especially when a relegation decider of this nature is necessarily between the two worst teams in the comp.



For the season to end with the bottom 2 clubs fighting it out on the last day of the season, winner takes all, do you really expect top quality RL ?

I think you have the wrong expectations for the bottom 2 teams.

Although I cant remember the scoring sequence, Cas certainly had the lead with Wakefield coming back into the game.

It wasn't one way traffic and although personally, apart from the result, I found it difficult to enjoy the match.

There was enough drama in the occasion and the game to draw the sporting worlds attention, for a game of RL.

Ironically, I always thought that this game was one of the reasons that relegation was shelved, as it became a major distraction to what was happening at the top of the league.

Other than the final game of the season going to extra time, or golden point, I'm not sure what else you could want from such a game

You’ve been spoilt then.



I presume you didn’t watch the Wigan v Hull C.C final .

Correct.I cant remember any big games late season between the bottom handful of clubs since relegation was taken away but I still remember clear as day the great run in to survival from Wakey and the build up to the big match with Cas on the last day.packed crowd,tension and edge of seat viewing.that alone should be enough to bring this back.

Yeah, I actually looked up the match report, just to help my shrinking brain:



Cas went into an early 11-2 lead

Jeffries had a try disallowed for obstruction, before Wakefield took a 14-11 interval lead.

"in a mesmerising, heart stopping game" (sounds really dull

)

Cas re-took the lead shortly after HT & had a try disallowed before Wakefield took control of

the game.



Some people choose to find fault with anything and as I mentioned, this game took all the headlines

which didn't go down too well in some quarters.

It was an awful match, loads of dropped balls, most tries coming from huge errors, two teams absolutely terrified to try anything attackingwise and stifled by fear. It was a game Cas lost by being the poorer team, not won Wakefield won by being the better team



If that game was played last year, it would have been held up as an example of everything wrong with franchising, teams not really trying, mediocrity blah blah. It was just a terrible terrible match.



interesting that two posters mention that they remember the run and the excitement, how it grabbed attention, you even speculate it was a distraction from the battle at the top facts are that whilst that game got a decent attendance, the games around it were awful and very few watched.



The home game before Wakefield got only 5.5k against Leeds (for comparison Wakefield attendances v Leeds in the franchise era have been 10k, 9.5k, 8.7k, 9.7k and 6.4k in 2009 which was a rearranged Wednesday night fixture), 3.3k against Les Catalans, 4k v Bradford and 5k v Saints.



Its surprising so many remember Wakefields run for survival because very few people actually watched it and i can't imagine that being all that much of a distraction from the top.

Yes, I remember some having a whinge about it. But if we had such a match this year as I suggested in the OP, it would be played on the same weekend as the first round of the play-offs. Some people might welcome the focus being taken off those particular games!

I hope the RFL let Bradford play in this million pound match....they need every penny they can get their hands on.

Smokey, you are talking utter rubbish and I would politely suggest that you are in a minority RL fans.

Nobody is saying that it was SOO quality or intensity but, for such a poor game and spectacle, plenty of people seem

to have a different memory to your own.

As I said, this was a bottom vs 2nd bottom, what do you really expect.

You say that it wasn't much of a distraction but, especially with you being from this side of the Pennines, you have managed "Likely Lads" media evasion to avoid the coverage that this game received.



We have had a number of lop sided GF results, where TV viewers would have turned over and even a world cup final this year where it was no contest and the "Million Pound Game" provided better entertainment than these.