The ARL commission has dumped the McIntyre system for the finals series and replaced it with the system the AFL uses. What does this mean for your team in 2012? Well for fans of Souths, Gold Coast, Easts, St George, Manly, Penrith, Broncos and Bulldogs you won’t need to worry too much.
For the other teams the format is as follows:
Week one (Sept 7-9)
1st qualifying final: 1st (H) v 4th (A)
1st elimination final: 5th (H) v 8th (A)
2nd elimination final: 6th (H) v 7th (A)
2nd qualifying final: 2nd (H) v 3rd (A)
Week two (Sept 14-15)
1st semi-final: Loser of 1 v 4 (H) plays winner of 5 v 8 (A)
2nd semi-final: Loser of 2 v 3 (A) plays winner of 6 v 7 (H)
Week three (Sept 21-22)
1st preliminary final: winner of 1 v 4 (H) plays winner of 2nd semi-final (A)
2nd preliminary final: Winner of 2 v 3 (H) plays winner of 1st semi-final (A)
Week four (Sept 30)
grand final
3 responses so far ↓
Mountain Boy // Feb 22, 2012 at 11:22 pm
Finally the commission is tuning into a common wavelength. I’ve been advocating this change since the silly lottery was brought in. What a finals series it will be NRL style. 4 blockbusters in week 1. First two places in a prelim up for grabs between the top 4 teams – with the losers given the 2nd chance. The bottom 4 teams playing off for survival into week 2. Each of the 8 teams hold destiny in their own hands. Hard to fathom how this has not been the way to go for so long. The AFL had the NRL style McIntyre system originally, but I think it only lasted a year or two when they picked up on its obvious flaws. That was over a decade ago now. I guess better slow on the uptake than never.
Mountain Boy // Feb 22, 2012 at 11:42 pm
.. Im not biting. Ivan wants me to keep a lid on it.
gilmae // Feb 23, 2012 at 9:17 am
No! Wrong system. It should be:
1st (H) v 2nd (A)
And we’re done.