NRL retains McIntyre system for finals

St George Illawarra's stunning NRL finals demise has not affected the game's
decision makers, with the McIntyre system to be retained in its current format next
season.

The Dragons this year became the first minor premiers to be bundled out in straight
sets when they lost to Parramatta and Brisbane in consecutive weeks.
Their speedy exit prompted calls for teams that finish in the top two be given home
ground advantage in the second week of the finals, after the Dragons were forced to
play their semi-final against the Broncos at a raucous Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane.
But the two-day NRL CEO's conference, which wrapped up in Sydney on Wednesday, voted
to stick with the status quo, reasoning that the protection of elimination in week
one of the finals for the top two sides was already enough of an advantage.
Numerous examples were put forward at the conference of how any change to the system
would disadvantage teams that finish outside of the top two.
"The years of the McIntyre system have coincided with some of the best finals series
in the game's history," NRL boss David Gallop said.
"There are always points of debate but sometimes you have to stand back and look at
the whole picture and the system has served rugby league well."
The CEO's conference also decided against stripping Sydney teams of home ground
advantage in week one of the finals, an issue which raised its head this year when
tens of thousands of fans were locked out of WIN Jubilee Stadium when the Dragons
hosted the Eels.
The NRL said it would be open to teams moving games to bigger venues to accommodate
larger crowds, but conceded it would be unfair to impose a set of rules that only
apply to Sydney teams.
"Nothing will stop a club making the decision to move a home finals match if they
choose," said Gallop, who had offered the Dragons $250,000 in compensation to move
the game against the Eels to the Sydney Football Stadium.
"However, the idea of the NRL telling members and players that `you have spent 26
weeks to win the right to a home final, but we are going to simply take it off you,'
is not something that we believe the NRL should do.
"Until we reach a point where demand is such that we move away from home finals in
week one completely, and that is clearly not the case at the moment, I don't believe
we can target some clubs, their players and fans, and not others."
The NRL also announced that it expected to generate a $1.5 million windfall for
community programs courtesy of the All Stars game to be held on the Gold Coast on
February 13.