THANK the Lord for Wigan!

Shocking words to mutter in these parts, but it has taken the Warriors’ display at Warrington on Friday to liven up an 8s format that was looking anything but Super.

There have been a number of factors that have added to a messy, meandering and dull end to the campaign.

Even games between the top sides in this back end have been dull, dour, error-strewn affairs, the last Wigan v Saints game and the turgid affair between Hull v Wigan.

I dare say some, and the crowds show this, have even looked at what have become a series of pointless games before the real business starts again.

It was not meant to be this way, but for this format to work it probably needs the script of ‘everything minute matters’ to be adhered to.

In that perfect world the battle for the top four would still be raging – and you could imagine reigning champs Leeds would still be in the mix.

It was supposed to build to a crescendo and then bounce into the semis and then on to Old Trafford.

However what has happened in the past 10 weeks has demonstrated that rugby league cannot be choreographed like a late 1970s Big Daddy tag-team match.

There are a number of factors that have added to the fans’ disgruntlement with the system and if the game is not careful they will drive those supporters away.

Let’s start with the Super 8s fixture card.

Because of the nature of the beast it has to be announced after the conclusion of the previous 23 regular rounds.

Fans do not greet the announcement of the Super 8s with excitement, rather it is a case of looking down the list and seeing which games they are going to miss through prior holiday commitments.

And having got over that particular hurdle, fans then have their heads messed with by the switching of some of those games to Thursday nights.

Of course, he who pays the piper calls the tune.

But the accumulated hard-earned pounds and pennies of the men, women and children who populate the grounds from week-to-week should also be taken into account.

TV fixture planners should get into the real world where supporters cannot get an early dart from work, and so book days off work to get to games, and then find them changed at pretty short notice.

But the more substantial gripe is the length of this Super 8s format and the way it has panned out.

As stated before, had all gone to plan the big name teams – including Leeds and Catalans – would have still been making a decent fist of making the top four.

The fact that one of those did not even get to the starting blocks said it all.

The way it has worked out, bar the battle for the ridiculously undervalued League Leaders’ Shield, has basically ensured a damp squib ending.

And on that note, does the battle for the shield really need the Jim Bowen, ‘here’s what you could have won – get back in the box’ routine. The game does not need silly stunts to make it tick over.

Of course, we can’t go back to the prizes for everyone folly which underpinned the overblown, bloated top 8 play off.

In many ways this current format was welcomed so much because that previous system had been so discredited.

But why in this game are we constantly seeking take our precious things apart to see how they work?

Accepting we are never, sadly, going to go back to first-past-the-post can we not go back to everyone plays each other twice and then go straight to the old top five or top six format.

That did the end of year job much better than any of the latest two systems.