Farewell McIntyre finals system, you won't be missed, you wretched swine. At best, you were highly inadequate. At worst, you were a dead-set pain in the backside. How many hours of people's lives did you steal, forcing them to stand at water coolers trying in vain to explain to Brian from Accounts that if the Warriors somehow fluke a win in Melbourne they would be back at Mt Smart next Friday (or maybe Saturday) to play either St George or Brisbane, or maybe even Parramatta, depending on what happened in the match between Gold Coast and oh for xxxx's sake ...
Punting the McIntyre system has been described as a bold first act by an NRL commission that has shown it is not afraid to make tough calls. In reality, it must have been the easiest of calls. Ken McIntyre's system has been deeply unpopular since the day it was introduced by the NRL in 1999.
About the only person who might have been slightly miffed by the recent turn of events was Ken McIntyre - and he died in 2004.
And about the only thing you can say for league is that the game didn't sit on its hands for as long as Aussie rules, which used the bizarre algorithm invented by the lawyer, historian and mathematician (now there's an occupational mix you don't hear every day) McIntyre from 1931 to 2000.
Strangely, the AFL finally seeing the light proved the catalyst for over a decade of darkness in league. When they should have been joyous climaxes, finals campaigns have been blighted by utter confusion and deeply unimpressed chuntering.