AS kite flying exercises go the one that was released after last week’s Super League meeting with regards the future formatting of the competition deserves to be wrapped around the branches of the nearest tree.

That is the suggestion that the Super League comp carries on as it is at the moment, but the league Leaders Shield is presented at round 23 before the split the points are reset to zero at the beginning of the Super 8s.

This is just being floated, and any decision on the future format will be made at the end of the season.

But the idea of re-setting points is the most ridiculous proposal to put on the table.

Let’s look at facts in rugby league playing towns. The effects of eight years of austerity has squeezed household budgets, particularly the entertainment one, so fans HAVE to get value for their money.

People will skimp on their brand of fishfingers, go without a night out or work overtime purely to get their Saints money together.

Saints is not like any other luxury, it is a way of life. But the sacrifices fans make to turn up week-to-week should never be taken for granted.

But the proposal put forward does just that.

What would season ticket holders get from those first 22 or 23 rounds get if all it does it sort out the starting grid for when the real comp starts after the split.

It is bonkers, and the fans would rumble it straight away.

But the fact that such a kite is being flown recognises that the system isn’t working.

And the sad fact is that after having had two formats that worked perfectly – the first past the post and then the top five - rugby league’s rulers have flailed around concocting systems that seek to give prizes for everyone but end up trashing it.

The headache that those plotting the perfect formula seem to have is that they are trying to marry two different things – on one hand they want to reward the teams that deserve to be in the reckoning for silverware, but on the other they are seeking to keep as many of the 12 clubs playing for something for as long as possible.

But there are better ways of doing that than rendering the first 22 or 23 rounds pointless.

Here’s a suggestion. Rather than throwing the League Leaders Shield, as some kind of sop to the team finishing top after 22 rounds, go back to crowning that club the League Champions.

And then with that done build the second competition based on the Super 8s that still culminates in a Grand Final at Old Trafford.

Is it possible to build two competitions of equal merit based on the league table?

The beauty of the old Premiership system was that it was always the last chance saloon to take something from the season after the league and Challenge Cup had been sorted. It meant teams were always playing for something even if they had endured a stinking year.

But back in reality, the sport will persist with the Grand Final winners being the champions, so in that case let’s go back to doing it on a format that rewarded the teams doing well week-to-week on the league table but kept more clubs involved and fighting to qualify.

The top five system, which worked well enough when the play-offs were first introduced, only stopped working when they added one more team, which still worked ok, and then they bust the system when they took it up to an over-blown top eight.

A top five play off keeps interest alive longer for more teams, but if your team are half way down the table, quite frankly, it doesn’t deserve to be challenging for the title.

If that means you are playing for nothing beyond May the questions should be asked of your management and players, rather than the league format.