CASTLEFORD are a remarkable 10-points clear at the Super League summit as the competition splits for the eights.

The top of the table has not seen such a dominant lead since 2006 when Saints racked up an eight-point lead and managed to keep their twin focus in the Challenge Cup.

The Tigers’ points cushion means that they will have the League Leaders Shield wrapped up within a week or two of the Super 8s starting.

But it least it may spare us the televised pantomime of the man with the white gloves putting the shield back in the box before scarpering down the tunnel.

But you can almost sense a degree of nervousness around the game that the shield in itself will not be reward enough for such a dominant Super League campaign.

And we well know there is many a slip twixt the cup and the lip.

If Castleford, who have only lost three times in the league this season, blow the play-offs there will be a touch of embarrassment.

They are primed to become the first club outside the gang of four to take the big prize - so far only won by Saints, Leeds, Wigan and Bradford Bulls (remember them).

But significantly the list of League Leaders Shield winners is a touch more varied - including teams like Huddersfield and Warrington who have not actually been crowned champions since the 50s.

In a way that, combined with the derogatory way in which the shield is referred to as the hub cap, gives the feeling that it is essentially a worthless prize.

Look at Saints. They topped the table for four years running under Daniel Anderson and yet it felt like a booby prize when they failed to go on and win at Old Trafford.

It was only in 2014, after a break of five years without a trophy, that the club and its fans got excited about winning it.

That was probably forgotten when Saints surprised everyone weeks later to take out the big prize at Old Trafford.

But the league has only itself to blame for the disregard those in and around the game have for the prize of finishing top.

When they switched to the Grand Final winners being the champs from 1998, it seemed like that the idea of finishing top had to become an insignificance in order to make people buy to the new order.

From 1974 onwards we had seen the title go, like in football, to the team finishing top.

And that dovetailed nicely with the Premiership, which at least served the purpose of keeping the season alive for more teams.

Understandably, going back to a final deciding the champions was a big switch, but the baby was deliberately thrown out with the bathwater, presumably to make sure fans and players got it.

It was only once the Old Tafford showpiece was firmly established - and maybe after a few leaders had fallen short at the Theatre of Dreams, that a silver salver scrap was offered to the top-placed team.

But why could not both competitions be rewarded equally?

The old Premiership crowds were building in the years before it was ditched.

There was absolutely no need to rubbish one comp in order to build the other.

So this is why we get seasons like this where one team so clearly deserves to be champs that if they blow it it will be considered a travesty.

Instead of messing around with a shield that looks like its been picked up off a waiter, why not give the old Championship trophy to the leaders and declare the Grand Final winners the play-off champions.