McIntyre a Hero in Melbourne Today

The eighth-seeded New Zealand Warriors made National Rugby League history today by stunning the top-seeded Melbourne Storm in the first round of the 2008 playoffs, becoming the first ever eighth-seeded NRL team to win such a first-round matchup in the process.

In most competitions' playoff arrangements, the Warriors' 18-15 win would spell doom for Melbourne, but Storm followers have been gifted a second chance by Kenneth McIntyre. McIntyre was a rennaisance man who was a lawyer, historian, and mathematician during his life and is perhaps best known for claiming that Australia was first discovered by Portugese travelers. Somehow, he also found time to devise the playoff system used in the National Rugby League since 1999 (though it was originally adopted by the Australian Football League, which no longer uses the format).

As an alternative to typical "knockout" playoff formats where winners advance and losers are eliminated, the McIntyre system presents a higher likelihood for the top two seeds to appear in the grand final and more possible combinations of sides that can appear against one another in the grand final. Here's how it works:

• Eight teams are seeded based on regular-season performance. In the first week, the qualifying finals are played: 1st vs. 8th, 2nd vs. 7th, 3rd vs. 6th, and 4th vs. 5th. The two lowest-seeded losers are eliminated after this week. For example, if the 7th and 8th seeds lose, they are out. If the 7th and 5th seeds lose but the 8th and 6th seeds win, then the 7th and 5th seeds are out. If the 8th, 7th, 6th, and 5th seeds all win, then the 3rd and 4th seeds are out. The 1st and second seeds, though, cannot be eliminated.
• After the qualifying finals, the remaining six teams move on to the semifinals (which may seem oddly named given that the matches before the grand final are called the semifinals in most other playoff formats). The top-seeded winners from the first round get to sit out the semifinals while the other four sides play, which matchups determined by qualifying performances. The two semifinal losers are eliminated.
• Then, the preliminary finals begin. The sides that got to rest during the semifinals host the two semifinal winners, with the losers of each preliminary final eliminated.
• The remaining two sides then play in the grand final, with the winner named champion.

It all looks like this. The upshot is that the sides who did well in the regular season are rewarded with favorable matchups, a greater likelihood of a second chance if they lose in the first round of the finals, and a greater likelihood of a week off if they win in the first round.

Criticisms of the McIntyre system were common well before today's upset win, and they will no doubt continue, but the Warriors' shock win seems to have added some new excitement to the system by showing how much an upset win can disrupt the finals matchups and predictions.

In any case, the Storm must be pleased about the McIntyre system, as it means their season is not yet over. The Warriors, meantime, must be happy simply to be playing next week.