First, if a game has been that close to result in scores locked up after 80 minutes you can bet that supporters have already been on the edge of their seats and had great value for money.

I haven't seen anything more exciting in any extra time to rival Kurt Gidley's magnificent 80th-minute sideline conversion to complete the gutsy Newcastle comeback on Saturday night. After trailing by 10 points with 10 minutes to go, the pressure on the Knights skipper was palpable in lining up the kick to make it 24-all.

Watching it sail over the black dot should have been a fitting finale to what was a great game of footy.

Fans would have left Dairy Farmers knowing they had been thoroughly entertained and in picking up one competition point players would have felt they had achieved a fair reward for a tough night at the office.

There is no way Kurt should have faced the ignominy of being involved in a crucial missed tackle only moments after producing a match-saving play for his side.

Therein lies the second consideration that has been overlooked, and that is the effect extra-time results have on clubs.

With the battle for a finals berth so savage and tight it seems unfair that there is no reward for Newcastle's 80 minutes of effort at the weekend.

They have been penalised by what they did in the next two minutes.

The missing out on a competition point could make or break a team's season and it seems to me that the penalty and reward of golden point are not commensurate with the effect it has on the competition ladder.

If we consider a hypothetical table as to how things would sit now if draws were part of the system there would be a subtle but potentially vital difference.

So far this season we have had four golden-point matches and each has produced a winner.

At the top of the ladder the Dragons would receive an extra point, after having missed out against the Gold Coast Titans last Friday.

That would put St George Illawarra on 31 points and closer to the minor premiership with what would be a five-point break on the field.

At the other end, the Cowboys would stay the same and the Sharks would be a point worse off.

Cronulla defeated North Queensland five weeks ago, so would drop a point.

Neil Henry's Cowboys have been involved in two extra-time matches with a win and loss and would still have picked up two points.

The most significant changes would involve the Titans, Rabbitohs and Knights.

Having won both of their golden pointers, the Gold Coast would take the biggest hit.

Instead of picking up the maximum four points, they would have received two, which would mean they fell back to 22 competition points.

In this situation, South Sydney would go past them into seventh spot by picking up a point from their round two clash and move up to 23.

Newcastle would be a point better off and though going from 18 to 19 isn't a big jump it could become important down the track.

We only have to look to last season and Parramatta's late run.

After the 26 rounds the Eels fell into finals football in eighth spot after finishing on an odd number of 29 competition points.

To do so they had to win seven of their last eight games.

That put them one point in front of Wests Tigers after the regular rounds. That sole point was picked up after a round-11 golden-point stalemate against Souths.

If they had been defeated in that extra-time match and earned nothing from the game the blue and golds would have finished on the same level as Wests Tigers, who had a far superior for-and-against record.

Wests Tigers would have made the top eight and Parramatta would not have been grand finalists.

That's the difference it can make.