Some teams have great looking BS sides, that look as they will do the business, but then look like they have a poor HC side based on the activity stats. I suppose it keeps people interested though, especially if the more active teams think they can win something. I know, not everyone rates the HC as a competition, but I think it definitely has it's place in the calender.
Doesn't last season form play one of the biggest parts ? He averages 40+ in both grades so that should play a bigger part in his season than moving down a few spots. Then again I'm not the best with cricsim knowledge.
Pretty much this was the sole reason, also it was easy to just have it sit on "who's online" as the computer is generally on 24/7.