1. Saints. No surprise there. 2. Leeds. Why not? Quality gradually improving. The intent's obvious and now's the time we ought to start showing our colours. 3. Wigan. Never easy to beat especially when out to prove a point. And with Wane back they'll be looking to do exactly that. 4. Catalans. Been good recently but not sure they can back it up. In the past they've tended not to. 5. Wire. Undergunned in pack possibly? 6. Hull KR. Good recruitment and a good coach, should make the six. 7. Hull FC. Solid. Maybe lack a bit of beef up front and a bit of strike. 8. Cas. First season under Radders, I don't see an immediate transformation. 9. Wakey. Could go higher, should be a bit of a feelgood factor of their ground starts to take shape. 10. Hudds. Quietish close season, if the aim is to go under the radar they've certainly gone under mine. 11. Salford. Better, if they can all stay fit and COVID free. Which might be a long shot. 12. As nailed on for bottom as saints are top.
CC - Leeds GF - saints Promoted - Fev
"Look, I'd never use injuries as an excuse..." Daryl Powell
Wigan were as bad as I've ever seen them last season, but expect them to be back up there this season. Got a sneaky feeling for Wire for the CC but to struggle in the league.
I know it's hard to judge from pre-season but having watched Fev play both Leeds and Wakefield, I really thought Trinity didn't look much better than a Championship team. Fev had a dig against Leeds but were clearly second best against the starters and only marginally on top against the fringe players in the 2nd half, whereas I thought Fev looked the better team for most of the game against Wakefield and they only had a couple of likely starters missing.
It's a shame for Toulouse about the vaccine issues as they were a better team last year than most gave them credit for - in my opinion, better than any of the other teams that came up from the Championship in recent years - as I would have quite strongly fancied them to stay up otherwise, they are well coached and well organised.
Lots of reasons to be hopeful this year for Leeds. We posess a genuine threat in the backs and our recruitment has been really good signing players that get in the 13 ratther than identikit squad fillers.Should be a good watch this year and a step up from last year. Saints still well ahead of the rest with Leeds in there With Wigan Warrington and Catalan. We need a bit of luck with injuries in the halves and the front row. If sezer in particular can stay fit and we can get over the gainline consistently then we will play some good stuff
CC - Wigan GF - Leeds Rhinos v St. Helens - Can't call it Promoted - Featherstone Rovers
Leeds may go one better and get top 2 but i think Wigan and Saints have a bit better squads but we're closing the gap. If we'd got one more good prop i'd have us top 2.
I'd like to see Toulouse stay in SL to be honest, it's good for the game. I don't like relegation as it's proven to be fatal for many a club, personally i'd bring the promoted team up and expand the league with less repeat fixtures (but this is a whole new topic).
Last 2 years we’ve finished 5th behind saints, Wigan , wire and Catalans.
We could go up the ladder this season, I think Sezer and Bentley will be good if stay fit. To me the key is What we get from Austin.
Like many fillies I’ve supported over the years I’ve got him under a banner of “flatters to deceive” at present. Hope he proves me wrong. Getting banned is a poor start.
The next 3 games are very important if we have any hopes of getting above those 3.
I won’t hazard a guess at where all 12 will end up but we still look short of real quality IMHO.
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