Current bookies odds to win the Championship:
Leigh 1/3
Bradford 6/1
London 18/1
Sheffield 25/1
Featherstone 33/1
Halifax 33/1

Charlie's £100 bet with Mick Jagger as to whether Leigh finish higher than Fax in the 2016 Championship season is looking reasonably safe to me.

Why on earth would anyone take a straight bet that Fax would finish higher than Leigh in 2016 appears completely beyond logic, no matter how rose tinted your specs may be. I would not consider a 10p wager never mind £100.

If Paul Rowley was given a free choice to pick a team from the combined Leigh and Fax squads, how many Fax players would make his starting line up for the first Leigh game of the 2016 season against Batley?

You said Chase wouldn't sign.You still persist to annoy.You will lose your bet with Charlie and I will have the pleasure of ripping you to shreds.

Mick...Terry... Fax fan.... You've been there,you've done it...As have we...

Go grab a Horlicks from the Supermarket buddy...My posts won't be sending you to sleep this season.

Mr Atomic I admit I jumped the gun a bit with my bet with Charlie the clown,but I will honour the bet and stranger things have happened in Sport,I don't take anything for granted a few Leigh fans stated you would go through the middle 8s unbeaten and we all know what happened there.The Bookies are not always right we have a strong settled squad at the Shay,a great young Coach in RM and a very happy environment, beware the Fax recipe for success.

The thing is, as last season proved, the regular rounds are not the main event. It's the middle 8s that are where the real prize is. Barring some unforeseen implosion, I can't see past Leigh topping the table. Which will be a great achievement, but carries no advantage into the middle 8's. For mine, for the middle 8's to be a success one of the Championship top four needs to break through and show that the financial advantage of the SL clubs can be overcome and that promotion and demotion are more than just theoretical concepts. I hope that last seasons damp squib end for Leigh and the failure of Bradford to overcome Wakey in the £1M game are not repeated next year. Good Luck to you and the other Championship clubs in turning potential into promotion

Not quite correct as an extra home game for finishing 1 or 2 is surely an advantage. The opponents home and away should also be weighted as far as is possible. They were supposed to be but that's difficult judge considering how poo we were for 6.5 of the 8 games.

Although we can take nothing for granted, I believe that this time it will be a very different story.
The important ingredient that has been added to this year's squad is big game experience and the know how to close a game out against the higher level opponents. The attacking rugby we played last season was an absolute joy to watch. However, we have to hope that this season we can again score tries against any opposition but we will be a bit more street wise in terms of the more risky attacking plays - especially in vulnerable areas of the field.

Granted but not much of a one after 23 rounds of preceding competition.

As to Leighs performance in the mid 8's you were indeed "poo", the mystery to me is why? How did a club that performed so well in the regular season, lose the plot at the business end? Did you have an injury crisis? discord in camp? From my detached view point I couldn't believe the way your season fizzled out with a whimper. I though you were nailed on for promotion.

8 players having ops in the off season might go some way to explaining it but not entirely IMO

The bookies rarely get it wrong when fixing their odds. The only change to that finishing order would be that I would have Dewsbury ahead of both Fev and Fax. Maybe switch London and Sheffield, but pretty much bang on.

As 'Demon' says, there were up to eight players needing ops - some of whom were playing injured, and others who were sorely missed.

However, I'm pretty sure the other seven 'qualifiers' were in the same boat and were, for whatever reason, able to handle the situation better. Hopefully we will learn from that experience!