I don't agree that you can take into account that Huddersfield are worse but disregard Catalans improvement - to me they play a draw. We do have an opportunity, but so do other teams; I agree we may well rue the Leeds and Wigan outcomes.

Are we 4 points ahead - I make it 2, but could be wrong?
Salford H Won - same
Cats A Won - better
Cas H - Lost - worse
Wigan H - Lost - same
Widnes A - Lost - worse
Wakefield H - Won - same
Rovers A - Won - same
Warrington H - Won - better
Saints A - Won - same
Huddersfield H - Won - better
Leeds A - Lost - same

I forgot about the widnes result so yes, only 2 points ahead so not that much improvement points wise which is disappointing. Re the rest, I don't really measure improvement by being better than team who have obviously gone backwards, but against those who are as good or better than last year as this is what ultimately will be required to advance and see us really challenging. No point being better than a poor leeds or hudds side if we're still miles off the best team in the comp IMO. If we finish the season only a win or two ahead of last year it will be a poor outcome for me.

I don't disagree that a couple of teams have gone backwards, but equally Catalans, Warrington, Salford, Wakefield and Widnes are all better this term with Cas and Saints about on par. I think you predicted 8th, so hopefully we can exceed this expectation.

Before the season I would have been happy with 5th or 6th and pushing for the top 4. Given how Leeds and Hudds have dropped off I think we now need to be in the 4 at the end to call it a good season.
Leeds have been very poor this season, but the young lads they are blooding look to be starting to make progress now and I wouldn't be surprised to see them contending again next season. In my opinion we have a Leicester City type situation in SL this year, and we should be taking advantage to try and win the competition.
If we fail and lose in a semi final I'll take that. A 6th place finish would be disappointing for me.

I said 7th or 8th but my expectation was that hudds and leeds would still be strong so really that 7th or 8th should now be 5th or 6th. You can play it down all you want but anything below 6th this season really would be a poor outcome now and below what this group of players should be achieving. if we finished 6th but were in with a chance of top 4 with a couple of round left I'd say that was a decent enough season.

cas have been really badly hit with injuries so they're doing well to be where they are. It will be interesting to see how saints go with a few players back now.

widnes are looking pretty gash, salford will be bottom 4 with a points deduction although you are right that wakey are better but they did still beat us last year

I'm not playing anything down, I'm agreeing on 6th, which was what I thought pre season given Catalans strengthening and Leeds likely to miss Sinfield and co.

So 5th it is then, what with hudds in freefall. Surprised you thought we'd finish above leeds though as I don't remember seeing you post that but I'm sure you can show me where you did

Jake the Peg wrote:So 5th it is then, what with hudds in freefall. Surprised you thought we'd finish above leeds though as I don't remember seeing you post that but I'm sure you can show me where you did The chat on this was mostly here: viewtopic.php?f=34&t=590677 Well, I don't think I mentioned Leeds specifically, but expected Salford and Catalans to be better. Mrs Barista wrote:I agree that it looks like the league will be tighter, but whilst we've strengthened some others have too. Catalans could have a very good year with their improved squad and Salford too with Sheens in charge. We finished above both at the break so that's a concern - you have to improve just to stand still. Saints and Cas are interesting. Could we catch either? Tough ask. I agree on Hudds/Brough, but they've been in and around the four for a while. Very interesting season coming up, and looking forward to seeing what our upgraded pack can do. I think you were a little more pessimistic and forthright. As you say, talk of top 4 is nonsense. Jake the Peg wrote:Year on year we have fans claiming we'll be top 4 and year on year we're nowhere near. My opinion is that our halfs aren't good enough and houghton's attacking play is below par for a team with any aspiration in the comp. washbrook can maybe be a stop gap to give houghton a breather for 10 minutes, and hopefully we won't lose games in that time, but if houghton gets injured we're fubar'd. fonua aside, our outside backs are either promising youngsters or average at best. Talk of top 4 is nonsense. Personally, my hope is that we get into the 8 without any dramas but doubt we'll make an impact the same as we didn;t last year Jake the Peg wrote:I share your concerns over players in key positions. I don't see us finishing any higher than 6th and more likely 7th or 8th. This squad should be finishing in the top 8 but injuries to a couple of key players could see us at risk of ending up in the middle 8's IMO. We'll still come up short in big games. sneyd is hit and miss, abdul is still too young to be running games and pryce has never had the skill set we require and will likely spend half of the games injured. We'll still struggle to score enough tries

Jake the Peg wrote:So 5th it is then, what with hudds in freefall. Surprised you thought we'd finish above leeds though as I don't remember seeing you post that but I'm sure you can show me where you did The chat on this was mostly here: viewtopic.php?f=34&t=590677 Well, I don't think I mentioned Leeds specifically, but expected Salford and Catalans to be better. Mrs Barista wrote:I agree that it looks like the league will be tighter, but whilst we've strengthened some others have too. Catalans could have a very good year with their improved squad and Salford too with Sheens in charge. We finished above both at the break so that's a concern - you have to improve just to stand still. Saints and Cas are interesting. Could we catch either? Tough ask. I agree on Hudds/Brough, but they've been in and around the four for a while. Very interesting season coming up, and looking forward to seeing what our upgraded pack can do. I think you were a little more pessimistic and forthright. As you say, talk of top 4 is nonsense. Jake the Peg wrote:Year on year we have fans claiming we'll be top 4 and year on year we're nowhere near. My opinion is that our halfs aren't good enough and houghton's attacking play is below par for a team with any aspiration in the comp. washbrook can maybe be a stop gap to give houghton a breather for 10 minutes, and hopefully we won't lose games in that time, but if houghton gets injured we're fubar'd. fonua aside, our outside backs are either promising youngsters or average at best. Talk of top 4 is nonsense. Personally, my hope is that we get into the 8 without any dramas but doubt we'll make an impact the same as we didn;t last year Jake the Peg wrote:I share your concerns over players in key positions. I don't see us finishing any higher than 6th and more likely 7th or 8th. This squad should be finishing in the top 8 but injuries to a couple of key players could see us at risk of ending up in the middle 8's IMO. We'll still come up short in big games. sneyd is hit and miss, abdul is still too young to be running games and pryce has never had the skill set we require and will likely spend half of the games injured. We'll still struggle to score enough tries

Wigan are joint top on points, third on points difference. I'd say they're contending.

Hudds I'll give you.

Who would've predicted Huddersfield/Leeds 13 games in would be a clash of the bottom 2?