Anyone else think that this year and next year are pretty pivotal to us? I know we have some decent youth coming through and time will tell how they will go, but end of next year we will lose Ellis, Minni and Pritchard. Add into that Washy, Yeamo and whomever else either wants to leave or we naturally get rid of........Houghton will be 31/32
I just feel with the way things are with some clubs on a lower ebb, we really need to kick on now whilst we have genuine great players playing to a higher standard than we are used to. We have a chance, we really have a chance.

I cannot believe how excited I am for wire next week. Been a long while since I felt like this.

Completely agree that it's our best chance of some silver wear in a long time, with Leeds and Huddersfield having nightmares, Saints being mediocre and even Wigan have been more efficient than spectacular so far. There's a great chance for us, Catalan and Warrington to shake things up.

How we cope with a defeat could be key, there's lots of high profile games coming up. Such as 1st v 2nd next week, Catalan in the cup, Another Derby, Leeds at home, all mini cup finals and it's unlikely we'll win them all, but if the team can rebound from a setback and not slip back in to old habits we'll know we're on to a winner.

Said at the beginning of the year that if we don't do the business this year then Pearson will be up poop creek, expectation from fans is massive right now and the pressure to perform for all people at the club is building as that expectation rises as shown by the posts/threads. IF, IF we fall away that could really do the club a lot of harm even though beginning of the season most had us 5/6/7th and right now we are way ahead of our wildest dreams.
If we don't win anything how will fans feel given were we stand right now, given the lower expectation the last time we got to a final on the back of an injury ravaged season and no superstars(Briscoe was our best player granted)

The downside of signing players from outside the club as a fix to the ailing support and lack of success means that it has stunted somewhat the development of the upcoming players. We've had plenty of debutants but only Green/Bowden/Hadley have cemented any type of regular game time since their debuts in 2012/13, Adbul got a bit of a go last season, some down to injuries but is behind others for the forseeable future, Logan seems to be further back in the queue now also, Fash and Downs have had very limited chances, Lancaster isn't further up the pecking order, sure we have kids signed up but realistically how much game time are they going to get in the next 2 years with who we have signed up already unless we have severe injuries?
That leaves us with signing more experienced players, it's a catch 22 situation.

Still, we could win the treble this year and slaughter the Australian's in the WCC

And Jamie Shaul

Utter rubbish.It what way would it cause "a lot of harm"? As ever you are building the club up for a fall.

If people like you turn away from the club then that's a silver lining to a potential cloud.

Well exactly. How harmful can it be to have gone in our best run for a decade rather than bumble about in mid table for the umpteenth year? Regardless of what comes next the first part of the year has been exceptional for many reasons. The quality of the players taking the field, the team spirit, the attacking cohesion, the go-forward of the pack. If for personal reasons folk choose to spend this time dwelling on doomsday scenarios that's up to them but personally I'm loving it. 6th was the target for me, we're in the 8 with 6 matches to spare. As was mentioned on the radio last night, all teams have a lot more bad times than good with just 2 trophies on offer. Not going to waste our moment in the sun by going inside and waiting for Ceefax to tell me it'll rain next week.

I think the OP is right though and think we will struggle to replace Mini and Ellis in particular like for like, so this is as good a chance as we'll have. Catalans, Wigan and Warrington will be in exactly the same mindset. Regardless, if it's not us I hope Catalans or Wire win it, would be great to have a new name on the trophy.

You said a lot of things at the start of the year, you just like to put the knockers on everything positive, you try & put doubt in fans minds, all teams are made up of experienced signings & youth, we have to sign players so we can compete because If we don't we have so called fans calling for players/staff out! You don't attend games yet you have the cheek to comment on everything the club do. Who had us finishing 5th 6th or 7th? What position did you predict? Bet it's killing you us winning games eh bumps?

At the moment there are only 3 decent teams you cats and wire wigan seem average to me saints are awful so the grand final is a real possibility

Houghton won't be 31 for another 4 years yet.

Even if we do have a complete drop off in form, I've already been more entertained this season than any season since 2007 (2010 & 2012 were decent efforts however) and I feel even with a setback such as a bad injury run, a 50/50 call not going our way in a cup or playoff game etc we would be back next year with a couple of new additions ready to go at it again.

And on your young players point, yes some haven't had a lot of opportunities, but them just being at the club pushing for places has made some of the senior players up their game. Yeaman for example knows if he has a bad run Logan will get his place back, whereas for years he was an automatic name on the team sheet regardless. I'd expect Pryce and Michaels to leave which opens up more opportunities for the backs.

Second row is though for any young player to break in to and some of the youngsters may have to leave to get first team rugby, but Minichello/Manu/Ellis/Pritchard are some of the best players we've had at the club and Hadley and Green have improved massively, so it's a good 'problem' to have!