Jake the Peg wrote:If we have another good season with injuries and kelly goes well then we'll be top 4 but we won a lot of games by narrow margins last year which is unlikely to happen again so we need to improve our attack to make those loseable close games more comfortable wins. I think saints and cas will not be better next season and wire and wigan at least as good so top 4 will be a big challenge
Just need to make sure we win our "free hits"....remember them? The games that the two points on offer apparently don't really matter...Leeds, Saints etc. The games that would have got us a home semi-final.
We have the squad to win everything imo, but there are a few things we need to get right/go our way.
Firstly we need another decent run with injuries. Last year we had close to a clean bill of health pretty much all year. I don't expect us to get off that lightly again, but as long as it doesn't get out of hand we have pretty good depth. And that leads on to the second thing. Radford needs to rotate the squad alot better than he did last year. Especially if we go deep in the cup again. Alot of players just looked burnt out by the end of the year.
Thirdly Kelly needs to fit in well. We play quite a structured game, if he can slot in and do his thing without disrupting that too much then he can take our attack up a couple of notches. If it doesn't work it could cause more harm than good.
Most important is the mentality of the players. Last year we got on a roll and developed a real never say die attitude. We showed unbelievable resolve at times and won a few games that we really never had any right to win. My fear is that with a trophy in the cabinet and a good season behind us there won't be quite the same will to win as there was last year. Every season there is someone who puts a great year together when it wasn't expected, that's the easy bit. Real champion teams do it year in year our.
If everything falls into place I genuinely believe we have the best squad in the league and I think we'll win another trophy. Otherwise we'll still go ok, but it will be a step down from last year.
Joined: Jan 30 2004 Posts: 8290 Location: Never never land away with the fairies
I'll say another top 4 finish, a decent run in the cup and a GF appearance.
The squad assembled is more than capable and have shown last season what they can achieve, I think the addition of Griffin & Kelly have improved us along with Jake Connor and Logan back from injury. If the squad can get the same metal attitude and togetherness they seemed to have last season with the changes in the squad then I think we have a very good chance of repeating last seasons showing.
Having a relatively injury free season is essential for any team to be successful but do believe that last seasons run was not just down to luck but the work done by the conditioning throughout the season.
If Kelly can turn up to play each week & put in the star performances he is capable of on a regular basis then it can only improve us, on the other side if he doesnt it could hampen our chances.
Think this season is a big season for the younger players such as Turgut, Fash, Matongo, Osbourne & Rawsthorne to stake a claim and make Radfords job of picking the 17 each week even harder.
I really enjoy long walks especially when they are taken by people I don't like!
I think we will finish top4, but a lot depends on Kelly being fit and in the right mood if we are going to challenge for a trophy. We need to him to give us new options as teams will have figured out our somewhat limited attacking plays.
Think it will be a close season though, there's no weak teams on paper, though I feel Catalan may struggle due to the high turnover of players theyve had, Fressenous surely wont be there much longer if they get off to a poor start.
WIZEB wrote:I'll be agitating for change and throwing my toys out of the pram, making it blatantly clear that we haven't got a hope in hells chance of any future success under the current set-up. Then again, maybe not, as it could make me look totally stupid and a right p!llock.
5th.
YAAAAWN, except the set up and the way we were playing at the time wasn't what got us 3rd place and a cup win is it. Radford is the luckiest coach in RL. My voice had nothing to do with dummies or prams, certainly your post has that in spadefuls though.
Joined: Mar 14 2003 Posts: 25971 Location: Back in Hull.
Yes Radford is very lucky, inherited a really poor value for money squad and had to work hard to fix the errors by Gentle and Mainly McRae, put the right team in place, sign the right players to give us our best season in 30 or so years, including doing something no other Gull coach has ever done.
We really should be in the top 4, squad is better than last year, but more attacking threat, if Kelly plays like he did in 2015, we will win something.
spegs wrote:Just need to make sure we win our "free hits"....remember them? The games that the two points on offer apparently don't really matter...Leeds, Saints etc. The games that would have got us a home semi-final.
You cannot post new topics in this forum You cannot reply to topics in this forum You cannot edit your posts in this forum You cannot delete your posts in this forum You cannot post attachments in this forum