Some posters are on top form today.

Which is handy as my work avoidance mood is in full swing.

Well, those that haven't been can get a preview in June!

Which just reminded me actually... weren't the St. Helens fans were chanting "Widnes is a shi*hole"? That pretty much says it all!!

Let's hope they can bring a bit more quality than they were offering over their final twelve appearances the last time they were up with the big boys + Leigh.

12-Jun-05 …… SL 10-17 …… Widnes 10 …… London 24
19-Jun-05 …… SL 10-18 …… Bradford 25 …… Widnes 25
03-Jul-05 …… SL 10-19 …… Widnes 24 …… Warrington 25
08-Jul-05 …… SL 10-20 …… Salford 34 …… Widnes 16
17-Jul-05 …… SL 10-21 …… Widnes 18 …… Wakefield 44
24-Jul-05 …… SL 10-22 …… Widnes 20 …… Hull 40
07-Aug-05 …… SL 10-23 …… Bradford 74 …… Widnes 24
14-Aug-05 …… SL 10-24 …… Widnes 24 …… Wigan 48
21-Aug-05 …… SL 10-25 …… Widnes 16 …… Warrington 60
04-Sep-05 …… SL 10-26 …… Wakefield 46 …… Widnes 6
11-Sep-05 …… SL 10-27 …… Widnes 36 …… Leigh 20
18-Sep-05 …… SL 10-28 …… London 68 …… Widnes 10

If you'd made it last 10 it would have emphasised your point even further.

Including a draw away from home against the eventual champions however...

I was tempted but found the urge to poke a little fun in Bradford's direction irresistable to overcome.

A history of Widnes vs Leeds perhaps tvoc??

That won't be pretty, at least not if you take it back into the 80s and early 90s.

Obviously, not many of you have been listening hard enough? Steve O'Connor has said he will be spending the full 1.8 million on players and he also said he wants to be a big force, not just a team filling up the numbers. And to be honest I see Leeds as a team on the slide, so maybe in a few years we will be able to beat you lot.

Excellent way of making new friends fella. Good work.

Pardon?

Where are these players going to come from?

Unless you can throw about big enough transfer fees to persuade other SL clubs to part with their top players, you're going to be scratching round the bargain bins of out of contract players in the same way every other promoted club has had to do.

You may well end up spending the full cap. Whether you get value for money out of it is another matter.

Here we are, only 2 hours after been granted a licence to play in the competition, and we've got them trolling on the board of the most successful SL team of the past 10 years.

Glad to see the fame & glory hasn't gone to their heads.

Errm, haven't the Bulls won just as many SL titles as Leeds in the last 10 years, but have a better record in Challenge Cups and World Club Championships?

You can have the SL Era:

Total: Played 9, Won 6, Drawn 0, Lost 3, Pts For 332, Pts Agst 151, (Avg Scr 37-17) 67%

Home: Played 4, Won 3, Drawn 0, Lost 1, Pts For 156, Pts Agst 58, (Avg Scr 39-15) 75%
Awayicon_razz.giflayed 5, Won 3, Drawn 0, Lost 2, Pts For 176, Pts Agst 93, (Avg Scr 35-19) 60%

Murray ….. 14-Mar-99 ….. CC - QF ….. Won 10 - 46 ….. Widnes Vikings V Leeds Rhinos
Powell ….. 29-Apr-02 ….. 07 - 08 ….. Lost 10 - 14 ….. Leeds Rhinos V Widnes Vikings
Powell ….. 22-Jun-02 ….. 07 - 15 ….. Lost 34 - 28 ….. Widnes Vikings V Leeds Rhinos
Powell ….. 23-Feb-03 ….. 08 - 01 ….. Won 32 - 12 ….. Leeds Rhinos V Widnes Vikings
Powell ….. 28-Jun-03 ….. 08 - 16 ….. Lost 29 - 14 ….. Widnes Vikings V Leeds Rhinos
Smith ….. 4-Apr-04 ….. 09 - 04 ….. Won 0 - 46 ….. Widnes Vikings V Leeds Rhinos
Smith ….. 11-Jun-04 ….. 09 - 14 ….. Won 48 - 24 ….. Leeds Rhinos V Widnes Vikings
Smith ….. 27-Feb-05 ….. 10 - 03 ….. Won 66 - 8 ….. Leeds Rhinos V Widnes Vikings
Smith ….. 23-Apr-05 ….. 10 - 11 ….. Won 20 - 42 ….. Widnes Vikings V Leeds Rhinos

Erm... that would be a no.

Bulls - '01, '03, '05
Saints - '02, '06
Wigan - '10
Leeds - '04, '07, '08, '09

I count 10 years there don't you?

And what has the CC & WCC got to do with Super League success?

I make it Leeds 4, Bulls 3, Saints 2, Wigan 1 of the last 10 years for titles. How that equates to other competitions I'm not sure.

Oh, and on the subject of the actual announement - wow, that was a surprise

Were you the one with the drum?

With the salary cap currently set at £1.65 million, O'Connor boasting about spending £1.8 million may be his first mistake.

There again on Boots 'N All last night he was talking about there being a 'dearth' of talent coming through the Widnes club so perhaps it's his second.

Love that. Cracking little jibe (is it jibe? Or Gibe?)!

TVOC If I won EuroMillions I'd make York a SuperLeague club and immediately announce the signing of Benji Marshall on £2million per season, and tell the RFL to deal with it.

No I am not saying that.

The RFL stated they had chosen one championship team now to give them extra time to prepere for super league.

What I was saying is would it not be better to have every SL club decided at the same date today? Because in the position we have at the moment. Halifax still could get a licence but will be several months behind Widnes.

You'd stand more chance if you called it "South York", and played your home games in South York.... say.... Kent. They'd kick Salford straight out!!