[quote="Trebor1":1ug5sruw]As 2025 is upon us and the new season will be here in no time, thought for a bit of fun i'd put something on here for predictions next season for players and teams, something along the lines of: [b:1ug5sruw]Teams to Beat[/b:1ug5sruw] Wigan and Hull KR for me.. it would be nice if anyone other than Wigan or Saints could win it, but these two look like they will take some beating again. KR have recruited very well again and Rhyse Martin will make them even better. [b:1ug5sruw]Surprise Team[/b:1ug5sruw] I think Wakey might surprise a few this season and go better than expected. [b:1ug5sruw]Most improved player for Leeds[/b:1ug5sruw] Frawley - i think he will be much better next season. [b:1ug5sruw]Player most excited to see[/b:1ug5sruw] Sivo - fingers crossed he settles well and stays fit. Real Xfactor player. [b:1ug5sruw]Bottom of the pile[/b:1ug5sruw] Cas - will be tight but i think they could well finish below Wakey - also expect Salford and Hull FC to be down the bottom end. [b:1ug5sruw]Leeds finishing position[/b:1ug5sruw] 5th. i think we make the playoffs. Maybe get to the semi finals with a favourable wind and some injury luck. [b:1ug5sruw]Challenge Cup[/b:1ug5sruw] Wigan[/quote:1ug5sruw] Think we make the play offs and possibly the top 4 with a combination of the Arthur effect and the addition of some good/very good players making the difference. Crucially though, we have to start well. Confidence for this side (and the support base) is really important, and if it's lost early on we could flop again. Elsewhere, it's hard to look past Wigan unless they are very unlucky with injury.

Team to Beat Wigan. The rest are miles off. Surprise Team Hull - will improve, but just miss out on top 6 Most improved player for Leeds Oledski. Needs a good season and I think he will give us one. Player most excited to see Sivo - great signing. Bottom of the pile Cas Leeds finishing position 6th, possibly 5th. Close between us and Cats. Wigan Wire Saints HKR Cats Leeds Challenge Cup Wigan

[quote="ArthurClues":1xb7eby1]Think we make the play offs and possibly the top 4 with a combination of the Arthur effect and the addition of some good/very good players making the difference. Crucially though, we have to start well. Confidence for this side (and the support base) is really important, and if it's lost early on we could flop again. Elsewhere, it's hard to look past Wigan unless they are very unlucky with injury.[/quote:1xb7eby1] Yep definitely Leeds need to start well. There's too many scars still there from previous years, confidence will soon go and the fans will quickly lose patience if we don't start well.

Wigan will win it all. Huddersfield will be bottom of the pile. Our fans will moan whatever happens.

And if you don't moan about the performances you can join in by moaning about the moaning.

My surprise team is Hull KR Think they might suffer from second season syndrome and just finish in the top 6 I think we will come 3rd or 4th.

[quote="christopher":2tpyfc0g]My surprise team is Hull KR Think they might suffer from second season syndrome and just finish in the top 6 I think we will come 3rd or 4th.[/quote:2tpyfc0g] Oh Chris , You are not a glass half full person , yours is always full to the top . With the average signings we have made then i very much doubt we can finish above any of the below Wigan hull K.R Wire Saints then just maybe we could be in a fight for fifth but i would sway towards Catalan or Leigh before us Your Surprise would not just be a surprise it would be a miracle Bring back Rohan ,

[quote="ploinerrhino":rtltjyfi]Oh Chris , You are not a glass half full person , yours is always full to the top . With the average signings we have made then i very much doubt we can finish above any of the below Wigan hull K.R Wire Saints then just maybe we could be in a fight for fifth but i would sway towards Catalan or Leigh before us Your Surprise would not just be a surprise it would be a miracle Bring back Rohan ,[/quote:rtltjyfi] Well, we will find out won’t we! We were terrible last year and finished 4 points off 4th place. Hull KR dropping off from last year would be a miracle? Not really it’s happened to many teams before and it will again.

[quote="christopher":299yu9ev]Well, we will find out won’t we! We were terrible last year and finished 4 points off 4th place. Hull KR dropping off from last year would be a miracle? Not really it’s happened to many teams before and it will again.[/quote:299yu9ev] A decent measure of progress would be how many games we play. The last two years we gave taken part in the minimum possible - 28 - and looked knackered. If we are the 32/33 mark at the end of the season we will have come along way.

[quote="christopher":3lkzbnv3]Well, we will find out won’t we! We were terrible last year and finished 4 points off 4th place. Hull KR dropping off from last year would be a miracle? Not really it’s happened to many teams before and it will again.[/quote:3lkzbnv3] Yet we were never realistically going to make the top 6, particularly with the last 2 games we had. I think we'll be in a decent scrap for the 5th to 8th places this year. That will show a small amount of progress. But the real measure of success will be where we finish in those 4 places.... 5th will be a good season, 8th will be another disaster.

I'd expect us to win some of the close games that in the last few years we have lost. We will still lose to the top clubs, Wigan, HKR, Warrington, and probably Catalans and Saints at their grounds, but we will do enough to finish between 4-6th.

[quote="christopher":1hysahes]Well, we will find out won’t we! We were terrible last year and finished 4 points off 4th place. .[/quote:1hysahes] A lot can depend on the ridiculous extra fixtures. Last year we had the benefit of playing the bottom two teams in Superleague three times and a very poor Catalans team that didn’t travel well three times including two games at Headingley. At the moment playing Cas 3 times looks like a potential benefit but I don’t think anyone can guess whether playing Wakey 3 times will be to our advantage or not.

[quote="batleyrhino":3as8pb6j]I'd expect us to win some of the close games that in the last few years we have lost. We will still lose to the top clubs, Wigan, HKR, Warrington, and probably Catalans and Saints at their grounds, but we will do enough to finish between 4-6th.[/quote:3as8pb6j] Any less than top 4 is simply not good enough. Calling HKR and Warrington top clubs, above us is an insult to what we have achieved in the Sl era. Anything less than competing for the 3 trophies available is failure.

I don't know what to expect anymore. We might not have the best team but if Leeds can collectively show more hunger to work hard to win every week, I'll be happy. Players need to strive to improve as individuals and as a team. Hopefully they buy-in to what Arthur wants this season.

[quote="rollin thunder":fl2ysm26]Any less than top 4 is simply not good enough. Calling HKR and Warrington top clubs, above us is an insult to what we have achieved in the Sl era. Anything less than competing for the 3 trophies available is failure.[/quote:fl2ysm26] An insult? Keep your knickers on, they are much better than we have been for the last few years. I didn't realise that we were still playing SL from 10 years ago when we were decent.

Agreed that anything less than a top 4 finish is a failure. A top 3 finish would show we are moving in the right direction.

No wonder other fans call us entitled whinos!

[quote="LeedsLurch":1par3nkf]No wonder other fans call us entitled whinos![/quote:1par3nkf] Entitled Whinos.

The thing is it's where a club of our size, facilities and spending power should be (top 4 as a minimum), but, it needs to be earned on and off the park and we've not earned it for too long. We eat humble pie until we get our backsides back to something like.

It will be interesting to see how the likes of Leigh and Salford do. Leigh have had to go through a rebuild and Salford look like they'll lose at least a couple of their best players.

thing is, you can't continually lose your best players every year and do well. salford will be lower mid table for me

Yeh Salford keep proving the doubters wrong, but I think they'll be bottom 4. Top 4 - Wigan, Wire, Saints, HKR Middle 4 - Leeds, Cats, Leigh, Hull Bottom 4 - Salford, Hudds, Wakey, Cas Not sure about exact positions (apart from Wigan and Cas), but that's how I see it panning out.

[quote="Simmo71":qgkrmd7k]Yeh Salford keep proving the doubters wrong, but I think they'll be bottom 4. Top 4 - Wigan, Wire, Saints, HKR Middle 4 - Leeds, Cats, Leigh, Hull Bottom 4 - Salford, Hudds, Wakey, Cas Not sure about exact positions (apart from Wigan and Cas), but that's how I see it panning out.[/quote:qgkrmd7k] Swap hull with one of the bottom 4 I think.

[quote="Simmo71":zju6ck2w]Yeh Salford keep proving the doubters wrong, but I think they'll be bottom 4. Top 4 - Wigan, Wire, Saints, HKR Middle 4 - Leeds, Cats, Leigh, Hull Bottom 4 - Salford, Hudds, Wakey, Cas Not sure about exact positions (apart from Wigan and Cas), but that's how I see it panning out.[/quote:zju6ck2w] I can't argue with any of that. Although I think Cas are favourites for bottom I am more optimistic for the future than for a few years. Anything other than Wigan winning everything will be a bonus.

[quote="Seth":8ul0q0wy]Swap hull with one of the bottom 4 I think.[/quote:8ul0q0wy] Yeh I'm probably sticking my neck out a bit with Hull Seth. But surely they've got to improve on last year? Wakey could surprise a few, but still think they'll be bottom 4.