Phuzzy I dont believe a word of that. From what I have heard they are bullish about next season. Smith has openly said that he has been building towards this new team. Moran our chairman has known to back us financially whenever a new player is needed. I think you are way off the mark imo.

Phuzzy when you say the upper echelons who do you mean moran, gatliffe,broomhead, smith?

Nope. Seinor tea lady, retail team manager and a guy who stands at the bar in his local who is pretty old and seems to watch RL if it's on and the landlady isn't wearing anything revealing.

1 Saints-some good signings, decent outside backs, decent halves, World Class Hooker, big pack, need step back up to the big leagues after a year or two fo rebuilding
2 Giants-still hungry, wont place as much importance on finishing top but aren’t experienced enough to manage the season to the degree of other clubs
3 Wire-too good for many teams in the league, will miss Briers in the big games
4 Leeds-great backs, not enough up front, but easily capable of beating anyone, need to manage the season more than others with rotation, especially up front
5 Wigan-will simply try and do what they did last year
6 Catalans- simply the 6th best team in the comp imo, stuck in a little bit of no mans land in quite a bit better than those below, not close enough to those above
7 Cas will start off strong, gets some big wins under their belts and hope to hang on
8 Salford-Will do the opposite of Cas, nobby will do what nobby does.
9 Hull-another season of under achievement, will look one week like they can beat anyone, look like they couldn’t beat a school team the next
10 Hull KR Will define mediocrity. Bang in the middle, too good to go down, not good enough for the 8
11 Bulls- Will stay up may not be anywhere near their best squad, still got some decent players and experience
12 Widnes-looked to be building for the last few years, haven’t added anyone haven’t added anyone game changing this off-season
13 Wakefield- decent squad which will keep in touch, just doesn’t have the depth for me
14 London-not that bad a squad, but simply has not time to get together or gel and will lose early games, possibly denting confidence, possibly getting left behind.

I was very tempted to put Castleford in the top 8 as I thought they'd be dark horses and saw their season going similar to what you describe with a good start and decent chunk of the season in the playoff spots, except I thought they might just slide out of 8 by the end (ended up putting 10th). Kinda wish I'd listed them in the Top 8 now though.

They have a very good coach. Kind of like the opposites in all areas to Salford.

You've still got time - entry doesn't close until kick-off in the Wigan V Huddersfield opener this Friday.

(Any edits before 8pm 7th February 2014 will be permitted - although date of entry for final League positions where posters finish on same score will be adjusted to reflect the finalising of the selection.)

1. Warrington
2. Huddersfield
3. Wigan
4. St Helens
5. Leeds
6. Catalans
7. Salford
8. Hull
9. Hull KR
10. Castleford
11. Bradford
12. Wakefield
13. Widnes
14. London

No real disagreement about the top 6 as afar as I can see, just variation in the order.

Most people have London bottom. I wonder if they can eclipse Halifax's feats in 2003?

ian laybourn from sporting life www.sportinglife.com/rugby-leagu ... club-guide 1 - wolves 2 - giants 3 - rhinos 4 - saints 5 - warriors 6 - red devils 7 - hull kr 8 - dragons 9 - hull fc 10 - tigers 11 - bulls 12 - widnes 13 - wildcats 14 - broncos

ian laybourn from sporting life www.sportinglife.com/rugby-leagu ... club-guide 1 - wolves 2 - giants 3 - rhinos 4 - saints 5 - warriors 6 - red devils 7 - hull kr 8 - dragons 9 - hull fc 10 - tigers 11 - bulls 12 - widnes 13 - wildcats 14 - broncos

ian millward - sporting life www.sportinglife.com/rugby-leagu ... o-dominate 1 - wolves 2 - saints 3 - rhinos 4 - giants 5 - warriors 6 - dragons 7 - hull kr 8 - red devils 9 - hull fc 10 - bulls 11 - widnes 12 - tigers 13 - wildcats 14 - broncos

ian millward - sporting life www.sportinglife.com/rugby-leagu ... o-dominate 1 - wolves 2 - saints 3 - rhinos 4 - giants 5 - warriors 6 - dragons 7 - hull kr 8 - red devils 9 - hull fc 10 - bulls 11 - widnes 12 - tigers 13 - wildcats 14 - broncos

phil clarke has spoken to the rugby gods and these are his finishing predictions www1.skysports.com/rugby-league/ ... club-guide 1 - red devils 2 - wolves 3 - rhinos 4 - wigan 5 - saints 6 - giants 7 - hull fc 8 - dragons 9 - widnes 10 - hull kr 11 - tigers 12 - bulls 13 - wildcats 14 - broncos

phil clarke has spoken to the rugby gods and these are his finishing predictions www1.skysports.com/rugby-league/ ... club-guide 1 - red devils 2 - wolves 3 - rhinos 4 - wigan 5 - saints 6 - giants 7 - hull fc 8 - dragons 9 - widnes 10 - hull kr 11 - tigers 12 - bulls 13 - wildcats 14 - broncos

St Helens
Warrington
Leeds
Wigan
Huddersfield
Salford
Catalans
Hull KR
Hull
Castleford
Widnes
Wakefield
Bradford
London

1. Wigan
2. Huddersfield
3. Warrington
4. Leeds
5. Saints
6. Catalans
7. 'ull
8. Salford
9. Castleford
10. 'ull KR
11. Bratfort
12. Wakefield
13. Widnes
14. London

GF = Wigan CC = Huddersfield

Chris Irvine:

1. Wire
2. Leeds
3. Saints
4. Pies
5. Hudds
6. Salford
7. HKR
8. Catalans
9. HFC
10. Widnes
11. Cas
12. Bradford
13. Wakey
14. London

Andy Wilson:

1. Leeds
2. Warrington
3. Huddersfield
4. St Helens
5. Wigan
6. Salford
7. Hull KR
8. Castleford
9. Catalans
10.Widnes
11.Hull
12.Bradford
13.Wakefield
14.London

1, St Helens
2, Warrington
3, Leeds
4, Huddersfield
5, Wigan
6, Catalans
7, Salford
8, Castleford
9, Hull FC
10, Hull KR
11, Wakefield
12, Widnes
13, London
14, Bradford

CC: Leeds
GF: Year of the wolf! (Beat Leeds in the final)

1, St Helens
2, Warrington
3, Huddersfield
4, Wigan
5, Leeds
6, Salford
7, Catalans
8, Hull
9, Hull K R
10,Castleford
11, Wakefield
12, Bradford
13, Widnes
14, London

CC: Leeds
GF: St Helens

the regular season has now concluded and we have our final finishing positions

how well did you all do?

all we need now is a genius like tvoc to work out who's predictions were the best




1 St Helens
2 Wigan Warriors
3 Huddersfield Giants
4 Castleford Tigers
5 Warrington Wolves
6 Leeds Rhinos
7 Catalan Dragons
8 Widnes Vikings
9 Hull K R
10 Salford Red Devils
11 Hull FC
12 Wakefield Wildcats
13 Bradford Bulls
14 London Broncos

Think I finish on 23 points, got Saints, Catalans, Wakey, Bradford and London correct. Did mention a few days after my post I felt like bumping up Cas from the original 10th place i put them up to around 7th as I felt they were dark horses to sneak into the playoffs......never got round to doing it in time....oops.

Still, beat William quite comfortably

Have the results calculated and should be able to post the table sometime this evening but I absolutely always have a bath on a Sunday (whether I need one or not) and that is going to take precedence.

__________



24 points - you placed Catalans 6th not 7th




Castleford scuppered a few predictions - mine included.




Almost every fan beat the paid RL journalists and thanks to Salford absolutely every entrant beat Phil Clarke - even Juan.

__________

Winning entry Sal Paradise scored 20 - as did Grimmy - both had 7 correct predictions but Sal's prediction was in four days earlier. And while the new feature trialed plays no part in the scoring this year they both correctly predicted the Challenge Cup winners from Leeds and incidentally have both gone for Wigan to be crowned eventual Champions - might as well pack up now.

Shocking effort from myself on this occasion.

Can't believe I rated this McDermott-coached side as high as 5th during the regular season



[uNote to self[/u: Quit overrating this mob!

cheers fella your a star tvoc

Sorry, I should have added that the above is the preliminary findings and subject to the adjudicator first passing a mandatory dope test.

Just having a look through, obviously Castleford cost just about everyone a chunk of points as did Widnes, but quite a few paid the price of putting Hull around 6th/7th place.

Think Phil Clarke hit the 40 point mark....oh dear