Your first game of the season is up against:

Lomax
Makinson
Morgan (unknown talent)
Percival
Swift
Fages
Smiffy
Walmsley
Roby
Douglas (looks good playing for Scotland)
LMS
Greenwood
Wilkin

Amor
Walker (also looking decent playing for the Scots)
Thompson
Peyroux or Knowles or Tommy Lee

(Another new signing TBC)

If Lomax's tackling is anything like the 'tackle' on Rapana a week or so back - we'll be reet.

I am sure the squad will perform better than it did last season - difficult to actually regress from such a low point.

The questions for me are:

1. Will the rate of improvement of the young players out strip the regression through the age factor of others e.g Keinhorst/Sutcliffe v McGuire/JJB?
2. Will the lack of signings compared to other top sides see the Rhinos as bit players in the top 8 with a season that is basically over by June?
3. Will the young players such as Cameron Smith/Jordan Baldwinson be given a chance or will the coach stay loyal to the tried and tested even if performances are as dismal as last year.
4. Will the conditioning be better - the lack of which was a major contributing factor to the poor run of results.
5. Which of the older brigade will be the first to get a contract extension - JJB for me
6. How long before Delanney is on his haunches in most games - 5 mins for me

Finally and most importantly are the club and its supporters prepared to accept 6/7/8th as a suitable finish for 2017 - are the club not concerned that a club such as Castleford have a stronger squad - on paper at least?

We should be aiming for top 4 with the squad we have with a good pre-season and less injuries.

Without a top quality HB & an ageing injury prone pack?
Not much of a chance imo of a top 4 spot.

As it stands if everyone comes back fit (Galloway aside) id expect our 17 to be.
Sutty
Hall
Moon
Watkins
Briscoe
Mags
Lilley
Garbutt
Segeyaro
Cuthbertson
Ferres
Ablett
Ward

Burrow
Singleton
Delaney/Jjb
Baldwinson

our outside backs are better than anyone , our forwards are as good as anyone , we may struggle at full back but where we are desperate is half back and coach .

Think he injury prone pack line is an exaggeration. Singelton, Cuthbertson and Garbutt haven't been injury prone. Galloway was fine before picking up his bad one but nothing to suggest he'll be breaking down constantly when he comes back. That foursome didn't miss too many between them in a whole season considering the position they play.

Ferres did fine last year. Ablett was an every present the previous season, I just think he was one of those that rushed back before he was ready last year so made things worst. Ward obviously has had his serious ones, but hopefully like some other young players in the past he's overcome them.

JJB has had his issues the previous two seasons but he didn't miss a game after he returned last year often playing big minutes. That leaves Delaney who is injury prone but at this point I'm not sure he's even in the starting 17 so he (along with JJB) can start being used more sparingly,

Looking at other teams they've had as many or even more forwards miss out than us.

Sutcliffe
Briscoe Watkins Moon Hall
McGuire Lilley
Garbutt Segeyaro Singleton
Ablett Ferres
Ward

Burrow Cuthbertson Keinhorst JJB/Delaney/Mullally

Cuthbertson & Garbutt still picked up injuries ,given Galloways age & type of injury there's nothing to suggest he'll come back 100% either & IF he does albeit a workhorse he's hardly a world beater at Prop.
Ferres was still injured & selected Delaney is in pieces yet gets selected Jjb is injured on a regular basis & i'll bet he & BD are 1 heavy knock from retirement.
Ablett is picking up regular injuries & they are becoming more long term Wards issues are well known so id say our injury prone pack is exactly that & still lacks a quality line breaker.

Agree on the lack of a line breaker in the pack, disagree on the injury prone tag. Delaney is injury prone. Jjb has a history but was fine last year. Galloways was a freak injury, as we're both of Wards, though the shoulder especially is something young forwards can struggle with (S Burgess had a similar problem at his age). Apart from that the rest are fine, and I think a lot of the knocks etc either don't come up or aren't talked about in a good year. You'll notice winning teams always have less injuries.

Worries for me injury wise are probably Mags, tho proper rest might fix that, as well as Briscoe who has has missed big chunks of the last 2 years.

Yes Garbutt, Cuthbertson & Ferres missed some games through injury but it wasn't many at all and must've featured in around 80% of our games.......hardly injury prone, forwards are going to miss the odd few can't expect your whole pack to stay fit week in week out, no club will.

JJB came back in Round 5 and didn't miss a game after that so he wasn't injured on a regular basis last year.

Ablett didn't pick up regular injuries, it was the reoccurring one with his ankle that we didn't let properly heal before bringing him back.

Galloway might not be a world beater but neither is the opposition we'll be facing. After a slow start he was a decent performer most weeks and whilst Garbutt is the big metre maker, Cuthbertson the offloading ball playing forward and Singleton the energy in the props, Galloway rounds off a good quartet of props with his solid if unspectacular showings. As a quartet it's arguably better than the previous one of Peacock, Leuluai, Bailey & Kirke because it's more of a shared workload compared to the one that relied so heavily on Peacock.

Delaney is truely the only one who picks up various injuries that keep him out for noticeable periods and he's now looking like a squad player with a potential starting backrow of Ablett, Ward & Ferres (and even JJB ahead of Delaney) then it's not like we'll be trying to get the same usage out of him.

Ablett has had regular ankle & hip injuries ,Jjb has been injured on a regular basis over the last few seasons & over-played.
Delaney would have been put down 2yrs ago if he was a race horse & Ward has had injuries including 2 huge ones since breaking through.
Then we have the way they are utilised i'll stick with my original opinion that they are injury prone.

We will need three of them four to stay fit... infact, i would go as far as including Ferres too and say four out five of those to stay fit for most of season for us to be challenging again. We do have to hope for a bit of luck in this regard.

Completely agree BT we do need some luck wrt injuries but id aldo hope after all the off season rhetoric we dont see busted/knackered players on the pitch ever again either especially when there are bench/squad options.

Aye that's why you were SL whipping boys

Regards

King James

Reason we were whipping boys was because we tried squeezing in our normal pre season into a 3 week shorter period....and then lost more weeks due to the floods. Will be funny next year when we are back challenging and people need to u-turn on how doomed we were.

Rather one season of that than being the GF whipping boys

Regards

King Wing

The thing is you'll be seen as negative. In reality there is considerable evidence that you are correct.

We have a top quality HB, the most successful playing in SL right now. In fact we have 2.

If we can keep a spine of Golding, Sutcliffe, McGuire, Segayaro/Burrow. We will be definitely be in with a good shot of 4th. We can even lose one with Burrow and Lilley in reserve.

If we end up going without a couple of them for a long period of time, we will probably struggle to get there.

Also considerable evidence that it's an exaggeration

With all due respect & i'll make it clear i aren't interested in a p!$$ing comp did you see any games last year?
Both Mags & Burrow were poor in fact on their better days they were average at best.
Given both their ages & most recent efforts id say their days as "top quality HB's" are gone.
Throw in the burden of Captaincy & the absence of Sinfield that made that triangle tick we have serious issues imo.
Granted Segeyaro will/should make a difference but we are crying out for more quality in that HB position not only that one who can mentor Lilley & if he plays there Suttcliffe.

110% this

Burrow was not poor last year. He was very good. Trouble is you are better with another half backs average than his very good, because he simply does not fit into a team system at all with the players we have around him. He is individualistic, and a luxury, where if you have the right team he can and will excel. This current Leeds squad is not for him. He will continue to do his darting individual runs and people will coo, and there is absolutely no doubt his presence in the dressing room is a plus, but we would get far more out of an organising good passing average half, AS A TEAM, than we get out of it with Burrow there.

that's a pretty good summary for me. For a team on the front foot and used at the right time he is still an effective weapon. I don't think we've uses him to his best last year.