Forecasting can be a dangerous business as yesterday showed, but as we get to the halfway stage of the season who do we think will most likely be fighting for SL status?

I would say the current top 3 in the championship and our friends in wakey are certain, but the other 4 teams?

Irrespective of who the competition is I am feeling more optimistic now about the Bulls chances, as we seem to have a good strong pack for the first time in a while - with some genuine depth. Just need to ensure we have our best half backs fit at the business end of the season.

Its difficult to forecast at the moment, even Wakey may have players back and fit. Above them is still a lot of quality. We have to turn the fact that we are in the championship and with it its opportunities for our challenge I.e. Having the freedom to build without SL intensity which includes games to plan an A team without flaws, weaknesses, total professionalism and being ABSOLUTLEY RUTHLESS.

In reality I am not bothered about who ends up playing us. I am more into the growth and development of the Bulls game by game. So we can look them straight in the eye and with an indomitable spirit and unwavering belief that we are the BEST.

Wakey are in big trouble. They remind me of us last season. Conceding 40+ points every game. No spirit in the team and a coach who doesn't seem alarmed. Websters comments about his side only concentrating on the middle 8's enraged a lot of their fans (quite rightly)
Seems to think he can turn form on and off like a tap. Reminds me of cummins when were tonked by Wigan that they weren't the games that's were going to save us, following week against a Salford team (who at the time were the team directly above us) the game was over after 20 minutes, Wakey always seem to go on a. 7 game winning run, but it looks right now the old Wakey spirit as been ripped out of the side and club and with fans not turning up, once that happens you're in trouble. Still plenty of time for them to turn it around, but at the moment they are very vulnerable. Next week could have huge consequences for them

Widnes is an interesting one. Their inability to win on grass looks like they will finish in the bottom two. Could easily change but they are the team there now and their away record speaks for it self. Had a look at the middle 8 graph to see who we would get if the tables stayed the same and Widnes would have to go to both Odsal and Leigh. Tough games for most teams. A long way to go though and if Widnes sort out their away form, they will be in the top 8. Don't, and a bottom two is on cards and a difficult middle 8 campaign for them. Only getting 3 home games could hurt them.

Wakey are pretty poor, it must be said but, whilst they no doubt have some injuries, it's certain that they will return at some point during the season and they don't quite have the excuse of having the guts ripped out of the side by the financial problems before the season even started, which was the major reason for our poor showing last season. Losing Carvell, Winterstein and Scruton in particular, before a league game was even played, was what did for us, rather than any other shortcomings. If we'd hung onto those three in particular, there's no way we'd have gone down, imo.

We definitely can't rule out far better performances from them in the middle eights, either.

At this moment in time i think both Leigh and Bradford should be confident of doing well in the middle 8s.
Also at this moment in time i can see Wakefield finishing 6th in the playoffs which would mean Leigh and Bradford having a great opportunity of winning promotion.
It just needs on of us to finish 3rd

Some very good points there.

Agree about Wakefield been very much like us last season, we were that bad? We probably were,it's now just a distant memory how bad we were, and it certainly needs to be.

Watching Wakefield against Hull KR I got the feeling that I had read this book before somewhere else, no idea on attack, slow defence, no confidence, heads down when going behind, all too familiar.

Looking at Super League table this evening it's looking less likely that anyone else is going to be cut adrift. No other club going to opt out of the regular season and concentrate on the middle eights. All clubs playing hard and every minute counting. It looks like it could get very interesting in SL as it's still very open with 11 clubs capable of securing big important results.

So, having watched two of our rivals in the middle 8's yesterday.....when we get to the middle 8's, with the leagues as they are today these would be the teams involved;
Hull KR, Widnes, Salford, Wakefield, Leigh, Bradford, Sheffield, Featherstone.

So which of the two following possible fixture lists (based on the league positions as they are today) would you prefer? Or does it not really matter? Anyone have a guess at how many wins secures 3rd place or above? or 5th place and above? My guess is 5 wins out of 7 would secure top 3 and 3 wins out of 7 should secure a place in the final playoff (4 wins might make that playoff at home rather than away) but its going to be very close and could easily come down to points difference.

OPTION1
Home
Leigh
Salford
Sheffield
Featherstone
Away
Hull KR
Widnes
Wakefield

OPTION2
Home
Salford
Wakefield
Featherstone
Hull Kr
Away
Widnes
Leigh
Sheffield

One thing I did notice, if we finish in the top 2, we play the 11th placed SL team at home either way, so I'd quite like Widnes to end up 11th please as they have a massive difference in their form at home compared to away.

BTW Option 1 is if we finish top, option 2 is the more likely outcome of us finishing 2nd. I dont think it really matters looking at that list, there are pros and cons to both, but if I had to pick I would probably pick option 2.

I think we have to aim to beat all of the fellow Championship sides in the Middle 8s, plus Wakefield. That would give us four wins. I think we'd have a real chance against Widnes at Odsal but I'm far less confident playing them away; they're strong at home. Five wins out of seven would be enough for fourth at least. Four wins and I think we'll end up in the Million Pound Game.

As for the two options above, I think I'd prefer option 2. We'd play more SL sides at home and we just might need that home advantage against them. I'm confident we could beat Fev or Sheffield away.

Agree about Widnes. Really need them to finish 11th. If they do, they are massively in that relegation dog fight. As Bulliac, there is a massive difference between their home and away form. Leigh away is tough for anyone and it won't be easy for them at odsal either. I can't see Salford in bottom 4. Once they get players back, they will be ok.

. For me I'm not fussed which we get. As OP said they are pros and cons to both. I do think it's pretty important we beat Leigh at our place though. Whilst not essential as the both start the middle 8's on 0 points and with 4
Home games. Losing a home game going into the 8's against our rivals isn't the best way to go into them.

I honestly prefer Option 2. The more SL teams at home, the better.
And plus we owe Leigh one in their own back yard.

I wouldn't like to choose as much depends who the 4SL teams are. Just got to ensure we get in top 2.

Just me who prefers option 1 then? Remember, you only need to finish 5th in the super 8s to get a shot at promotion. So essentially, you only need to finish above your championship counterparts, and anything else is a bonus.
For that reason option 1 seems to make that scenario far more achievable. Home ties against SL clubs are a red herring imo. Whatever ground you're playing on, it's still £1.6m against £1m (in most cases). So I think even if we were at home, it would be a struggle to get a win, as evidenced by our gutsy performance in the challenge cup. We gave it a good go and still ended up conceding 50 points.

I think it will be us and Leigh in 4th and 5th in any order... The play-off final will be a blood bath!!!

Bradford vs either Leigh or Wakefield for the final stands to be a serious grudge match. Either would do me!

Not quite. For example, Wakey may have agreed pre-season to pay £1.6m, but we are playing the recipients of the cash, not the cash itself. My question would be, if you could renegotiate each player's wage instantly, how would you value (say) Leigh's team against (say) Wakey's team? Given a choice, position for position, how many of Wakey's players would you pick over Leigh's players? That's the way I value the teams. We may be only paying up to £1m, but (for example) Gaskell and a couple of others are surely worth considerably more.

On a slightly related topic, Webster has departed from Wakefield. Many posters on the Wakey board are wanting John Kear back in the hot seat. Personally I think he would be mad to leave Batley, where he has some stability and consistency, and join a club currently in freefall. But money talks after all, and John might fancy the challenge of keeping Wakey in the top flight.
It should be interesting to see how the second half of their season develops if nothing else.

Now Webster has departed Wakey www.bbc.com/sport/0/rugby-league/32795591 They will need a proven fire fighter get the right one and it could be a different Wakey in the 8's, I see John Kear has been mentioned elsewhere and he could motivate their Squad, it's going to be interesting come August

Now Webster has departed Wakey www.bbc.com/sport/0/rugby-league/32795591 They will need a proven fire fighter get the right one and it could be a different Wakey in the 8's, I see John Kear has been mentioned elsewhere and he could motivate their Squad, it's going to be interesting come August

thats a shame, Webster was doing a fine job running down one of our middle 8 rivals, putting Kear in charge would make them harder to beat in the middle 8's IMO.

On the playoffs, I could see a situation with Leigh making 3rd and us being in the playoff against Wakey or more probably Widnes. I still think the final playoff should be at a neutral ground too, but there you go.

That's just typical Trinity arrogance. They should just cut their cloth accordingly, plummet through the leagues, become insolvent, sell their ground, then merge with a local amateur club. If it's good enough for Bramley...

Maybe someone can get agent Cummings in to Wakey to finish the job?

paranoid about injuries, are clearly going for the very big, let's make absolutely sure we can always get 17 on the field, approach - but just think what good individuals we might have had in our side if we'd just stuck with 4 props and say, 3 second rows and 3 centres..others though may well have gone with 22 or 23 player squads at the bottom end, 25 to 27 in the middle.

That said, in comparing Leigh and Wakey you may well come to the same decision, though I've not actually looked at their whole squads, so couldn't say.

Beat me too it!!!

Leigh signing Higham strengthens their chances for the 8's. Still a cracking player for a TOP SL club.

Looks like they have plenty of money to spend. No salary cap for Leigh.