im thinking we need to win at least 5 of our remaining games, if we had beaten wigan then it may have been different, but now here we are.

Latest updated table prediction:

Wigan 45
Warrington 43
Hudds 40
Leeds 37
Catalans 28
Hull FC 28
Hull KR 28
Bradford 28
St. Helens 23
Widnes 22
Wakefield 21
Castleford 16
London 9
Salford ** 8

That seems extremely pessimistic. Surely, if we are about to embark on a 6 game winning run some of those wins will be by big margins? And the teams are above us are all going to stumble. Clearly our relative points difference will dramatically improve leaving us in 5th position?

Sorry to disappoint but v1.1 of the predictions table doesn't do points difference so any teams on equal points are simply tied.

Fine, I'll hang on for v1.1.1


If a beta version were to appear though, I might put myself forward as a tester...

Wakefield's win last night makes the forthcoming fixture on 4 August a bit tasty. We could do with the RFL docking them some points for the fighting on the terraces.

I would never wish an injury on a player, but James Roby's injury (out for the next 10 weeks) is a massive boost for us. They didn't win many games when he was last out with an injury. I think our battle for 8th will be with wakefield and Hull FC, saints finishing 10th.

Thinking you are right cows, hull seem to keep shooting themselves in the foot and they are missing crooks I think now, wakey are on a roll, we HAVE to beat hull fc at home or it is totally over need sammut back imo he adds our spark.

Those recent results have kept us in the hunt even though we looked dead and buried, need a good run of results but vs hull and wakey are our real testers i think.

8pts may do it for us if the others drop pts.

Bulls 24
Hull 23
Wakey 22
Saints 20

Well Saints are already on 21 league points, so you've had a shocker there broadybull.

We need quite a few results to go our way now. Hull are on 20 points and still have both Widnes and Salford to play at the KC. That will put them on 24, and with a superior points diff we won't catch them now.
Wakefield have a few tricky games left. I am assuming we beat them, because that needs to happen for anything else to be relevant. From their remaining games, we need Wakey to beat Saints and lose the rest (they can beat Cas in the last game and it won't matter).
For Saints, we need them to have a disastrous run in, losing to everyone they play barring London at home. That would put them on 23 points.

Then that just leaves us, with the seemingly impossible task of picking up wins against London (H) and Cas & Wakey (A). If by some small miracle we actually manage to pull this off, we would STILL need to pick up a win against one of Hull/Catalans/Huddersfield at Odsal, none of which will be straightforward.

All of the above needs to happen, and is the only plausible way we can now make the 8 imo. To say it is a long shot is a bit of an understatement!

Didnt have a league table was trying to remember the places from the last time i checked.

As you point out it can happen. Have Faith

Then again, Saints' remaining fixtures are not exactly a walk in the park:

July
H Wigan
A Catalan Dragons
H London Broncos
A Wakefield
H Warrington
A Hull FC


We don't need to catch anyone, if Hull win, the teams they play lose. Make your life easier and just complete the spreadsheet, and post your final table. It may, or may not, be what you think; but the point was, and remains, that when one team wins, then another loses, and so it isn't necessarily a case or "results going our way", not ALL the teams can win ALL their games, and to make the 8, we only need to be in front of ONE of our rivals.


Do the spreadsheet and check your plausible ways!!!

Okay, had a look at the spreadsheet, here's how it ends up using my description above:

Wigan 45
Warrington 43
Hudds 42
Leeds 37
Catalans 30
Hull KR 30
Hull FC 26
Bradford 24
St. Helens 23
Wakefield 23
Widnes 18
Castleford 18
Salford ** 9
London 8

Also, not that it matters too much, but one of your fixtures is wrong. You have Saints playing Wire and then the same fixture again only a few lines below. The second match should actually be Wakey Vs Saints, which is quite a crucial game from our point of view. The BBC also have this fixture wrongly listed.

Cheers, I'll fix that. The fixtures were copied from the BBC fixture list!!

The spreadsheet has been suggesting all along that we would pinch a top-8 spot more likely off Saints than anyone else. I think because of that, nobody wants to believe it, as, well, it's Saints, innit. Like they probably said about us back in the 18th century when we began our no-playoffs run, I suppose.

The updated spreadsheet after all latest fixtures predicts thus:

Wigan 43
Warrington 41
Hudds 40
Leeds 37
Bradford 28
Hull FC 28
Hull KR 28
Catalans 26
St. Helens 25
Wakefield 25
Widnes 20
Castleford 16
Salford ** 10
London 9

Last weekend's win, and the way we ground it out gives me more confidence. But I think even more helpful with our small squad is the week off for the CC. I would like to feel we can get the points from London, Cas and Cats - so the key game for us is Wakey. I think KR have enough points in the bag - though they have a poor pd -73. Of the other four teams fighting for a play off spot we currently have the worst pd -49, then Wakey on -18, both FC +29, and SH after last nights win +67. Hopefully with our regular half backs for the rest of the games we can recapture some of the more freescoring style we saw in the opening rounds. If we can make it a top 8 place after last year it would be a big shot in the arm for the club - come you Bulls

Would it be churlish of me to want us to not make the play offs to mess with FA's crowd sourced data entry project?

I have a project? Cool.

It may not be an ology but I still think that's pretty impressive.

But can you turn it into a thesis? and maybe tell us what you intended to achieve by it?

I reckon 7th and 8th may be decided between us, Saints, Hull and Wakefield. Here are their run ins:

Bulls run in:
Wakefield A
Catalan H
Castleford A
London H
Huddersfield H

Saints run in:
Catalan A
London H
Wakefield A
Warrington H
Hull A

Hull run in:
Widnes H
Rovers A
Salford H
Wigan A
Saints H

Wakefield run in:
Leeds H
Bradford H
Warrington A
Saints H
Huddersfield A
Castleford H

I'd say Wakefield have the hardest run in, and we have the easiest. If we beat Wakefield, then the momentum swings in our direction going into the Catalan match. Catalan are not in good form. I think we have a really good chance of making the eight.

All that's already in my spreadsheet, though! Also, you've forgotten Hull KR, but they are squarely in the mix. But i'm glad you generally agree with what i've been saying all along, everybody eventually realises I am right

I would have thought Hull KR's form and the number of points they already have would be enough to carry them through, although their points difference is terrible.

And yes, now that we have beaten Hull and things are looking a little more positive, I feel more optimistic.

Hope you dont mind old bean

I had a fiver on Catalan off scratch yesterday

So much for Elliott saying he wanted to join a top 4 team

You parted with a fiver ? So any chance of the bet money you have owed me for 2 years being paid ?