Other than the signing of Lynch, why are Hull much better on paper for next season? Can't see it myself.

Tony Martin SL 2012 top try scorer

we were strong on paper last season, but very weak in the head coach!

although unprooven, having peter gentle as head coach who was recently the australian assistant coach and next in line to be the west tigers coach is a major improovement on agar the terrible!

having looking through numerous 'prediction threads' around the boards, many people are quite happy to write hull fc next season not to finish top 8! i would be highly suprised and dissapointed if, a) we didn't make the 8 and b), teams like bradford, cas, wakey, london finished above us!

TBH think how well hull go this year is largely dependent on their luck with injuries. The first choice 17 looks pretty good but outside that their pretty much into relatively unproven youngsters. Think that lack of squad depth could come back and bite them. Bit like happened to us in 2010. We lost key players like orford,kearney and langley and season imploded big style.

end of season table:

1 Warrington Wolves
2 Saints
3 Catalan Dragons
4 Wigan Warriors
5 Leeds Rhinos
6 Hull FC
7 Bradford Bulls
8 Huddersfield Giants
9 Hull KR
10 Cas Tigers
11 Wakey
12 London Broncos
13 Salford city reds
14 Widnes vikings

Grand final winners - Warrrington wolves
challenge cup winners - saints
wcc - manly

1. St Helens
2. Wigan Warriors
3. Warrington Wolves
4. Leeds Rhinos
5. Catalans Dragons
6. Hull FC
7. Huddersfield Giants

With places 8,9 & 10 between:

Bradford Bulls
Castleford Tigers
Hull Kingston Rovers

11. London Broncos
12. Salford City Reds
13. Wakefield Trinity Wildcats
14. Widnes Vikings

Déjà vu?

lots

1. Bradford Bulls
2. The Rest

Leeds to finish top and clean up this year! Bulls to make play offs!

Wire to win Super League.
Hull FC to win the Challenge Cup.
Patrick Ah Van for Man Of Steel.

Well I have just asked a magic 8-ball - "Will the Bulls win the Super League 2012?"
It said - "Forget about it."
Oh well.
Happy Christmas Everyone.

You are Peter Hood and I claim my £5

Had this discussion in the pub the other night. My table went:

Saints
Warrington
Hull FC
Wigan
Leeds
Catalan
Huddersfield
Bradford
--------------
London
Castleford
Salford
Hull KR
Wakefield
Widnes

A high spot for Hull? I'm not sure if there's as much improvement in them this year. From last years playoff spot holders, KR, Catalans and Huddersfield hold a lot of intrigue for me. Hopefully we've improved enough to challenge (and beat) the likes of those teams regularly. It will be interesting to see how Wakey get on. Surely too much change in one year for them to be competitive.

1. Warrington
2. Saints
3. Catalans
4. Wigan
5. Leeds
6. Bradford
7. Huddersfield
8. Hull FC

9. Hull KR
10. Castleford
11. Wakefield
12. Salford
13. London
14. Widnes

I can easily see HKR finishing higher than us and possibly higher than Hull. The bottom 3 will be Widnes, Wakefield and Salford. The top 5 will be made up of Wire, Leeds, Wigan, Saints and Hudders. The rest are almost interchangeable.

Hull KR don't really look to have strengthened IMO. They've got some solid if unspectacular forwards, fairly skillful backs and a couple of good halves in Green and Dobson. Squad for Squad i think ours is stronger and we should be finishing above them.

Why are Hull KR going to be so good? Who have they signed?

Willie Mason

HKR were comfortably better than us last year and have brought in some steady new signings (Paea, Mika & McDonnell) and have a new guy in charge to freshen things up. Their halves already have a good underrstanding and they have some backs that are quite decent. They're my tip for club to slip under the radar, provided the new coach is up to scratch.

Also got regular but young players in Liam Watts, Scott Taylor and Jordan Cox maturing. Joel Clinton is returning from lengthy injury too. Like you say it could be down to the new gaffers game plans bedding in

Pretty much this but I'd swap Hudds with Catalans in the top 5, think they'll have a really strong year.

Some real optimism from bulls fans here but 6th..

More likely you will be fighting around for that 8th spot along with us and a few others.

Salford and Widnes bottom 2 for me as the squads look weaker than the rest.

What's the logic behind everyone placing Wakey in bottom 3? The only reason I ask is that I haven't paid much attention to how Wakey have rebuilt other than to notice various snippets on "wakeys 165th close-season signing". Presumably then, despite them bringing a fair few in, you all reckon they've bought dross?