Tbh I think 3 from 3 is realistically attainable. however I expect there to be one surprise in their given the refs for the next 3 games. suspect we'll slip up against crusaders personally after a tough game against leeds.

According to the Wakey forum, McNamara will be England coach with Noble coming back.



I'd put £50 quid on that being made up though.

Im happy.

Were at 50% and above the Whinos.

I hope not.
Even if Macca doesn't turn out to be the right guy, then I think we'd be unwise to go back down that route.

I feel Mr Hood is mindful of that too.

We've won what we should, lost what we should, were remarkably good second half v Wigan and remarkably bad most of the game v Saints. Reversed seven out of eight results from last year which would suggest a win on Thursday (and a loss in the return fixture).

Par. Bunkers ahead though.

Fwiw and if my maths is correct our opponents so far have won 29 of their 52 SL games against opposition other than us. So 50% is actually above average.

For comparison, Leeds' opponents have won only 24 out of 53.

Bulls are 50% with a fixture list where the average win rate is 44%, Leeds are 38% with a fixture list where the par is 55%.

Clear as mud?

That's a difficult one.

We all accept that mistakes were made during Nobby's period as head coach, though I don't necessarily think they were all 'head coach' mistakes. The buck stops in the boardroom; they have control over the direction the club is heading in and ultimately the coach can only spend what the board allow him to have.

It was the board, and the then very 'hands on' chairman, which sanctioned the use of monies for team building at a level way above what income suggested was prudent, and it was the same body which allowed the youth development to wither on the vine. Whether Noble agreed with, or even suggested these moves, I don't know, but the coach is an employee, and he works within a framework, including budgets, set out by his employers and within which he has to operate.

Is there a coach anywhere who would refuse money from the board to strengthen the team? I think we all know the answer to that! I also think that to take this a stage further, much as we hear that the current team is Macca's side and he picked it, does anyone seriously doubt that if more cash were available there would have been a few differences?

Well said.

its allowed . along with pitches that curl up in the corners

But that's history. Leeds pitch is just plain lazy or plain tight.

Just been looking at the table, after this poor start to the season that people are talking about.

I see we are in the top 8.

I see we are one converted try off being in the top half of the table.

I see we have already played all the current top 5.

I see we are the only club in the competition so far to have beaten the current league leaders.

I see we are only 3 points off being in the top 4.

I see we have not yet picked up any serious injuries.

And I see that for now at least we are above Leeds for the first time in a long long time.

And all this despite having been dire against Stains, capitulating against Wire, not gelled enough against Hudds (although still only one try behind) and crippled by lurgy against Hull.

Nothing like as bad as it might have been, and a reasonable platform from which to push on from here?

Well that's a fair assessment imo

This is neither the time nor the place for sensible comment.



Jesus! I despair of you lot I really do. It's the worst possible start! Sack the coach! Why is he leaving a player of the quality of Mike Worrincy out? Don't you wish they lost every match of the season so that the coach gets sacked? etc. etc. etc.

There's a record stuck somewhere in Gdansk!

The pitch at our place was 50 times better than preseason last week. All this crap weather from today and the rest of this week could make it a bog again though.

I noticed mick said we had 9 out too which isn't true. We had 7 1st teamers out againt Wigan but Sinfield, Leuluai, Delaney and Ablett are due back on Thursday so it only leaves us 3 short now.

Reckon it should be a good game.

Good points all. But this one I was asked about it leaving the game on Friday night, when was the last time we were above Leeds in the table? I couldn't answer at the time, just that its been a while, and you've just reminded me I was going to look it up.

Well, I've had a look now and by my reckoning it was Round 18 of the 2007 season, when we beat Leeds at Headingly 38-14. Lesleys last game.

[urlhttp://www.rleague.com/db/article.php?id=28514[/url

Pointless bit of stats, but its good to remember games like that ahead of Thursday

A win today and we'll be well above the 50% mark and with tough away games at Huddersfield, Warrington, Hull FC and Leeds.

Things are looking better all the time.

Things are looking better all the time.'"

If we can keep scraping the wins, and improving, we may be top 6 soon enough.

It was scrappy today, but that's to be expected with only a couple of days rest. As long as the 2 points keep coming, I won't have too much complaining to do.

At risk of having it explained that if my auntie had got balls she'd be my uncle...had we won one more game than we have then we'd be 4th in the table now...

I get the feeling that the point we got at Headingley could be crucial come the play-offs.

i'm quite happy with how the season is going so far. my only concern is the lack of goal kicking ability in the squad. Orford isn't exactly prolific and Sykes didn't exactly do brilliant either. It very nearly cost us against Crusaders.

Agree and could have cost us the points at home to Wigan if the tries were a further out wide.

I think were missing Deacon on that note.

you don't say mick



thing is deacon wouldnt have created the trys that orford has so he wouldnt have anything to kick. Agree though that we need to look at the kicking and only option I can see is to give it to sykes fulltime and let orford concentrate on what he does best. I know donaldson and godwin can kick but they arent on the pitch for the full 80 and kickers tend to go better the more practice they get so we should stick with one person rather than chopping and changing depending on whos on pitch at the time.