A lot depends on getting those forwards recruits, making sure we have a decent dummy half if Moore gets jail time and avoiding injury to our halfbacks.

I predict we'll spawnily win a game either against London, Fev or Batley but end up losing to Oldham or Swinton.

We need to focus on beating Toulouse on Sunday for a start...

If anything dewsbury look weaker this year. We are now five wins behind Dews and we will be playing them 3 times, win them 3 and better their other results by 2 wins and we'll catch em. Just need the wheels to fall off another team now... If all the other teams keep sharing the points around it will make it really tricky.

I reckon if we get to plus10 points after the regular season we have a shot in the playoffs, so 10 more games to win, starting on sun;
Dews h/a. Swinton h. Sheff h/a. Halifax h. Toulouse h. Oldham h/a. Rochdale a.

With some forward reinforcement, some luck with injuries l think that is a difficult ask to win that 10, but far from being impossible imho.

One game at a time, focus on Toulouse then reasses for the next challenge. Coyb.

Next six games for me are crucial:

HOME - Toulouse
AWAY - London
HOME - Batley
HOME - Dewsbury
AWAY - Oldham
HOME - Sheffield

I think we will lose this weekend. But the following five will be determined on a number of factors.

Conditions
How Phoenix and Smith integrate into the team.
Moore's Trail.

And finally the big one - the result of Toovey's visa. Hopefully will be sorted for Sun.

That's great news - the Sun is involved, the government always listen to the Sun. Here tomorrow, at a guess!

You know, when you look at those fixtures, it isn't entirely inconceivable that we could get five wins from those six games - which would wipe out the minus points.

I'm not saying we will, but I don't see a lot to frighten us. Even London haven't exactly set the world on fire so far - two squeaky wins against Swinton and Oldham shouldn't leave us thinking we have no chance.

We could quite easily lose 5 of them too Paul!

Indeed

More likely to a be a mix of heroic wins and devastating losses though

For what it's worth I think we will lose to London away as I think they are a good side this season and will be top 2.

Toulouse at home is the key one, as I don't think we will beat them away so we need a win at home, plus it will give the lads confidence to beat a good side like them who I think will be top 4 at the end of play.

Ideally we need to target the 4 home fixtures in that run whilst we are still improving fitness wise and in terms of personnel. I think Toulouse will be a struggle. Should beat Dewsbury but Sheffield and Batley will be tough asks. After these Oldham away will be tough too but 3 home wins leading up to that will give us enough to beat them.

As I said. Next 6 games are crucial for me. It could wipe out the deficit, half it or only take a little piece of it leading into the final 14 games before the split. Either way an interesting month or so is ahead of us.

Oh and don't forget to throw in a Challenge Cup game there. Hopefully we get the winners of Wests Warriors vs Haydock ARLFC!! Or a League 1 side like York. Can't be doing with drawing Toronto haha! (If they beat Siddal

).

The odds are still firmly on going down.

Looking at fixtures changes nothing really [though, I admit, it does give us something to do..., so much depends on who is brought in and probably on when they are brought in. Ever changing loanees are just sticking plaster though and hopefully that is not the long-term plan. We need some permanent blokes in the forwards but also probably someone to cover the backs, as we can't just flog the lads from the academy. It isn't an easy process though, starting when we did and on an apparently limited budget, but it is important if we're really interested in trying to avoid leaving 2017 as a wasted year.

Smith's a permanent signing and should put pressure on Mendeika and Oakes. Having now watched Sunday's game I'd say Mendeika's side is the one that needs a bit of attention defensively. Oakes and Ryan played well.

Oh it sure is. I do think we will survive but it will be a long tough slog to get there. Rightly so that the odds are still us going down. But as I say these next 6 games will give us an indication as to where we are as a team and the league. First 3-4 weeks of a season are always up and down as you can't really gain much from it results wise. We can assume that Toulouse will be terrible away but we won't know for sure until they have played a couple of games away. And we can assume that Dewsbury will be awful but we won't really know until after 5-6 games.

Aye we need some permanent signings. Larroyer is supposed to be here for a year but that recall option after a month will always be a factor. Hopefully we are signing two more forwards who will be permanent, added to that the Smith and Phoenix signing in the backs then we are looking alright. A lot will depend on the outcome of Moore's trial? on the 10th March. He could well be a permanent addition too.

According to the report I read, Cas have only signed Larroyer for a year so [if true I can't imagine him being here for long.

In the final analysis, all games are winnable, particularly when you look at all the games we, 'should never have lost', but did, over the last two seasons. It's easier when you have a settled squad though. It's OK bringing loanees in, but it's much better when you don't have to - it's easier to engender team spirit, to have understanding between the players, not just of the plays but of the players themselves, so they all know what each other is capable of, how they like to receive the ball, who is likely to pop one 'out of the back', etc.

You would have to think that as the season goes on we will get a bit more conditioning (although we can't make up for the lost pre-season). This lot will definitely respond better to being full time than the crew we have had the last two years. Those young legs should be chasing everybody around the park come mid point of the season. The backs look devastating going forward and we have beefed up the pack. The two main things to improve are: cutting out silly penalties and stopping the opposition making easy yards when we defend. And third of the two is completion rate, stop dropping the ball especially early in the tackle count.

Yeah they signed him for a season, then loaned him to us for a season. After a month they have a 24 hour recall option.

Pretty much agree with your points there. Especially the ones regarding games we 'should never have lost' but have we continued that trend by losing to Rochdale? I mean all things considered I marked it down as a loss pre-game but we were in a position to win.

I've always said nothing prepares you for match fitness than actually playing matches and as the season goes on we will get better. However a good pre-season is so important!! Especially when you need to get off to a good start like we do!!

Oh, we definitely were in a position to win but lost out for many of the reasons I highlighted. We have some excellent young prospects and a few good solid pros in our side but they need to gel and move from being individuals to becoming a team. That takes time though, and particularly with our interrupted pre-season, in order to achieve that we need to keep the nucleus of the side together as long as we can, imo. Sadly, it is largely out of our hands though.

Yeah, it all depends if we stay up or not. For arguments sake we do stay up. We can keep the nucleolus of the side. For any team the 1, 6, 7 and 9 are key positions. Everyone else can pretty much chop and change. I think our left edge of Bentley, Oakes and Ryan are important to keep a hold of.

So for 2017 you have Thomas, Pryce, Keyes and Lumb/Moore. Pryce retires at years end. So potential for Pheonix to be the 6 (looks like a poor mans Benji Marshall on the videos). So the nucleus would be Thomas?, Pheonix, Keyes and Lumb. All very young players. Build around these guys and the left edge and we are looking very good

I would urge you not to get ahead of yourself esp with regard to Phoenix who hasn't even put a boot on yet.

Ah I never get a head of myself! Just enjoy thinking about the game

Besides it's much better than looking at -10



As for Phoenix, just going by his clips on Youtube. But as I have said before, touch rugby and sevens rugby in warm, sunny weather is a far cry for the beast that is the 13 man code in poor weather at times against teams like Swinton who want to knock your head off haha

To be honest, I wasn't looking any further than this season, and our prospects, such as they are, of avoiding relegation.

In that context, the players I was hoping to, 'keep hold of, were the loanees, so as to integrate them into the squad and get the most from them for as long as we can - I take it for granted that fully signed players will last the season out at the club.

Over the longer term you're probably right, though that is most likely dependent on any SL release clauses not being activated and, it must be said, which division we find ourselves in next season. I agree Phoenix looks an exciting prospect, but, though he plays a little like Benji, he, doesn't yet have the same physical presence, so added to the fact we've not seen him in a Bulls' shirt yet, I'd hang back from making too many predictions there and see what turns up.

In terms of this season when the loans were announced I was very surprised we bagged Lilley. But at that moment I knew we wouldn't keep him longer than the month so keeping him longer wasn't really an option. Realistically we are looking at maybe keeping Jordan-Roberts and Oledzki for longer as Leeds seem fine in these positions for now. So these two we need to integrate more. For the halves I would assume we go with our own guys in Pryce and Keyes, with maybe Thomas and Pheonix covering.

Key person for me at this moment is Moore. But again we have to play a waiting game with him as we don't have a clue what is happening until the 10th March.

One certainty is that no one can say this season isn't going to be 'interesting'. One way or another..

This season isn't going to be interesting.

No, writing it doesn't count.