Well out of the four SL clubs in the draw, you could argue that Rovers are in the best form right now. They beat Wigan, pushed Wire close and scored 50 unanswered points against Catalans.
I don't expect HKR to be in the bottom 4 come the end of the season, so in my mind they are probably a level above the sort of teams we will be needing to beat to gain promotion.

Essentially we can go into this game as underdogs and with nothing to lose. Use it as a marker for this stage of the season, give it a good shot and see how well we can do.

It's not a game I expect us to win, their halves in particular could do some serious damage, but if we play well on the day you never know.

That Leigh v Salford game should be an absolute cracker, I'm pleased the Leythers got the sort of tie they were hoping for.

The top 4 of the championship have all been drawn against the Superleague teams. That's a bit bizarre, anyone want to calculate the odds of that happening?

can we merge threads please

Are we back onto the backwards number conspiracy again, does seem unlikely if im honest but hey-ho,
KR dont have a easy run of games before the tie though so maybe a few injuries creep in maybe we play a blinder on the day, i expect us to lose but as underdogs we can go all guns blazing.

This game's a bit too early for us. Lowes is still juggling the team about, a long way from knowing his best 17. We're building gradually for the Middle 8's whereas Rovers will be battle hardened trying to avoid them.

If HKR dont take the game seriously it could be close but really they should win by 40 points

happy enough with that. should give us a decent yardstick as to where we're at and should bring a bit of cash into club as well. not sure KR are as clear cut favourites as some are making out TBH. Both team respective injury lists come gameday will play a big part in result IMO.

Go get em lads, rip in and shake them up before the 8's

If we lose the game by 40 I would be bitterly disappointed. I certainly can't see Lowes accepting a 40 point loss at home. Underdogs maybe but if we have ambitions of SL then i would expect us to be running Hull KR close. Can't say I'm too bothered about the result because a cup run isn't high on my list of achievements this year but I feel it's vitally important for confidence that we perform well and compete.

Can't agree with this, HKR to win by 40 points???. If we don't run close in a home cup tie like this, however HKR play, we may as well pack up now.

It won't be easy at all, if played with our current pack as it stands it's even less convincing, you'd hope we'd sign 1 or 2 by the time this game rolls around.

Shame no games will be televised.

Absolutely right 'Bully Boxer'. I can't even see my lot (Leigh) beating you by that many, come the end of the season!

This is pretty much how I'm feeling in relation to this game. Set down a marker for the 8's comp at the end of the season.

Is your funtimeflange a troll generally or just sneery about bradford?

We still have 4 games before this so I expect us to be getting close to a settled team after playing 10 games.
I would like to see Davis, Ferguson, Baile and Lauaki fully fit by then along with a confident Seika. It would be interesting then to see how we go.

Just because I expect to win comfortably how does that make me a troll or sneery about Bradford were a super league side and your a championship side it would be no different if we were playing Halifax or fev I would expect to win comfortably

Absolutely! Fantastic draw for both Bulls and Leigh, I hope both clubs put down a real marker, suspect the good Dr is not looking forward to visiting the lsv. is hock available for that one?

We'll certainly get a first inkling of how the middle 8's might play out, even if Salford and hkr don't end up in the bottom 4.

Even if we did lose by 40 points, it could be a good thing in the long run. It will be a reality check and will show us how much more work we need to put in.
Confidence wise it wouldn't be great but come the super 8's, we would know what level we needed to be at.

Not really. We should gradually improve leading up to the Middle 8's, the team will be more settled and our season is geared up to peaking at the back end.

The SL teams that end up in the Middle 8s will gradually have had their morale sapped by big defeats and the disappointment of ending up outside the top 8. At this stage none of them are without a chance of making the top 8 so there's no question of them aiming to peak later in the season.

That could easily account for a 40 point turnround at the end of the season.

I did say that it could be close if HKR do not take the game seriously and I think its quite unlikely that they will be going all out. Finishing 8th would mean much more to them than a cup run. Whereas a cup run would help rather than hinder our league prospects.

But I still believe that just now they are 40 points better than us.

if you think we are similar to fax and feath you would appear to be pretty clueless.

If you could have chosen a SL side at home, would you have picked Hull KR. Guess you can win, but their form is a little erratic, though they are not the only ones. I imagine maybe, Wakefield are glad they weren't drawn away to Bradford, but on their day, they are pretty decent also. Good luck anyway Bulls....we'll need it against Salford !!!!!

Hocks first available game is Easter Monday, so if he hasn't picked up a ban and is fit he is available for selection

It allows both sides to identify any weaknesses that need working on before the 8's

I think us drawing HKR is the toughest of the draw. Going on what was said on RL show last night. They are a very very good side. "WE NEED THIS GAME" to get some intensity going. Conversely I would say the Salford/Leigh game is evens as its at the LSV. As a neutral it would be a cracker on TV.

Not a team we really wanted at this stage of the CC, i can't see us wining but a good performance will give us a good yard stick for the playoffs if we get into the top 4



COYB

Perfect draw for us. The worst possible draw for them. We desperately need better opposition, they need to send the first team to a first round cup match like a dose. If we lose, it's a much needed wake up, if they lose the clock will start to tick on Chester.

I think this could really liven things up.

Sorry Cibaman , I just can't take this one in. A team at the bottom of SL being 6/7 tries better than us now would not be acceptable.

Many of our squad have been full time for more than just this season while the others who haven't have had quite a few months full time training and have been recruited due to their potential to be full time professionals. Also HKR have had quite an influx of new players so why should that affect us more than them.

I believe that the squad is stronger this season than last so anything other than a competitive performance would be really disappointing.