Cas to have a a stinker, eh? Suspect they'll put more than one win on the board but it might not be a lot more.

Can only viably see 6 wins amongst the above. None of which against the Wigan to Wire games.

Defo need to bookmark this thread, to see who ends up with bragging rights?

My forecast? Haven't got a fekking clue. Depends which Bulls team turns up for each match, and what further injuries we have. If the team they CAN be turns up, and we avoid undue further injuries, we will be in the eight and maybe not just eighth. If the team we have seen they ALSO can be turns up, and we pick up more injuries (announced and unannounced) to key players, we'll be grubbing for the droppings at the bottom of the pond.

At the start of the year, I DID forecast a slow start but then gradually picking up more wins as the team gelled and the advantage of a bigger squad started to tell as injuries mount across the competition. On balance, despite "slow" start actually being "dreadful", I am still sticking with that prognosis as it stands now.

The biggest concern as a game is the growing number of serious injuries for each team, with likely, an average of around 6 front liners missing for each game for many teams.

That the RFL haven't undertaken an injury audit for it's athletes is embarrassing at best. Albeit if it was carried out by the same bunch of jokers who assess the salary cap then they will report a full bill of health for every club.

FA, theres only four results I would change on your spreadsheet,

Bulls to lose to Hudds, Cas to beat Wakey, Cas to beat Hull KR and Hull to beat Cas.

Meaning the table would be

6. Leeds 33
7. Hull 25
8. Bulls 25 (due to our terrible PD)

9. Cas 21
10. Hull KR 20
11. Salford 18

I have to say that these sorts of discussions make me smile

Results simply aren't that predictable, especially this season e.g Catalans winning at Warrington when they'd hardly won a game at that point, Crusaders walloping Huddersfield at Easter. Even Cats beating Wigan on Saturday was not really expected

There'll be loads of twists and turns, odd results and things that no-one expects. I'd not at all be surprised to see us turn over Saints, then blow it against Hull the following week...

TBF, the consensus on the equivalent threads last time out was pretty much correct - pipped at the post in '09.

Yes there will be twists and turns but chances are they will even themselves out. These threads are just an attempt to incorporate the fixtures yet to be played into the league table n order to give a better picture of where everyone stands right now.

So not really much changed from [url=http://viewtopic.php?f=19&t=490166&hilit=so+the+play+offshere[/url then. Bar of course the catalans surprising a few of us.

I suppose one way of looking at it is that if we manage to beat Hull, then no other results matter, as long as in the rest of our games we total no worse than them , KR or Salford.

And even then, a collapse by Cas could get us out of the mire..

another important weekend with another must win to get near Hull in the table and possibly back to 8th IF all other results went for us.

If we can beat Hull it will be great for us, also gives us a 4 match unbeaten streak (and confidence) going into Leeds game. Hope we smash Hull then take apart Leeds.

I would be happy with one out of the two, especially Leeds, but a win against Hull would be a banker as you say four unbeaten and a bit of momentum going

looks like you will need to beat Hull to stand a chance of play offs. 6 behind us with a much worse GD so you basically got to win 4 more than us in 10 games so i think sunday is a must win for you.

yes, the problem for us Hull etc is the 5 points gap between CAs and Hull which has turned it into two subleagues with the 8th playoff place the top one of the bottom section, so unless the form book goes completely out hte window the only way to get that 8th place is to beat Hull and all other teams in div B.

Yep, think Cas & Cats are probably out of reach now. I'd say we have a decent chance of the 8th spot if we can beat Hull tomorrow though.

Cats yes, Cas absolutely not. These are their games, and it includes a 4 pointer with us for starters:

A Catalan
Warrington H
A Wigan
Bulls H
A Crusaders
Saints H
A Leeds
A Wakefield
Hull FC H
A Hull KR

How much change do you see them getting out of that lot? By no means out of sight. If they maintain a gap despite us doing well, then they'll deserve to.

I hadn't looked at their fixtures, but if we can keep up the good form then yeah we would have a chance. Would definitely have to beat them though.

So basically we need to beat Hull FC, Cas and Hull KR as well as a couple of other games to get into the 8?

I think we can beat some of the teams already inthe 8 such as Leeds and Catalan.

What we need to do is play well and that should bring enough wins to secure a top eight berth. As usual far to much emphasis is being put onto single games, which on their own will decide nothing. For sure it would be nice to beat Hull but there are plenty of games between teams around the middle of the table still to play, so win or lose, in isolation it will neither cement a top eight spot nor rule one out.

I would usually agree 100%. But if we lose today, we would have a massive job to try and reach the 8. Winning all our remaining home games has to be the target. With our dreadful points difference it would effectively be a 4 point gap between us and Hull.

I'd narrow it down to the two Hull games being more important than others. Your right that we don't have to beat them to make the 8 but it puts it in our own hands if we do. If we lose to either we'd need them to lose more games than us in the run in, whereas if we beat them we "only" have to match them.

I'd say this thread is now pretty much redundant.

Yep. Game, set and match.

Is a win at Leeds out of the question? Given their current form and the clearly unsettled squad, I'd say not at all.

We can win at Leeds by 100 points, still won't make the playoffs.