Looking at the new recruits and past performances, one would have to say that the 2018 Challenge Cup finalists [iWarrington[/i and [iCatalans[/i, will be the two top teams.

However [iLeeds[/i under new coach David Furner, -- if he can get the two Tongan fatties Tuimoala Lolohea and Konrad Hurrel, to lose weight -- will certainly be in the extended top group.

[iSt Helens[/i and [iCastleford[/i will also be competitive in the extended top group.

However [iWigan[/i is the big mystery. They have lost three players, two of whom (Samuel Tomkins and John Bateman) are top rank. They have acquired Zachary Hardaker, whose form after two years out is uncertain. They have a new coach, whose experience as head coach is nonexistent. It is hard to think Wigan is going to be as competitive as it has been in recent years.

Then what about [iHull FC[/i? I see them as mid table along with [iWakefield[/i.

Do you agree?

No

Wigan always do well bar the odd season

1. St Helens
2. Catalans
3. Warrington
4. Castleford
5. Wigan
6. Leeds
7. Wakefield
8. Huddersfield
9. Hull FC
10. Hull KR
11. Salford
12. London

Saints beat Catalans in the final. Leeds win the CC

Catalan and Warrington?? The top sides??? hahaha

Last season will be as good as it gets for Dire for a long time.

Leeds are finished for the time being. Mid table next season which will be an improvement on the season just gone.

Wakey are nowhere near as good as their delusional fans tell you. I don't rate them and they're lucky to even be in Super League given that dump of a 'ground' they have.

The pies, Saints and Cas will be the front runners next season with Huddersfield being dark horses. They've improved greatly under Woolford.

I can understand you putting us where you have but to put Hull FC in 9th is bizarre. They will start the season with a relatively healthy squad and their 1st 17 is a match for any team.

:

Is this yet another of your insightful predictions ?
Have you ever been close with any of your previous efforts



Next season will be similar to last, with the exception of some improvement from Huddersfield and Catalan, who both improved after changing coach (although it did take McNamara some time to get Catalan posting some victories).

You have to fear for London, Salford and KR, who appear to be the clubs in most danger of relegation.

The "extra" play off spot could literally be any of the rest, with Catalan probably squeezing in.

Hard to see Leeds not improving too. We set the bar very low last time. No prediction of where we'll finish yet as I'm holding out some hope of further comings and goings.

It's one place lower than they finished last year so hardly a massive change. If I've counted right they've lost their last 12 games against teams who will be in SL next year. I appreciate they had a lot of injuries but they still shouldn't be that far off the pace. That's a lot to turn around when you've got Huddersfield finishing the season in great form, Leeds with a new coach and big signings, Wakefield signing Brough, Catalans signing Tomkins and coming off the back of winning the CC......

I agree, Leeds will definitely improve but, it would be a huge ask for them to make the top 5, although as I said in my previous post, any club, with the exception of KR, London and Salford will be hoping to make the Top 5.

The top 9 could still throw up a couple of surprises and recent seasons have also seen one (or two) of the top sides massively under perform.
Leeds will probably be right up there again but, Furner would need some magic dust for it to be next season.

Huddersfield & Catalan could be dark horses if they get off to a decent start although it's still likely to be last seasons top 4 finishing in the top 4 spots but, perhaps in a different order.

Saints looked like LLS material from the off, last season but, I expect a much tighter comp next year.

Maybe with the change in format, every minute really will matter

Good point about supposedly-good sides underperforming in recent years. Picking a long shot for next year's chumps? Maybe red faces at Cas and I'm not just talking Adam Milner here.

I think the travelling will always hinder Catalans to some degree, so I can't see them making the top three. But top 5 is certainly possible.

Could next year finally be Warrington's year? They've made some good signings, if Blake Austin is here to play then they could be in with a shout next season.
Saints will be up there again, as will Cas and Wigan.

Not sure what to make of Hull's off-season, stability and lack of major personnel changes could be good for them maybe? Their terrible form at the back end of last season would worry me though if I was an FC fan.

With all due respect, I don't see why you think Hull Kr are in real danger of relegation with some of the signings they are making and yet to announce? Think they will surprise a few this coming season.

It will depend on who can keep their squad healthiest over the course of the season. Every team looks stronger with the exception of Wigan really, but you can never back against them.
I'd be cautious if I was a Catalan fan, they tend to struggle until the spring time, and they may have too much ground to make up at that point.

The question should be, which one of the 'big' teams will end up in the bottom 4, which seems to happen every year!

If you could base a prediction on who teams sign then we might as well not bother as teams could quite literally buy success and we know that rarely works. Signing players is a fan obsession but in reality it’s just part of team building and certainly not the most important imho.

There is certainly no such thing as a magic player who can turn it all around. Wally Lewis was the best player at BV since the sixties - great to watch but did he turn that team around, no. He improved it by virtue of him being him but that’s all.

So HKR have to rightly be considered as relegation possibilities regardless of who they sign. Because they have not yet built up the resilience and cohesion or depth needed to guarantee winning as many games as required.

Clearly London are miles the faves for relegation but nothing is certain and I wouldn’t want to be too close to them come the end of the season.

Wakefield fans seem pretty cocksure at the moment

They have in the Super 8’s era but didn’t before and might see it revert to that with the new system.

As someone else pointed out the key thing is injuries. I know it can be tedious when it’s repeated especially by Eddie and Co. but it does happen and does effect teams.

Expect Wire to be stronger with Austin but they’ll always be question marks over getting over the line come crunch time. Saints have lost Barba but made a few decent signings, if Walmsley can return the player he was that’ll be huge for them. Not sure on Catalans having the consistency, will no doubt have a purple patch that makes them look contenders but will it last long enough. Hull could be a team that struggles with the way last year ended and not much to lift spirits in the off season. You know what you’re getting with Cas now, wonder if they hit the point where Powell has taken them as far as he can though. HKR have recruited and could be the surprise package. Wakey will struggle to match their 5th place finishes in recent seasons with this new structure, have to hope they have the Brough of 4/5 years ago which I’m not sure they will. Hudds had a real new coach purple patch last season but think that’s fade off now. London will probably be bottom but think they be more competitive than some think. All Salford eggs are in Hastings basket.

Wigan really not sure. Lost key players and really not sure how itll do when players already know the new coach is only there for a year with the new one already lined up.

Leeds again not sure, for all the optimism about Furner and talk of his work as assistant it doesn’t always translate to head coach and it didn’t really work for him at Canberra a few years back. Good chance we’ll be near the bottom after 4 rounds with the tough all away fixtures. But we’ll have gotten 3 of the very toughest fixtures out of the way with way more home games and winnable games to come so good potential to catch up. Headingley feeling more like a home again instead of a building site could help also.

Eh, how do you get to that ?

Is it because we've finished 6th, 5th and 5th in the last 3 seasons and we no longer predict our imminent demise ?
Not exactly cocksure is it and if you ask prety much any Trinity fan, I can't see any predicting something better than last season and most would be delighted to make 5th again, which given the improving stock at Catalan and Huddersfield, would be an excellent sffort.

Having said that, EVERY club will want to try and improve on last season and why should Trinity be any different ?

Out of interest where have they been cocksure? We've had what 2 Trinity posters reply on this thread and neither made any prediction about where we'd finish, we haven't even done a prediction for next season on our own site.

You seem to be reacting to Wrencat not rating your chances more than anything, which is his prerogative tbh but yet he doesn't say anything about how we'll go next season does he - in fact he places teams that finished below us above us. Or maybe it was vastman saying that no matter who you might sign, you as a team are yet to build up the resilience and cohesion or depth needed to guarantee to win as many games as required. If you don't agree put your case forward instead of the sly dig.

Personally speaking, I haven't a clue which teams are going to do what, Saints will be up there, probably along with Wire and although Wigan has lost a few players they'll be up there. Leeds will probably be better as well with the new Coach and a few key pieces of recruitment. As for Trinity I think we can generally improve as a side on last season due to not losing any players and adding a few bits of quality into the mix, we lost 6 games by a try or so loss last season and we failed to finish close games off, it's why Brough with his excellent kicking game has been brought in. Also, the experience of being there or thereabouts the last 2 seasons will have done us the world of good, saying that a top 5 will be a good result for us. Cas no doubt they'll be in the upper half and Powell will do his magic, but can he do it another season, have they signed players that will strengthen then more, who knows?

The teams I'm not sure about are Hudds, they signed a good winger but brought in a half which could go either way, plus I generally don't think they've strengthened that much, but again who knows. Hull could go either way, practically the same side that lost all those games but if they have fewer injuries they'll be competing. Hull KR, they've made a few good signing but I'm not sure how far a move up the table they can make, time will tell. Catalans although some people fancy them to be up there I'm undecided about it. They've made a very good signing in Tomkins but they've lost Drinkwater and brought Smith in, how's that going to work. I also think their away form will always hold them back somewhat especially at the start of the season and are they suddenly go from 8th to top 4, I doubt it personally. Salford has a decent 17 but lacks forward power and depth at the moment, if they could get more power and depth to use those backs they will do alright.

Yeah, it seems every other side just about can talk their team up but Trinity can't even when they haven't on this thread.



Tbh I'm not seeing this Hudds improvement over last season. ho doubt Woolford got them playing to a much better standard but even their own fans have questioned their signings or lack thereof so far. Yes, they've signed Uate and Frawley and a few others but so much will be on an Aussie newcomer to be the playmaker, after years of Brough bossing the show. We know ourselves when we signed Sam Williams that bringing in a decent NRL half doesn't mean that much if he doesn't immediately gel with the rest of the team. They may do well but I'm not at the moment seeing their improving stock tbh.

Anyway, I agree 5th again for us would be a good finish, I don't think it's unreasonable taking into account our last few years and the improvements we've made in the squad, even taking into account other sides and would give us a taste of playoff RL we haven't had in a few years.

Are they! I’ve predicted 4th but that’s my most positive prediction that could realistically be obtained. We could easily be bottom 4 and battling to stay up if we are not careful. I actually can’t see a single team in SL who look totally billet proof.

However basing it on form, team stability and make up and a few signings on paper Wakefield look strong, I think that’s reasonable.

Has Michael Carter made any suggestions as to how much of the cap Wakefield are spending up to this season?
I think that might be why some fans continue to overlook them as contenders. Their final league standings in recent years in combination with their relatively low spend will paint Wakefield as being overachievers in many people's eyes.
I don't know the state of Wakefield's finances so I have no idea how feasible this might be, but if I was a Wakefield fan I'd be wanting to see the club push on and try and break into the top 4. To do that I think the cap needs to be utilised to its fullest.

I think Wakey are spending closer to the cap than Carter makes out, think he/they like to play the underdog role. ATEOTD they have had three top 6 finishes in the last three years so that will attract some interest in their players but they seem to be keeping them and able to add more, that takes money to do that.

WRT to their 5th place finish last year, taking a closer look they were only 3 points ahead of a very poor Leeds team at the split and let’s be honest the others in those 5th-8th position basically gave up in the Super 8’s. That won’t be happening this year I think with the new system and 5th place being a playoff spot so a lot harder to achieve this year.