so prediction time
who will finish top
who in your opinion has already qualified
who are out of it already
who will miss out after the regular season

i'll do mine in a bit after a bit of a look at the table and predictions could change tomorrow depending on results (hudds v warrington in particular looks crucial, esp for hudds who have games in hand)

Glad someone has started this topic.Very hard to predict bottom 4 of superleague..

It will be 4 out of the current bottom 5, Catalan, Warrington, Huddersfield, Leigh and Widnes.
Saints are already showing enough form to suggest that they will be ok.

There is the remotest chance of Wigan getting dragged into the fight but, if they are looking like bottom 4 candidates, they will probably bust the s/c and post date the wages or something.
I think they did something similar a few years back



Seriously though, it will be 4 from 5 and I expect Catalan and Warrington to be right in the mix

Just looked at table and agree with your view.Salford also have a decent looking run in and may be taking league leaders shield more serious than Powell? So I will stab at Reds LLS.GF Castleford. Cup Castleford. .Bottom 4 Widnes,Leigh,Hudds,Warrington.

Cas to win Cup and Grand Final.

Catalans have to win their "easy" games -- Widnes away tomorrow and Huddersfield in Perpignan next week -- for them to escape the middle 8s. They desperately need a very good coach, but no such talent is in the mix of candidates that I have heard rumours of.

Widnes and Leigh to possibly lose their places in Super League. If that happens (unlikely but possible) then Hull KR and either London or Toulouse would then get promoted.

its very tight isn't it. at least the regular season gives us lot of meaningful games

Dont think Cas will come top. Resting a handful and more today against Saints. Shows they are concentrating more on Super 8s and play offs.
Salford
Cas
Hull
Them 3 I think will be top 3 followed by anybody for 4th.

Leigh
Widnes
Catalan
Hudds

bottom 4 for me and Hull KR to take 1 of their places.

Jean, there wont be any 2 clubs "relegated" from SL this season.
KR will have a really good chance to come straight back up but, unless the SL clubs implode, there wont be another club coming up.
KR are not a "given" but, they look most likely.

Is that just because it's the third game in 9 days? I still think you'll win the LLS to be honest. Grand final and challenge cup are too hard to predict at this stage as who knows what state teams will be in by then.

Cas will have all their "missing" players back for the cup next weekend and as you rightly say, after the "second easter", it's the right thing to do, even Trinity are resting a few this afternoon.

This is where Huddersfield and Saints (having not played twice last weekend) have a significant advantage, not just this weekend but, in a couple of weeks time, when some players will still be feeling the effects of the ridiculous second lot of "double fixtures", mind you, they miss out on a week off next weekend

Two weeks away. It's Leeds at Belle Vue next weekend!

It is indeed. Milner, Springer and Cook injured but Hardaker, Shenny, Gale, Millington all rested.

Castleford, Salford, Leeds, and Wakefield all look to have secured their spot in the Super 8s, Hull are also likely to have secured theirs.

Leigh and Widnes seem to have almost guaranteed their spot in the middle 8s

Wigan seem to be in a bit of a freefall and will likely be fighting it out with Warrington, Saint Helen's, and Catalans. Huddersfield seem to have turned a corner recently and even though they may be in the fight to avoid the middle 8s I think they're in one of the safer positions

The top 5 teams in the championship look strong so it will be a fight to make the top 4, and I can see Hull KR finishing the middle 8s in the top 3 gaining promotion which would leave 2 current clubs in danger through the MPG or even automatic relegation. These two clubs will likely be Widnes and Leigh, perhaps with Leigh being relegated again.

The top 4 of the super 8s is too hard to call at present as 5 teams are currently in the running. Both Leeds and Hull have variable performances lately but i suspect they'll tidy themselves up as the season closes out.

I reckon Cas will be one of the teams in the Cup final with their opposition being the winner of the Salford/Wakefield quarter final

Warrington havent "turned the corner" yet



Like last season, it's going to make "the qualifiers" very difficult for the Championship clubs, including KR.
Once the bottom 4 become more certain, there will be some player movement which will make it a tougher ask for KR.

London are the form side in the championship currently. HKR seem to have taken the foot of the gas.

It was Hudds who were alleged to have turned that corner mate. The only corner wire have turned is the kind that sees them pull out into the path of an oncoming truck.

The top5 have all cemented their top8 spot.

Leigh & Widnes I think are already confined to bottom 4.

Wigan & Saints could potentially get dragged into the dog fight, but I think they should be ok with their current 3 & 4 point gap to 9th.


That leaves three sides battling for 8th:
Catalans have: Hudds (H), Wire (A), Leigh (H), Wigan (H), Saints (A), Cas (H).
Hudds: Catalans (A), Saints (H), Wigan (H), Salford (A), Widnes (H), Leigh (H), Hull (A).
Warrington: Cas (A), Catalans (H), Wakey (A), Leigh (H), Wigan (A), Widnes (H).

Really difficult one to call.

I think there may a couple of twists in the tail yet. I am always wary of Wigan, and as they get players back are very capable of going 5 plus games unbeaten. I wouldn't write them off making the 4 until it was mathematically impossible, and as there are 26 points still to play for I still see them as a threat to the current 4 (some might think I'm nuts for saying that, but we've seen it before with them). I can't see the bottom 5 changing though, its just a question of who manages to put a few wins together to scrape into the Super 8's. I have a feeling Warrington may just pull through leaving Catalans, Huddersfield, Leigh and Widnes as the bottom 4. As far as anybody losing their SL place/coming up from the Championship, I think it all depends on how the fixtures fall with regard to travelling away to Toulouse. Even though I don't think they have much chance of coming up, I do think that they could have a say in how it plays out depending on who has to travel to them. Realistically though, I think only Hull KR have a genuine chance of coming up, but still unlikely IMO. We are only just past the halfway mark in the season, a lot can happen yet.

As far as London's concerned, a problem could be the ground. Ealing Trailfinders were told that they couldn't be promoted to RU's top flight because the ground wasn't good enough and I suspect that we'd have the same trouble. Moving grounds AGAIN would be a very bad idea, if only because any prospective landlord would know that we were desperate and charge a probably unaffordable rent.

Don't think there'll be too many changes to the SL table in the regular rounds. At the bottom, I could see Hudds scraping into the super 8s at Wire's expense. Top 4 places are currently being contested by five sides. Dunno what the other clubs' fixtures are like but Leeds' remaining 6 are pretty tough so we might be the side slipping to fifth for the start of the 8s. Difficult to call beyond that, recent history suggests one or both cup finalists will hit a dip and there could well be more injury crises in store for some lucky side(s). Won't affect Wakey though, they're never injured

good summary, although hull have a tricky run in i think they'll probably win another couple which will be more than enough. the others below the current top 5 will of course all take points off each other and nobody is in form down there to suggest they will go on a run of victories, maybe with the exception of huddersfield. a few key players injured in any of these sides could spell trouble (wigan suffering at the moment of course). so its wigan, warrington, catalans, hudds and saints all in a battle for 3 places - a nice exciting finish in prospect, unless you support one of these teams. i agree with you that widnes and leigh have too much to do now.
overall this season has been probably the closest in terms of how any team can beat anyone else since the superleague began - you cannot really say any fixture is a foregone conclusion

What happens in the cup could have a massive bearing in the league and even cost a team a top 4 spot.

The top 5 are all still in the cup and two of them are guaranteed to go through and most likely 3 with Leeds playing Fev. Those who lose the Hull/Cas & Sal/Wakey games may well benefit with their league position. The ones in the semi final and potentially final could get distracted and drop league points. Any of them win then Leeds and Hull have shown in the last 2 years how tough it can be the following weeks to win league games.

Top 4
Castleford
Hull FC
Leeds
Salford

Bottom 4
Warrington
Catalans
Widnes
Leigh

All 4 to remain in SL following the middle 8s, Leigh to beat KR in the MPG.

Hull look like they are safely in there after tonight's result

26 points should be the qualifying total for the 8s after wigans' loss so another win for fc and we're there