Fair enough. I can only go by what I have seen of them which admittedly isn't a lot haha so I'll take your word for it as you'll have seen them a lot more than I.

Can I ask why everyone thinks Widnes will struggle this year? What do supporters from other clubs see wrong with our squad. I know we haven't got the biggest squad and we finished 12th last season but we were decimated by injuries and the squads overall fitness was very poor. We have addressed the fitness issue by replacing our conditioner. We finished 2nd in the middle 8s and our youngsters are a year older now.

Well for me its quite simple, you have the weakest squad in the league in my opinion.

You were awful last season and you have lost 2 of your top players in Corey Thompson and Bridge and replaced them with a centre whilst has plenty of ability has shown he has 0 appetite to be playing RL.

If i were a Widnes fan i would have 0 confidence in Betts, but that`s just me.

or quite possible that 9 or 10 other teams are stronger, but we will see how that transforms onto the pitch, look at warrington last season, leeds before

widnes will trouble teams at home no doubt but not may away

easier to predict bottom 4 than the top 4/6 atm
salford, widnes, rovers and catalan (still dont look strong enough) for me

huge blow for hull kr losing addy, even if they bring in some fresh players it will take them a while to settle in

Why?
1. You finished 12th last season
2. You have a new conditioner who hasn't proven anything yet
3. You don't have exactly a great deal of youngsters being developed to a high std within your club, so one year older doesn't equal improvement over and above any other teams youngsters = parity.
4. Don't rate your coach
5. Injuries will happen every season, that's pretty much a gimme, what if other clubs have a better season injury wise this year than last? Again that means parity.
6. You don't have a big squad with little depth.

Think that about covers it.

FWIW I don't think you will finish bottom. I think you're marginally better than Salford and I don't think your a million miles from most other SL teams. Nobody knows which teams will really fire this year so as a Wakey fan I'm not underestimating anyone.

Purely on paper and due to a year away HKR look very weak on paper to me - when a player like Addy is a big loss then you're lacking imho. That said I can guarantee they will beat us in the first round





Your biggest weakness for me is Betts, I really don't get how he survives as a coach.

Not sure where you are getting the idea that Widnes aren't developing good youngsters. They have a pretty good academy

He said a great deal to a high standard - Most SL clubs are producing 2 or 3 that play regular and are to a good standard. Are Widnes ahead of the rest of SL? A genuine question as im not familiar with any apart from Matt Whitley.

Some good feed back thanks.
From our academy I'd say that at least 6 will be in our match day 17 at any point this season
Craven
Gilmore
Gerrard
J Chaplehow
Whitley
D. Walker

Plus we have Ince, Johnstone, Chamberlain and T Chaplehow who are pushing to start, Ashall, Farnworth and B. Walker who prob need to be drip fed into the side this year. So not too bad.
Would any of them get into any other SL Side? I cant answer that but we did have to tie down D. Walker to a long contract.
From our inclusion into SL our board made the decision to bring through our academy players with a bit of experienced pros around them. Last season our experienced pros were dropping like flies so we had to throw the kids in at the deep end. Most held their own which was good to see but the intensity of most games against seasoned pros told in the end.
For most games last year we had academy lads playing at 1,2,3,5,6,7 and 9 with only Runciman being an ever present. no side in SL could cope with having to do that and it told in the end with us finishing 12th. come the middle 8s when some of our players started coming back we improved thus enabling us to finish above Hull KR, Catalans and Leigh.

Some of them are nearly 27, when your referring to youngsters been another year older i thought you was talking 18/19/20/21 - Unfortunately although i do like to see it there is no reward to having a team of homegrown players.

To answer your question as a Wakefield fan i wouldn't have any of those players in my squad over what we currently have although i do think you have 2 really good prospects in Whitley and young walker at Hooker who i think will develop into top players from what i have seen of them.

TBF there are so many unknowns this year who knows what is going to happen? Which is why i don`t usually keep my predictions to myself, because im way out every year

Which should be good for your lot next season!

IMO Widnes have a decent junior setup and will eventually reap the rewards. That said I think it will take time. Most players don't start to really mature until the mid 20s and if you have too many in at once they can get bad habits and too used to losing. Looking at the Widnes squad they haven't any big names that stand out so I can't see them getting many wins versus the top 8 sides. They will be in the bottom 3 with HKR and Salford I reckon.

Has anyone changed their predictions now that the friendlies are done and most clubs have their team sorted out?

Not to the extent that I can be ar$ed re-hashing it. I might have Hull (1st) a bit high and cas (5th) a bit low but hey, all the others are probably wrong too.

Hull (will win the league but will finally lose a cup game)
Cas (despite no Zak I still think we are a good side and a few players will wanna prove a point with how terrible they were during 1 game)
Wakefield (Tom Johnstone top try scorer and MOS contender)
Saints (good side but think we still lack consistency )
Leeds (might take Leeds a while to get up to speed with a new half)
Warrington (improve)
Huddersfield (will surprise a few)
Wigan (end of wane?)
Salford ( unknown quantity)
Hull KR (will smash a few at home)
Catalans (McNamara)
Widnes (sorry)

If I was to base it on the couple of friendlies I've seen I saw mostly what I expected from Hull and Rovers given the squads both teams named, but I think Catalans could struggle. They couldnt get any momentum going against a Hull reserve pack. Hull coasted through the game in 2nd gear. That said its only a friendly and the conditions were grim. So I will wait until a couple of proper games have been played until I revise anything.

Leeds
St Helens
Castleford
Hull FC
Wigan
Huddersfield
Catalans
Warrington
Wakefield
Hull KR
Widnes
Salford

After 23 rounds:
-------------------
Saints
Castleford
Leeds
Hull FC
Warrington
Wigan
Wakefield
Huddersefield
Catalan
Hull KR
Salford
Widnes

Top 4 after Super 8s
-----------------------
Saints
Leeds
Hull
Warrington

LLS: Saints
GF: Leeds
Challenge Cup winners: Saints

Relegated: Widnes

after 23 rounds

1: st helens
2: hull fc
3: tigers
4: rhinos
5: wolves
6: wigan
7: wakefield
8: huddersfield
9: catalans
10: salford
11: hull kr
12: widnes

top 4 sides after super 8's
1: saints
2: hull fc
3: rhinos
4: tigers

lls: saints
cc: tigers
gf: rhinos

no relegation for 2019 imo as it will be a 14 team competition

Far
To
Early
To
Make
Predictions
When
Nobody
Has
Played
Yet
Widnes.

It looks like another season with question marks hanging over it. Re sructure will we have a relegation and so on. On the field quite a few teams gave those same questions.
Well top half of table before a balls kicked and in no order would go like this.
Leeds have decent strength in depth but what will be their best team? They have lost all the old spine now but its hard to predict how they will go. Myler and Moon
dont seem in the mould of Sunfield or McGuire in guiding a team around.

Cas played great last year except when it mattered. The loss of Zak H will be a blow but they look to have enough quality to be in top half of the table will teams find them out? Well coached entertaining will it last and can they get over the finush line when it matters? I think they may find the SL tougher but I would not be suprised to see them lift the CC

Saints new coach seemed to help them later end of season I think it was more down to one thing though James Roby he played more minutets and Saints game was built around him add to that Barba and you cant imagine they wont be around in the games that define the season. The other big factor is Walmsley will he head off down to the NRL after this year and with a little more responsibility how will he respond.

Wigan last season after defeating Cronulla not many would have been suprised to see a clean sweap. What happened? Was it a case of win WCC at all costs or the shocking injury list or appathy. A mixture of all is what I will go for.
Is the loss of Gelling Mcloram massive I dont think so TL to 9 will make them more of threat. Sarge is like for luke with Gels. A fully fit SamT Escarre Flower and
Clubb whos had a shocking year off field says they will be back.

Hull the big Hull pack will be a little less with the loss of G Eliss but they have a front row that will always lay a decent platform. Watts was to me the biggest omission from the world cup likewise so was the amount of time Taylor got to play. At some point in a game these two will lay a platform to give you a chanceof a win are the backs good enough to take rhat consistently.

Warrington new coach new team you would imagine with playing roster and coach that Wire will go well but as we have seen nothing of this they to me along with Leeds are the two unknowns will this be there year ...... again?

Bottom six

Catalan again a bit unknown new coach with a full pre season a very good full back and Mclorum and Bird will make trips to France tough. Anyone thinking the Dragons have added nothing to SL now? Well at national level maybe not but we have a lot more SL standard players from France now than in the past and a good sprinkling at English based teams.

Widnes great young players coming through well coached decent stadium could make Widnes a bit of a suprise. If Betts can have a bit more luck with injuries and the development of some of his youngsters continues the plastic pitch will be even more uncomfortable for visiting teams.

Salford I do worry for Salford without the doctors cash and with rumours of players wanting moves and injury this season may not hit the heights of last they still have a team capable but with a poor homebase uncertain times ahead.

Wakey the over achievers last season the loss of Kear may be huge for a team that alwas seem more dependant on the failings of others than achievment themselves. The constant stadium issues always cast a shaddow over a lot of peoples sort of second team. If SL structure does change will all the pieces be in place in time if not how many if the better players will stay when the bigger clubs come knocking?

HKR good to have the Robins back I think it may be tough but with the uncertainty of structure this season this may have been the best one for a rovers return.

Most of the posts about Hull are about missing Ellis and the pack being weaker for it. A name that has barely had a mention is Mickey Paea. He was one of the better props in SL before he left and he looks in as good a shape as ever. So yes Ellis' leadership will be missed, but if anything we have even more forward firepower this year, and if Abdull gets a run at 13 as I hope he will we will also have an extra attacking dimension.

And Huddersfield?

Thanks thats what I was going to put for the Giants (:

Haha brilliant.

Although tbf I think they will go ok this year.