1. Warrington
2. Saints
3. Wigan
4. Leeds
5. Catalan
6. Castleford
7. Huddersfield
8. Hull Kr
9. Wakefield
10. Hull
11. Salford
12. London

The conclusion of Round 13:

Warrington Wolves 20 pts
Catalans Dragons 20 pts.
Leeds Rhinos 18 pts
St. Helens Saints 16 pts
Castleford Tigers 16 pts

Wigan Warriors 12 pts
Hull FC 12 pts
Wakefield Trinity 12 pts

Huddersfield Giants 10 pts
London Broncos 10 pts

Hull Kingston Rovers 6 pts

Salford Red Devils 4 pts

So Catalan are playing all of their home games straight up then and they still wont have 20 points after 13 rounds.
Do you fancy a wager for charity Jean.

Dunno about wakey, I think saints are starting to look a good fit for that template these days

You'll have to sober him up first.

Not obvious at all, King James.

Warrington
Saints
Cas
Wakefield
Leeds
Wigan
Catalans
Huddersfield
Hull FC
Hull KR
Salford
London

Based on the regular season winner odds the bookies are going for this:

Saints
Warrington
Wigan
Cas
Leeds
Hull
Catalans
Huddersfield
Wakefield
Hull KR
Salford
London

My personal prediction is:

Saints
Warrington
Cas
Hull
Wigan
Wakefield
Catalans
Huddersfield
Leeds
Hull KR
Salford
London

Its a really tough one though. Catalans, Huddersfield and Leeds (and to a lesser extent even Hull KR) have the potential to do much better than that if things go right for them. Whereas Cas, Hull, Wigan (big transitional year), and Wakefield could all find themselves struggling if things don't quite go right. I am confident about my top 2, and bottom 2, but the rest could be in any order really.

Not disbelief just common sense that any squad (and ESPECIALLY their agents) who have managed to take a team to a few top 5 finishes will expect/ask for improved money. You think Cas are still paying some of their players the same amounts they were on in 2015/2016? Can see you building that squad over the last few years for a chunk under the cap but if Carter is still saying you’re well under the cap that would mean a lot of your squad is still getting paid much less than what they’ve achieved in league placings and ATEOTD rugby players have mortgages to pay and careers are short so will always hope to make improved money.

I think it'll be

Cas
Stains
Pies
Huddersfield
Dire
Whinos
Dull FC
Cats
HKR
Salford
Wakey
London

If you had just put this is my selection and left it at that then it would have been fine, it's the underlined bit at the top what makes it hilarious

Ok if no one else is going to be the chippy championship fan I'll have to do it.

THE competition?

Indeed and this is probably the most difficult aspect cor coaches and CEO's to get right and is also one of the factors in Wigan, Leeds and Saints success over the years, in that they have been able to fill their squads with "home grown" youngsters who, typically, dont have the same wage demands (until they reach international status).
As I say, a really tough part of squad management and you are right. The more successful any side becomes and the more that the players start to believe that they are world beaters and will consequently demand higher wages.

I suppose that the clever managers will make being part of a certain club, more than just playing on Sundays and if their squad are generally happy, they may be a little less likely to keep wanting a pay rise, no different to the outside world.

The one huge aspect of Trinity's relative success is that they have a large number of players who perhaps couldnt get game time or were down the pecking order at other clubs and maybe, they respect what they have at Trinity.

Thankfully there is more to life than money and in an era where clubs generally dont pay transfer fees, there is some relief for clubs like ours.

Back in the day, whenever Leeds were short of players, they would be along with their cheque book and buying up the best players from their local rivals. Again, thankfully, this doesn't happen quite as often these days but, I'm sure that they are still sniffing.

And on the flip side, down the years local rivals have not done bad taking on players deemed dead wood at Leeds.

Whilst in one aspect true, if Wakey are £450k UNDER the cap that works out at and average of £22,500k per player for your top 20 players. That’s a significant amount that they wouldn’t ignore if they could be getting near or more than that elsewhere from a club that can afford it.

Why is everybody underrating last year's Challenge Cup winner?

Possibly because they let one of if not the most influential player in Drinkwater leave and have replaced them with Matty Smith. Also they don't travel well.

Because they've never played well for a full season. In fact, many years they haven't played well ALL season.

I really like Catalans but they haven't recruited well so far, their "best" 17 IMO is average and as previously said they have never consistently performed all season. Fantastic achievement in winning the CC though.

Full Back – Sam Tomkins

Wing – Jodie Broughton
Centre – Brayden Wiliame
Centre – Tony Gigot
Wing – David Mead

Stand off – Samisoni Langi
Scrum Half – Matty Smith

Prop – Sam Moa
Hooker – Michael McIlorum
Prop – Remi Casty
Second Row – Kenny Edwards
Second Row – Ben Garcia
Loose – Greg Bird

Because whilst their SF and Final performances were very good they came in a several week purple patch, will need more than that to make the top 5.

Points wise I think to get 5th teams are going to need around 32/34 points at least. That’s probably 10-12 home wins and 5-7 away wins.

As always injuries will play a big part on where teams finish, who gets how many we can’t predict.

1&2 St Helens & Warrington

Very open for the next lot imo.

3 - 9 Cas, Wigan, Leeds, Catalan, Wakefield, Huddersfield, Hull

10 Hull KR

11 Salford

12 London

It's very open for the coming season, and the rule changes may help to make it more so.

You didn't name a full 17, which is misleading because they have a strong bench, with Julien Bousquet and Kenny Edwards coming off it.

The team, based upon Steven McNamara's past choices, is more likely to be:

Full Back – [iAntoine Gigot [/i

Wing – [iJodie Broughton[/i
Centre – [iBrayden Wiliame[/i
Centre – [iDavid Mead[/i
Wing – [iLewis Tierney[/i

Stand off – [iSamuel Tomkins[/i
Scrum Half –[i Matthew Smith [/i

Prop – [iSamuel Moa[/i
Hooker – [iMichael McIlorum[/i
Prop – [iRemi Casty[/i
Second Row – [iBenjamin Jullien[/i
Second Row – [iBenjamin Garcia[/i
Loose – [iGregory Bird[/i

Interchange: [iJulien Bousquet, Antoni Maria, Kenny Edwards, Jason Baitieri[/i

Reserves: [iSamisoni Langi, Alrix da Costa[/i

That is not an average team but a very impressive team, worthy of at least a top five place.

Because I've never met a poor bookie and they have Catalan at 16/1 to win SL, the 7th longest odds.....below Saints, Warrington, Wigan, Castleford, FC and Leeds.

I also think they will be nowhere near the Play-offs because Catalan lost 5 from 7 in the S8's, or if you prefer, Lost 17 from 30 with a win ratio of a mere 43%for the entire SL & 8"s campaign 2018.

See....that's a statistical evaluation based on their form last year as well as the predictions of the Bookmakers across the UK and not a blind and constant inane effort to wind up the English by someone who is not French pretending to be French and bigging up anything that isn't English.

Catalans had a divided season. First half they were awful. Second half they came good, very good. One should look at the more recent form, not the form over the entire season.