Against Leeds we didn’t play our best we played just like we had most of the season no better no worse and Leeds played as good as we let them.

That said I agree a one off game is not the same as it will be in the middle 8, and I also agree it will be very tough for any team to get promoted, however that said if one of the championship sides is riding high (as we were last season) and a SL team is use to losing and low on moral etc then you never know, I honestly believe we would have beat both Bradford and London last season………..oh and we always beat Widnes anyway!

If only the new system allowed for a promotion spot to be decided by a one off game....

Get your tongue out of your cheek Matt

wow you know so much other clubs and their players.

lol you know a guy who follows leeds and says the 4 players wont be much good, we best send them back then eh.

how good these Leeds players will be is just a matter of opinion at the moment until they pull a shirt on, but im sure Andy Hey and MC have more info on them than you and your mate.

The only Top earner we want to off load is Kain and that's because he's no good anymore not because we cant afford him. We have made no attept to offload Moore, why would we.

We'll easily finish at least 4th. we were poor last season but still too good for Halifax and Sheffield. I think we have improved our squad more than the pair of them. Sheffield will be better than Fax though.

maybe we 'had no competition' -silly statement is that - because we were a lot better than the other teams in our division - oh yes thats what winning the league and grand final is all about?

Im not sure where I said the lad who told me about the Leeds lads is a Leeds fan. He knows them a bit better than that.



Maybe you have improved your squad but personally, and i have seen a lot of people agreeing, I dont think you have really. Ive said the same about Sheffield, Im not expecting them to be terrible or anything Im just not expecting them to be top 5. Fax's biggest improvement came when they got rid of Harrison, most people do not realize how significant that decision was.

Not improved really lol.

Ryan Millard - he was the best half back behind the Leigh duo we played against last season.
Nathan Chapell - was very good when we had him previous and will no doubt of improved after 2 years on Aus. Fev allowed Worthington to go knowing they had signed him
Ryan Verlinden - Huge aussie prop, unkown quantity but come with big reputation player of years in aus second grade
Shaun Irwin - Another aussie, half back or hooker played 13 games in nrl for gold coast, again like the fax signings unknown but sounds promising
Sykes - will add a bit of experience to our squad, Wakey fans wanted him to stay another season in SL
George Marchant - played youth with a couple of players in our first team, spent 2 years in aus
Cook Islander - international prop, not released his name yet, waiting for clearance from RL
the 4 from Leeds - may well be bit part players but add strength in depth
Nicolson and walmsey - signed last year, very good forwards but were injured in the Friendly's and out for season
Ormondroyd and Cooper - 2 Players on our books already who we sent to Aus for a year to play and gain exerience, back now and in the first team squad.

No defo not improved

fevfan76
i never write on these boards only read them but i find your comment about the four from leeds strange as all 4 were playing super league last year all be it wiyh the worst 2 teams ie bradford and london carnt see them being bit part players.

Still failed to convince me.



Im sorry you missed out on the best Cook islander prop that was available, you can at least work out who the one you have signed is though.

Interesting debate, i think 8 points my get you top 3 and 10 most certainly will. Which means who ever finishes top of the Chanmpionship play the following at home :-

Champ Pos 2
Champ pos 3
Champ pos 4

and i think either the 12th or 11th team in SL at home

Id fancy who ever finishes top of the champ to have really good chance of getting 8 points then the rest is history... all these SL fans who say they cant see this and that from the Championship need to have a look at the fixture list for the top 8 games!!

one final point the jokers who think we had no competition are just that IMO just jokers, ive had this suprising debate all ready with an ex director who had similar thoughts. Look at the number of games lost in 2013 season by Fax and Fev vs 2014. The significant difference is the 2 game sthey lost to us in 2014 vs what they won in 2013.

So to come out with a statement of we had no competition in 2014 is absolutely laughable.

Bring on the Bulls, Broncos, Fev, Fax, Eagles we respect everyone but fear no one!!

Not sure if these middle 8 fixtures need a rethink, you judge.

Team Finishing 1st in Championship will play 2nd, 3rd and 4th in the Championship at home plus 11th in SL at home. Away games will be to 9th, 10th and 12th in SL

Team Finishing 4th in Championship will play 9th, 10th and 11th from SL at home. Away games being 1st, 2nd and 3rd from Championship plus 12th placed SL team.

So team finishing 1st have to travel to 3 SL clubs, whilst 4th placed champ team gets home advantage against 3 SL teams

eh.

I could type them all out if you want to spontaneously combust

Steve,

I quite agree with your sentiments.

But I do believe that to finsh in the top 3 of the middle 8 you'll need to aim for 10pts. since with all things panning out to team stregnths the table should look like:
1st Strongest: 14pts
2ndStrongest: 12pts
3rdStrongest: 10pts
4th Strongest: 8 pts
5th Strongest: 6 pts
6th Strongest: 4 pts
7th Strongest: 2 pts
8th Strongest: 0 pts
I realise that this will change since there will be upsets in the middle 8.

So the aim has to be 5+ wins in the middle 8 (10pts) to get in the top 3, with a secondary goal of aiming for 3+ wins (6pts) for 5th place and a win in the £1M game.

Roll on the 2015 season, I can't wait for it to start now.

As an aside, and to give you a laugh here is my predictions from the TotalRL board.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Go on just for the fun of getting it totally wrong:

1 = Leigh
2 = Bradford
3 = Fev
4 = Fax
5 = London
6 = Dewsbury
7 = Sheffield
8 = Workington
9 = Batley
10 = Doncaster
11 = Hunslet
12 = Whitehaven

I don't believe they will only be bit part players. But I was replying to the fax fan who claims to have inside info from leeds ( and every other club in RL) that they would be no more than bit part players.

Why would the second from bottom super league team have the disadvantage of playing away and the team in 12th play at home?

The easier games have got to be at home rather away...

not sure thats right looking at the grid. I think the 2nd bottom sl team is the 5th ranked team and they play the 6th rank (12th SL) at home

How will the Super 8s work?
Clubs will each play seven fixtures on a league basis.
Clubs which have performed strongest in their respective competitions in the regular season will be rewarded with four fixtures as follows: the top four Super League clubs will play four home matches; in the Qualifiers, the team finishing ninth and 10th in Super League and the top two teams from the Championship will have four home matches; and in the Championship Shield, clubs finishing the regular Championship season in 5th to 8th place will have four home fixtures.
In Super League and Championship Shield, the competing clubs will carry over the points and scoring records from the regular season into the Super 8s. The Qualifiers will start with zero points because the eight clubs are drawn from two different competitions.

How is the fixture schedule for the Super 8s determined?
The Super 8s fixtures are produced using a merit formula which rewards teams for the consistency and excellence of their results in the regular season. The higher a team finishes after 23 rounds, the more favourable their fixtures in the Super 8s are. For example, the team that finishes 1st will have home games against the teams finishing second and third, and be away to the teams that finished in 7th and 8th.
As with the regular season, the scheduling of fixtures will be determined by a range of factors, including the fairest balance of alternate home and away games for all clubs, stadium availability and broadcast preferences.
The fixture list is produced using the grid below:


any team coming forth In the championship may as well not bother in the super 8 lol

where as team who win the championship get 4 pretty winnable home games

9th and 10th in SL are Ranked 1 and 2

1st and 2nd in Ch are Ranked 3 and 4

11th and 12th in SL are Ranked 5 and 6

3rd and 4th in Ch are Ranked 7 and 8

Dunno....ask the RFL who devised the fixture grid

Its shocking that the higher you finish makes a difference

does it though???? its a matter of opinion as to whether it actually does work like that, there's an obvious difference between finishing 1st and 4th in the championship that is clear, but....

Some teams would say that they would rather play the top teams at home and the lesser teams they are more likely to beat away.

you could argue that the 2nd placed champ team has it slightly easier

That was sort of the point I was trying to make a few posts back. I am not sure how fair that fixture pattern is either.