....gives us about a 60% chance of playing Catalan in Week 1, 40% of playing Leeds IMO.

Finshing 2nd means about 95% chance of playing Saints in Week 1.


With our record this season against Saints we might be better off finishing 2nd!! Even if we played and beat Catalan in Week 1, i'd fancy Leeds to beat Catalan away the week after meaning a Wigan v Leeds showdown at the DW to get to Old Trafford. I'd put that game at about 55/45 to Wigan but wonder how much a trip to Perpignan would take out of Leeds compared to the week off for Wigan.

It might be beneficial for Leeds to finish 6th and avoid the trip to Perpignan and take a more likely trip to Standish-with-Langtree Park in Week 2!!

Permutations, permutations!!!

The thing is thou you cant write of Saints or even more so Leeds in the Play-Offs...

I want us to finish top, don't care who we play after that, it'll take care of itself.

I feel that Saints don't have the belief of previous seasons. That's just the feeling i get. I wouldn't fancy them to beat either us or Wire away.

If we have more or less a fully fit team ( ie Tommy and possibly Pat back and all the forwards relatively fresh), we'll beat anyone!

we beat Saints 3 times last season then lost 2 play off games against them!! I don't care who we play in the play offs

Amen to that.

Finish top, get the prize money. Then worry about the play offs.

Win on Saturday to more or less Guarentee 1st and then 3 games left with 1 week rest gives us a good chance to rest key players and then smash anyone who gets in our way in the playoffs and I mean anyone.

I'd prefer Catalans at home 1st game I think

I want us to finish first, it's not certain we'll win (or even get to) the GF. The LLS is better than nothing as Warrington leant last year.

resting players vs losing momentum is a difficult one.
last year we didn't rest players and looked done in by the time the play-offs arrived. however, this season, with 2 less games and a lot more injuries, we don't have that problem as the players don't look to be quite so burned out.
in previous years we've also seen teams stumble when they rest players, lose a game, and then the momentum has gone.

on balance, i think getting players back is the key to which approach we use.
so long as we have a full squad to play with, we can rest key players without weakening the team too much.
if we don't have the players back, then i would not want to see a repeat of widnes/bradford/leeds in the cup, so would keep the core of the team playing.

I desperately want us to win the league.

Would bloody love to as good as do it on Saturday at that hole.

Finishing 1st would take some pressure off imo because as much as it's not much of a trophy it's still something and it will help drive us on in the play offs.

As for the play offs it really doesn't matter who we play. Teams raise their games to a level they haven't reached in the regular rounds so anybody will do.

We are not Chinese badminton players.
Play to win every game.
To do anything else would be pathetic.

Unless they change something coming top is just going to mean less each season. 2010 we got to the GF playing all 3 weeks of the play offs and as a result of losing week 1 we lost "club call". 2011 Wire didn't even reach the GF so coming top doesn't mean much come play offs. Don't think coming top should guarantee GF bit definately needs more prestige about it than getting the hubcap.

This talk about throwing matches terrifies me. We've seen Wigan stumble simply because they had a week off. The best chance this team has to keep on winning is to try and get on a roll.

You can't try and find an easy route to the Grand Final. You have to be willing and able to beat anyone put in front of you.

We can't win the league next week. We can only win it at Old Trafford. HTH.

As much as I'd have loved to be at Wembley I think having that week off will do us a massive favour for the play offs.

This squad won the GF from 1st. That's the way to do it, let's do it again. i honestly don't care who we play in the play offs. In KO rugby anyone can't beat anyone, but we should be favs against any team we come up against.

Whilst I want us to finish top because I hate losing, due to it meaning nothing in the grand scheme of things I don't actually care. I'll be annoyed and grumpy for a day or so, but if it leads to seeing [url=http://www3.pictures.zimbio.com/gi/Sean+O+Loughlin+St+Helens+v+Wigan+Warriors+FZPkQg_Nqg-l.jpgthis[/url on October 6th then I couldn't care less whether we finished 1st, 2nd or after a points deduction 8th.

Part of the reason I wasn't so sad to see Maguire leave.

Obviously he did a great job here and turned the club round - with Wane simply acting on the foundation Maguire left. Unfortunately (and it was clear as day) Maguire didn't blood any youngsters last season and went with his strongest squad each week. By the time the playoffs rolled around we were shot.

This year we look much fresher.

End the day the HKR could win the GF if they get on a good roll. Also we could win all the regular season matches and lose two matches in the play offs and be out!

In my eyes you win the league now/in September.
You become champions at OT.

Whether you "win" the league is debatable.

I would argue that under the current structure, a team does not win the league, rather it "finishes" top.

At the start of the season all the coaches understand that the competition is all about the GF and not about finishing top. They then formulate their plans and strategy around this.