OK - I'm prepared to get shot down here - but why are so many of you so negative about what we can achieve this year?

Is it purely a matter of 'expect the worst and hope for the best' - if so, I can understand that, but I do think we have every reason to believe that we can go better than last year.

1 We have Poore / Lynne / Sykes / Lee Smith - from the start - which makes us stronger than this time last yesr.
2 We are settled
3 Our backup juniors are a year older
4 We only have one 'old man' and I wouldn't swap him for anyone in SL
5 We have perhaps the best SH in SL this year - on a par with Brough IMO
6 We have one of the best packs in SL IMO

OK, so there are reasons to believe that other squads will be better than last year, but for once, I'm looking up the table and not down it.

With a little luck, this year could be really exciting!

As Bully Boxer said, i think the places from 7th down will depend alot on who can get the majority of there first choice 17 out on the park the most.

The top 4 of Sts, Wigan, Wire and Leeds could finish in any order
Next i see Hull & Catalans
After that i would go as far as to say any 2 from the remainder (barring maybe Salford) could get the luck with injuries, put a decent run together and have a good season.

From our point of view i would be really happy to get in the 8 but just outside wouldnt be an out and out failure from where we were 18 months ago.
A decent cup run wouldnt go a miss either!

Whilst you may be right TRB, the most dangerous thing for us Wakey fans, is looking up the table.
We need to stay grounded and you only have to look back to last season, where we expected a couple of wins against a poor Cas team and London, to never look too far ahead.
The reverse side of the coin was the win streak at the end of the season, which absolutely nobody predicted.
I can remember posting something about 3 wins (from the last 7 fixtures) being a must and look what happened

We have the potential to trouble the top 8, but there are several factors in play; not least our relative luck with injuries last season and the fact that other clubs have improved their roster. Conversely, we ended the season with arguably the form half-back pairing of the comp and whilst we haven't had a shopping spree, we've added some significant quality and had an additional off-season for our new team to work together.

Overall, given the way we actually made the 8 last season, I'm not overly concerned about doing the same thing again; it would be nice, but to just fail to do so wouldn't necessarily be a failure; I'm more interested in seeing gradual, sustainable progress towards being a better all-round club, both on and off the field.

I'd agree, but luck is something we as a club have not had in abundance since the 1960's. So if we finally get some then the sky is the limit.

If Cas make the 8 I'll 8 my hat. The way we dominated them when the team clicked strongly suggests the same will happen this season. Cas for the wooden spoon !!!

If our signings in mad dog Poore, Singleton and Lynne add to our performance on the field and we can carry on from where we left off in terms of form (along with luck with injuries) then I honestly think that we should not settle for less than 7th.

We have a strong pack and a creative attacking back line that has the ability also to go on a good run in the Challenge Cup if we have a little luck with the draws like we did in 2008. We have R.A. and Washbrook on our side this time as well.

I'd settle for finishing above Cas.

Still hope for Wembley, like every year, but keep aspirations moderate to avoid disappointment. I'd love another cup run!

Hoping for a good cup run this year.

I think that we have enough players who can now break the line in an instant, Lee Smith, Ben Cockayne, Reece Lyne, Dean Collis & Foxy all of them are fast out of the line and with enough strength up front from the pack to give Tim Smith time to organise the attack I think we could be looking forward to a good season ahead of us.
Paul Aiton will be like a new signing & Justin Poore leading the pack & blending in with the rest of the forwards its looking promising. Its a 17 man game though & a lot more emphasis is how strong the bench is, sometimes its harder to pick the right subs against the right opposition.

Interesting to see on the VT's 2013 prediction thread most people are tipping us to make the Top 8.

Not sure how you get that? Take out the Wakey fans and the majority think we won't make the 8 - although 2 people have us as high as 6th! I'll take that!

Taking out the Wakey fans predictions there are still 15 people who think we will make the 8.
The ones that dont have us mainly finishing 9th.

If you look at the Rhinos forum re: predictions for 2013 most of them have us in the 8

I agree with all your positive points but you are avoiding the negatives too.

1) No one will take us lightly this year so every game will be tough
2) Our wings are renowned for spilling the high ball so expect that to be targetted from day 1 to see if we have plugged that.
3) There is a hole outside Sykes and inside Smith that was used to great effect at Leeds.
4) We rely on Smith to run the show so he will be targetted.
5) Once through the line the full back is unlikely to be able to tackle you.

I'm still saying we have every chance of 8th and even higher, but it is not going to be plain sailing.

I can just imagine Bradford and London targeting us as a win, with Gower and Jeffries already looking forward to bombing us out of teh game.

It will be a miracle if Jeffries bombs us out of the game .
Is he not back in Australia?

Good point well made.
I forgot.....though rumours of his previous exits to Oz have been greatly exaggerated in the past so you can forgive me for not hanging on to that memory.

I'm not ignoring anything - but being a real fan (

) I'm backing us to rise above these issues!

It will be interesting to see how teams handle Tim Smith this season; every SL coach will have seen how important he is for us and how dangerous he is with ball in hand - expect opposition teams to at least attempt to rush, crowd and generally clatter him at every opportunity.

Looking forward to seeing him show a few up!

it is a different thing knowing who is the danger man and stopping him

many teams know cas revolve around chase, yet are still unable to control him (generally the sign of a good player) and i hope it is the same with tim smith this year.

i did notice that schofield made no wild predictions (e.g. another naked run) if he was wrong, especially after been goaded by the salford fans on twitter last night! he might have learnt his lesson.

i think we are a top 8 side, and we will be there at the end of the season.

Will be nice to see teams worried about us and trying to find ways to stop Smith rather than usually us chasing round like headless chickens, Smith is a class act and can handle the extra attention he will get coming his way, he may also thrive of it and use it to our advantage,
Really looking forward to this season and 6th is very achievable

I seem to remember you accusing me of having rose tinted glasses last year and I can't remember the word you used but had a go because I was not happy with those booing Tim Smith.
This year I am not a real fan because I can see we are not perfect.

I get the wink but make up your mind.

He's not really wrong in my opinion, we played a fair few teams at the right time at the end of the season but fair play you can only beat whats infront of you but if we dont have Smith's form for the 2nd half of the season then we would have a real gap that needed filling in.

We are probably just a bit behind KR and Bradford, on a par with London and a bit infront of Widnes, Salford and Cas in my opinion and usually a fancied team under achieves and a unfancied team has a nice run but we should be in the mix for the 8th play off place realistically.

Every team in SL spends a large amount of time doing video analysis of their next opposition, they search for, find and then study the smallest traits in both the team and it's individuals. Tip sheets are produced by members of the coaching staff and every player MUST become familiar with them, they then make changes to the way they attack/defend some are so subtle you might not even notice and some are significant. Make no mistake, our opposition will do this prior to every game this year just as they did last year.
Tim Smith was not a surprise to opposition teams last year, they had studied him and the rest of the team and had a game plan to place him under pressure, they'll try the same this year but it isn't anything new and won't be something Tim Smith and Richard Agar haven't dealt with in every game.

IMO it won't be an extra factor for us to contend with in 2013

Lighten up man!

I never question anyones support as the level is something that cannot be measured and, whether Rose Tinted or not, we all (to coin a phrase) dream the same dream.

It's gonna be a good year!

I thought "second season syndrome" was a generally accepted sporting phenominomininominom? How would you explain that? Granted it's not exactly the same as Smith is a seasoned pro and not a rookie breaking through but I think the wider point remains.