We would pretty much need to win all 5 home games and at least 1 away game to get into the playoffs IMO.
The 4 away games are: Hull, Leeds, Warrington, Huddersfield - It's going to be a tough ask but it's certainly not impossible yet.

Hull is a big, big game, but Widnes is MASSIVE if we are to maintain a challenge.

Have we signed another player from Wigan?? Must have missed that 1

I still think that with the remaining fixtures and our current position a top 8 is a massive ask from the players we have. If all our players were on form and I look at Ben, Andy and Lee as our main concern, we could perhaps get a win against Leeds on both occasions. Saints are gaining form and Bradford will take some beating. I would love to be proven wrong but for me if we can make 9th it will be a fair finish to the season.

I agree. Top 8 is not impossible but it will take a an upturn in results.

9th spot will effectively be top of the next bunch.
Hull KR seem to have jumped out of our group and Bradford have dropped down but the rest will all have been expecting top 8 and only playing for position. The rest are fighting to get in.
We need to be looking at the top place in that group so that we are in a good position to progress across that divide. We need to be able to beat those teams below us to strengthen that position which on the whole we have done but need to still do so Bradford, Widnes and Cas are big games with that in mind.
Beating Leeds could be a bonus if we are on our game and they are not, and if we want to be seen as top 8 we need to be able to beat Hull and possibly Sts in their current form.
I think we'll end up 9th or 10th and if we do we should celebrate that.

Why celebrate failure which even by our standards is what that would be?
If we finish ninth or tenth someone at the club should be asking questions of either the coaching staffs ability to coach or the players ability to get themselves up for a fight.
If you swap the performances against Salford and Hull at home, Cas at Manchester and Bradford away, with the performances against Wigan, Warrington, Hudds at home and Catalans away you could be pretty confident that we would have been comfortably in the top 8 now, so rather than celebrate what has been abject failure for much of the season let's ask what went wrong.

Definitely some reviewing to be done, we've come close in a few games and just not got there, others we have been blown away (a la magic weekend). I think if we can finish within a few points of the playoffs, we will be in a prime position for concerted assault next season. With the pack we have and strike players like Collis, T Smith and Cockayne prowling in the backs, I think we are nearly there in terms of quality.

I would however suggest that if we are in a similar position next year, then could be the time to look at alternative coaching options, as if Agar hasn't performed, he is at the end of his contract.

I disagree that 9th or 10th would be abject failure
Of course we need a review, even if we were 2nd I'd say that. You should try and improve, but to pick out particular resiults and say we failed over all because we didn't win them is not really understanding how sport works.
Wigan are in theory the best team. They haven't got a 100% record. It doesn't just follow that you think one team is better so they should win.

Cas played better than us. Simple as that. To go back with hindsight and say if we'd played like we did against Wigan we would have won is just fantasy. There is no way of knowing.
On the day is on the day. I'm sure they review performance after each game.

We effectively finished 9th last year. We have had more injuries this year and other teams have changed personel so some ups and some downs.
For a club of our size 9th is a great position. Building to the playoffs is a long term plan.

Of course, if we'd won some games we thought we should have, we'd be in now. But on that logic, we should have lost a couple on paper that we won.

I can't tell you to celebrate 9th Catnip.....but I will.

Well we started the season with a settled squad and a coach with a year under is belt so all i wanted was improvement throughout the season, dosen't have to be a higher placing that last season for me, but so far i have not seen it.

Injuries are very close to last season so we can't factor that in.

I won't be celebrating.

Ok, you make a good point. I may change my statement to I won't be celebrating as much as if we'd got to the 8 but I won't be overly disappointed either.

Technically, we didn't make the 8 last year and we can't realistically expect to do so in future until we're spending something close to the salary cap; this is the reality of SL and anyone who doesn't get that, is deluding themselves.

Even with Wayne Bennett in charge, we wouldn't challenge the top clubs and as it stands, whomever coaches us can only herd the cattle he's got. Harsh but true.

Can't remember exactly off the top of my head who was injured last season apart from Aiton. It was though one of the things we were fairly lucky with last year, only missing the odd player here and there. I'd certainly say this year we've had quite a number, especially in the pack we're just about all the forwards have missed multiple games.

I do agree that I did expect a bit more consistency this year but saying that we are in about where I thought we would be in the league. A strong finish to the season would be excellent though and in a lot of ways somewhat needed for next years season tickets.

Cant agree with that Injuries have been much worse this year.

Agree with that.

Well if you can remember and tell me different i'll be happy to retract that statemant.

Think Ali, Collis, Aiton missed quite a few games last season.

I agree with most of that, do you think HKR, Bradford have better squads than us and have the right to play above us all season.

So the question is have we improved on last season?

I don't know with any certainty how much they spend on their playing personnel, so it would be a subjective opinion.

On balance, I'd say that we've improved in some areas but have remained about the same on the pitch; as a result, we'll finish in a place that is probably about right, given that we spend significantly less than the cap and even more significantly less than those clubs who use their owners wealth to circumvent the cap in some very obvious and straightforward ways.

No!
We're getting worse!!
Agar had a full off season and settled squad this year!!
I can't see any areas we have improved!!!
On the pitch anyway!!!!

Yes he did - a settled squad with the same net worth as the one he had the previous year; coach them how you want, but they are what they are. We've found our level and there isn't a huge amount that Richard Agar (or John Kear or Wayne Bennett) can do about that, until he gets more resources to deploy.

I wonder if the unbeaten run is a monkey on Richard Agar's back - given that it appears to have raised some people's expectations way beyond what is reasonable?

I think most would say that we are much weaker in the hooker dept in comparison to our unbeaten run.

Not seen any improvement, however, Trinity are where I expected them to be at the start of the year.

Theres a lot of split opinions on here about Agar....Out of interest, when is his contract up?

Not soon enough!
Next year? 2 years into 3 year deal!!
But his ok because he's already got another job!!!
Which he applied for?

Can't understand what more you think he could have achieved with the squad we have.

1st Season = Playoffs & longest unbeaten run since the 60's/70's
2nd Season = Still in touching distance of playoffs
3rd Season = ?

Unless we spectacularly bomb out this season, I can't see any justification for sacking him. He's brought some cracking players to the club and punched well above our weight in our first season with a new squad. People were clamouring for his head at this time last year, look what happened.

If we get in the playoffs again this year, I would in fact extend his contract.

Whether you think that technically we should have missed out is a matter of opinion, I'd say that had Bradford spent the wages they could afford or at least suffered the same fate as us and had to get rid of all their best players they would have finished nearer the bottom than ninth which is where the points deduction that all clubs know they will get for going into admin put them.
Even so I am of the opinion that there are not 8 clubs that are so far in front of the rest that the play off places are already decided before the season starts, and on that basis we should have been in with a shout of at least 8th and possibly higher.
You can come up with any number of reasons and excuses as to why we won't make the playoffs but at the end of the day there is only one that is relevant, and that is the players did not perform to their ability or with any intensity in what were potentially our easiest games of the season.

This.


We've also had a few more injuries than last season. When is Tautai back so he can play at loose forward?