I reckon Salford will finish in 10th place if we beat them, but 9th if we don't.

That's 4 home games already pretty much guaranteed, but 9th looks to have the easier fixtures.

I would definately rest Danny Houghton and let Washbrook play 9 and one of Watts or Taylor if Green is fit.
Ellis needs a game and so does Pritchard.
Maybe rest Sneyd and use Abdul and Pryce in the halfs.
Naughton will come in for Jamie Shaul for this game.
I think we will also see further changes for Salford and as mentioned possibility of a ban for Fonua and who came off at half time in the under 23s with a view to Friday will be interesting.
Turgut and Lancaster i think will get a run.

Great result for us in Perpignan with Wakefield defeating Catalans. We stay six points clear of the Dragons.

Fingers crossed for Castleford against Warrington tomorrow.

We owed you guys that one

Hopefully Warrington and Saints to lost tomorrow and this has been a perfect week for us.

There's still a good chance we could finish 3rd yet , can see wire winning both there's and wigans depends what team they have out like ourselves. I still think the semi is out most important game so plan next weeks team round that .

See you in the Super 8s.

Doesn't really matter if we are third at the split, we get four home games anyway.

... 3rd means we play 1st and 2nd away.
2nd isn't quite as bad, and 1st is the easiest set, but probably will include cats away.

We want to be first,the money will come in useful

Does the money get given at the end of the regular rounds, as I'd have thought it would be at the end of the 8's?

There has to be some incentive to top the table at the end of the regular rounds.Its not much money but every little helps

£100k to the leaders after the super 8s isnt it?

I'd rather Saints won. It would mean their game against Wigan next weekend becomes hugely meaningful as they would have a chance of 4th place. A good rough workout for the Wigan cheats next weekend would be welcome.

The only consolation of a Giants win would be the dobbins plummeting into the bottom 2.

Just a reminder (c/o RFL website)....



Odd that 4th place has easier away games than 3rd (based on league positions).

Ok - that means 4th has more difficult home games, but I'd have thought most teams would prefer it that way round if they were hoping for a successful Super8.

After today's results I think we need to win next week otherwise we will finish 3rd and get tougher fixtures.

Full strength next week apart from knocks.

The leeds loss was pretty damaging. Had we won that we would have been top irrespective of results next week. As it is we need to win or probably end up 3rd

... got to agree. The super8's are going to be very hard, and we can't really afford to concede 2 points at this stage.
There are now 5 teams fighting for the top 4 places, and if we lose to Salford, we may only have a 4 point cushion with 7 games to play.
And each of those games is effectively a "4 pointer".

It'd be tempting to rest Sneeeyd. But if he is going to partner Abdull in the semi then it'd make sense for them to get more game time together.

Not sure our home form is better than away tbh, some of our best matches have been away (Saints in the Cup, Wigan, Catalans) so whilst it would be nice to finish top a loss wouldn't be the end of the world. To be looking at 3rd place minimum at the split is way beyond my expectations in the close season.

I don't mind the 3 place schedule of games, but we have to start winning our home games consistently in the Super 8's

No Ellis, Shaul, Sneyd, Mini, Tank or Watts.

Play who's fit and carry on momentum, Wigan , wire wont rest before their semi and nor should we

Is that what you want or predict?

Think 3rd fixtures are by no means worse than 2nd. Ok away to top 2 but that actually makes the other 5 more favourable. e.g. much better to play Cats and Widnes at home than possibly both away. Means top 2 away might be free hits.

Priority has to be keeping team fresh and fit. Our away and home form especially against good sides are very similar.