How far do you think we can realistically go this year? With the squad we have, i do believe we can reach Old Trafford, although winning the grand final may be a step too far (depending on the opposition). The 3 teams currently above us in the table are better teams than us, saints and leeds speak for themselves with their ability to perform on the big stage, and the giants definitely seem to have the better of us and are somewhat of a bogey team. Its highly unlikely that neither Leeds or Saints will make the final but we can always hope

Should we reach the final and face anyone other than the top 3, i firmly believe we will win.

JM is an ever improving coach, but still inexperienced having never coached in the playoffs before. His tactics and team selection sometimes cause some raised eyebrows, but at the end of the day look where we are now and how far we have come, he rarely gets it wrong. Of course the players have to handle the pressure of playoff rugby, and we cant afford any poor performances, every player needs to pull their weight.

We have a solid team, but we have been found out a couple of times this year. Our pack simply couldnt live with Hudds at their place and we got battered into submission. There have been other occasions where we have struggled to make ground but thankfully not too often. When attacking, we have seen some very good tries and a lot of the responsibility is on Dobson to create things, although Cooke has become a bigger part of it in the last month or so. Our most potent weapon has been tries from kicks and this be a crucial factor in big games where defences can really be on top, kick tries often prove the best way to score.

Our defence at the start of the season was extremely strong, but that has deteriorated over the course of the season. If we can defend like in our first few games we will be difficult to break down and it takes pressure off us going forward as we dont need to score as many points. The problems have been teams offloading against us and we havent been able to stop it, if this isnt addressed it could kill us against saints or leeds. Also, we have generally missed too many tackles recently, and communication hasnt been good enough. Teams have caught us out by throwing the ball wide early in the tackle count and sometimes we simply dont number off properly and get exposed.

Negatives out of the way, i have seen enough this year to suggest we can challenge for the title. If we can find our best performance, both attacking and defending, and sustain it for 80 minutes, we will beat leeds or saints. Big statement i know, but we beat saints away early in the season, pushed leeds all the way and still had room to improve. The players have the heart and passion for the battle and i fully believe in them. Can we up our game enough to reach Old Trafford?

No.

But seriously, (sorry I know you're new, I just couldn't resist a one word answer to your very long, and good OP!) I think you make a lot of good points but we don't have the depth or quality to go all the way.

I think we can have realistic ambitions of reaching round three, after losing away in the first round, then the big one will be at CP in game two. After that I think you need a side with at least 10-12 players that have played together in big games to deal with the psychological side of play off rugby.

We've achieved an awful lot more than I thought we would this season and I'm now wishing I'd paid a bit more attention to the play off format and how it works [ibefore[/i I booked a holiday for October 2nd!

Fair enough, i also think we will need an element of luck i.e. few calls going our way or "rub of the green" as stevo calls it

Do you not think the challenge cup defeat will have strengthened our mentality and that we will have learnt a lot from that? Im referring to your point about the psychological side of playoff rugby. Maybe a year too soon, time will tell

and as for you booking your holiday for the 2nd of October... Schoolboy error

Perhaps, although we didn't seem to learn much from losing to Saints last year, we've just had a slightly less bad run of form following elimination.



Shocking decision, I know. The last time I did something like that was when I booked a weekend away because we had no chance in a home CC quarter final against Wire...

The Play Off system is heavily loaded to giving 1 & 2 a significant advantage (rightly so in my opinion). I don't see us winning at Sts twice in 1 season, or indeed winning a high intensity Play Off game at Headingley. I would be happy to win 1 play off game at this stage. We are miles off Grand Final material.

No you're right, the same thing happened so i guess we didnt really learn from it

and Note to self- Refrain from booking holidays between the months February and October

Should stop it happening again mate

If i read it right and the table does not change and all games go to the highest team each fixture , you would have to play Saints Away, Wigan at Home, then back to either Saints or leeds Away.

A very difficult path to OT, especially for a team who has not beat a team higher than 7th in the league since Round 8

Slightly o/t, but if you were Saints coach and it got to a choice of Leeds, Hudds or Rovers at home, would you be tempted to try and take Leeds just to avoid losing at OT for a 3rd year on the trot?

Sure, it's a high risk gamble, but better to face them on your own park than in the final?

They can't choose Leeds can they? They can only choose from the other two.

Thats a good train of thought, but im sure they wouldnt risk not making the finaland all that goes with it and would still back themselves for the OT game.

Just had a read up on the rules as i didnt think that could happen unless Leeds lost but it can, Highest place overall gets pick of the games, then second placed highest overall gets whoever is left. I thought there was some slight structure but it appears not

Quote ="PAUL M"They can't choose Leeds can they? They can only choose from the other two.'" i thought that too, but it appears they can rugby-league.suite101.com/articl ... yoffs_2009

Quote ="PAUL M"They can't choose Leeds can they? They can only choose from the other two.'" i thought that too, but it appears they can rugby-league.suite101.com/articl ... yoffs_2009

The League shows we have been the fourth best team during the season (though form has dipped from that run of 10 wins in 12, it is hopefully coming back gradually at the right time) and I'd say we have the fourth best chance of being champions. The teams above us have been better and we'll be underdogs against all, but in a one-off game you never know. We've got a couple rest weeks coming up while Hudds and Saints hopefully knock seven bells out of each other in their semi and one of them plays at Wembley. If our luck holds with injuries, it could be our year. I'd have smapped your hand off for 4th at the start of the year, but I'm getting greedy now. With a second chance in the play-offs, I'd make us 10 or 12-1 to win the GF.






Aren't stats great? 7th at the start of their game with Rovers or 7th now? I can't be bothered to work out the first, so I'll assume the latter.

Only 6 teams are above 7th (obviously) and we are one of them. We haven't played Saints or Wakefield in that period, so we are down to 3 - Leeds, Hudds and Wigan. We beat Wigan in round 13, though they won't have been top 6 then. Quins were in round 10 though, weren't they? Also I've just noticed who the top 6 club we beat in round 8 was!

Based on current form anyone in their right mind would choose to play us instead of Huddersfield.

They can chose any of the 3 as far as I'm aware.

Took some working out lol but yer Stats can be very misleading

Quote ="Hutchie"i thought that too, but it appears they can rugby-league.suite101.com/articl ... yoffs_2009'" I don't think that's right Karl as Leeds would be entitled to home advantage?

Quote ="Hutchie"i thought that too, but it appears they can rugby-league.suite101.com/articl ... yoffs_2009'" I don't think that's right Karl as Leeds would be entitled to home advantage?

yes it baffled me too





But this is the RFl you know, im sure theyd want Leeds and Saints both at home in that round 3 regardless

Maybe, but we historically do better against saints than hudds do. Maybe our game doesn't suit saints an they would feel more confident of breaking down a structured hudds side, or psychogically they may fancy having an early crack at Leeds... Whoever they pick it will just serve to motivate the oppo...

I think the fact we've got the CC semi & final weeks off will give the players the rest they need and if you look at our form after 13 games (having played everyone whether home and away) we were a Jake Webster finger tip from being the top of the table which proves we are a top side providing our 80 min players i.e. Galea & Newton are not burnt out.

Leeds & Saints form isn't starling at present and if we can reproduce our early to mis-season form then we can definitely win the title.

On a similar not, assuming Rovers finish 4th, who would we want to top the table and therefore play us in the first round?

Id say Huddersfield

but i think you have better records against the other 2 dont ya ?

Wikipedia agrees with you - fwiw!

[urlhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_League_play-offs[/url

If Saints and Leeds lost in round one, but then won the next week, the choice of SF opponents would pass to Hudds, rather than going on League position. I think.



Edit: Also Rovers and Hudds would be at home.

Simples.