my apologies.knew I should have put my glasses on. I looked but never saw him! my error.


classic tad

Watts, Minichiello and Griffin rested for Hull

We know what Hull's plan will be, conservative and down the middle get in too the red zone, Sneyd drop a kick on Briscoe's head on the 5th.

We have proven we can get over the line against them, how we defend that will decide if we win or not.

I don't think hull will care too much about this or finishing second, they will be pretty confident that they can come back to headingley in the semi and turn us over, or go to cas from fourth and turn them over, think they have shown this year that at their best they are the best side in super league at the minute. it pains me to say it, but they are pretty much better than us in every department over all. their kicking game is superior their pack allround is better, half's are better, probable like for like all round in the backs. i think the only place we are better than them is in the offload off the cuff stuff, think we still have the better game breakers X players in cuthbo, parcell, moon, hall, watkins, the players who can just create something from nothing. I think when we do click in this aspect of our game we can wreak havoc against any side. unfortunately we really too much on the x players clicking and when they don't we luck clueless.

think we will win Thursday but not sure if we can beet Hull when it really matters.

Fully agree.

I think we have a chance against anyone at home, we have proved that all year so it is imperative we beat Hull and seal that home berth this week as i wouldn't fancy us were we to travel to them or Cas in a semi. we simply don't have the quality these days we did when we went to turn wigan and Warrington over a few years back in semis.

I would always give us at least a 50/50 chance at OT given our history there and if it was Cas, well we have spoken at length about that and i would much rather play them there than Wheldon Road.

Like I say, it all depends on how Hull fair on Thursday, they really need the win. Considering they have

2nd - Leeds - Hull FC A, Castleford A, Salford H, Huddersfield A
3rd - Hull FC - Leeds A, Wigan H, Wakefield H, Castleford A.
4th - Wakefield - Salford A, St Helens H, Hull FC A, Wigan H.
5th - St Helens - Wigan H, Wakefield A, Huddersfield H, Salford A
6th - Wigan - St Helens A, Hull FC A, Castleford H, Wakefield A.
7th - Salford - Wakefield H, Huddersfield H, Leeds A, St Helens H.
8th - Huddersfield - Castleford H, Salford A, St Helens A, Leeds H.

A massive week this week

St Helens don't have Hull away left to play.

From that list:
Leeds will beat Hull, Salford and Huddersfield - 6 points
Hull will beat Wigan and Wakefield (with a sneaky chance against a Cas side focussed on not failing in the Semi's) - 4 points
Wakefield will beat Salford - 2 points
Saints will beat Huddersfield, Salford (and potentially the side they play after Wigan) - 6 points
Wigan will beat Saints and Wakefield - 4 points
Salford will beat Huddersfield - 2 points
Huddersfield I dont think will win another.

To leave a table looking like (maybe):

Cas - Runaway Winners
Leeds - 40 points
Hull - 35 points
Saints - 33 points
Wigan - 31 points
Wakefield - 30 points
Salford - 28 points
Huddersfield - 25 points

Not far off from what I was thinking there although I think Huddersfield will beat Leeds.
But postion wise I would go with the same top 4.

Unless we implode/explode it looks like we will have a home game. Of the two saints and hull, I would think we would have more chance with hull. Saints look to be coming good whilst hull have some silverware in the cabinet and may not be so hungry. Nevertheless hull are a decent side so I would not take for granted a home victory. Speculating down the track if we don't get to old Trafford would a top four finish be sufficient for Brian Mac to keep his job. Interesting times indeed.

Really?? They're a professional club that could win the double. Theyre not going to be satisfied now.



Regardless of how the season finishes, he needs to go. People don't like to believe it but it's an unhappy dressing room

time for a change of coach and new thinking !

If you recall our home matches against saints this season, in the first one smith received that bad eye injury that weakened saints. In the next game we just scraped home. It's irrelevant what you think or say regarding the coach, the decision will be taken by caddick and hetherington. It maybe they will consider a top four finish reasonable after last seasons debacle. Personally I think Mac should go, the team/club needs to freshen things up both in signing players and tactics. . But as previously stated the decision won't be mine.

Hull targeted the GF pre season. radford described it as the "holy grail" in the build up to wembley. Whether they can peak again following wembley is the big question but there is definitely a different feel about the club this year compared to last.

You'll win on Thursday night though and I'm surprised radford isn't resting more players

the squad announcement is only really a rough guide nowadays though isn't it. i expect hull to make a couple more changes on top of the three already announced. radders has form in this area

Maybe but we haven't really got many players who didn't play at wembley and aren't in the 19 anyway

We've got a healthy record vs Hull and that before that cup loss we had won 8 on the trot against them including putting 50 on them at home and winning at home after losing 2 starters after 15 mins.

Hull have been great in the cup but their league form and performances haven't been anything to write home about and including a number of heavy defeats at home and a battering at Magic so I'm not entirely sold on them yet in the league - in the cup they just had a confidence from winning last year that helped them massively like us backing up in 2015 and Warrington run of wins.

Still a big question mark that they even make the playoffs imo now with a tough run of fixtures to come. Obviously backing up this week is really tough and then Wigan will be out for revenge and desperately needing to win to keep their chances alive. Wakey away will be tricky also even if some on here don't rate them they've usually been a tough side to beat at home and finally Cas away.

We play Wakefield at Home. If Wigan lose to Saints on Friday, then that is there chances of the 4 realistically over, and the game against Cas, I would expect them to rest players with it being the week before the semi.

All season Radford has preached peaking for the big games, and so far we have done that perfectly whilst just doing enough to keep the points ticking over in the league. There was a point during last season where all 3 trophies were up for grabs and we seemed like we were treating every game like a final. That coupled with the euphoria of winning at Wembley just burned us out and we looked like a shell of the team from earlier in the year. At one point our record against the other top 5 teams in the league was something crazy like won 13 lost 1, and the loss was a one point defeat to Wigan that would have been a draw if not for a Liam Watts brain explosion in the last minute. Anyway my point in a roundabout way is that we were hugely consistent last year, and it got us nowhere in the end. The tone amongst the players was that despite the cup, last year was a failure. This year we have had some very good league performances (Cas at home with 12 men, double against Wigan, Salford away was as dominant as a team can be) but mostly we've just kept our powder dry and when we have had to turn up we have. All season the club has said that the GF is the goal and we won't settle for anything less. It remains to be seen how things pan out, but I think we are in a good place just now.

With that record V the top 5 last year it sounds like Hull's problem came against the 2016 SL dross such as their next opponent.

Not entirely sure what point you're making there? Yes you beat us twice, as did Cas, and Huddersfield beat us at their place. My point is that league forms counts for nothing if you can't do it when it matters, as we found last year, so I'm not concerned about our league record this time around, as long as we make the top 4.

I expect Leeds to win tomorrow. If this fixture comes again in the playoffs I know Leeds are more than capable of winning it, but given our performances in knockout games this year I would have to back my side. Ideally, if we can't get a home tie I'm hoping we get to go to Cas, but after that final my nerves are still settling down and maybe a safe journey to third place with no stress is better. Not sure I can take a scenario where we have to win our last two to make the 4.

I get the point about aiming for the GF it's just st so are the other teams you'll be facing and they've not had to play a Wembley final and have been able to get ready for this final run of games for a couple of weeks now. That's the difference with this Super 8's structure, before you might run into a few easier fixtures post Wembley but now you're facing sides chasing the GF also and they'll just be as up for it as Hull but fresher. Maybe Hull will break the recent run of slumping after Wembley but I wouldn't be surprised if they go W1 L3 like the previous two post Wembley winners.

Wigan are level on points with Saints ATM, a loss only puts them 2 behind so they'll still have all to play for going to yours, in fact they'll be in must win mode. I think Cas will rest players the next few games, for the final week vs you I think might want to go into the playoffs with momentum so will go strongest for that particular game more than any of the other remaining games.

I get your point, it's definitely not going to be easy for us, but I think we learned alot from our experience last year. And 1 win may well be enough for 4th. Especially if it comes against Wigan or Wakefield.

Looking at both teams after last Saturdays match ,Wigan looked the most shattered/spent/burnt out. Having to go to saints of all places this Friday is the ultimate nightmare. Still think to have the challenge cup final when super 8s competition is just hotting up is madness. If Wigan and hull receive heavy defeats this week and lose out on a decent position in the table, they will rightly feel that the system is grossly unfair

Is it easy enough to find a boozer down here to watch the game Thursday night?

Staying around Nottingham Marina so not far from city centre.