Nice.

Given that Saints were so poor last season it is a huge leap of faith to see them winning anything this season. It surprised me that so many posters see Saints as a bigger threat than Wigan as well. Personally I welcome a better Saints team. Added spice to the derby and all that...

I think Saints had a young squad last year that got better as it went on. It will probably be better still this year. I think it is a year too soon for them to win anything.

As for Wire, we've been told that it's "the year of the Wolf" for about a decade now. No championships. I conclude that Wire optimism is inversely proportional to their championship prospects. Therefore the fact that they're not confident will be the key factor in their success.

Or something.

Predictions are tricky beggars anyway. Neither Hudds or Wigan looked the best teams on paper last year. In the two phases of the season (regular and play-offs respectively) they were the best team on grass, where it counted. Saints, Leeds, Wigan, Warrington and maybe Hudds have the capacity to come out on top this year. It's all about how they knit everything together.

Anyone else think that Leeds' potential is purely down to McDermott?

We have the best back line, its common knowledge.
We have a some very good back rowers.
The props we have are decent, JP, Kylie, Bailey, Singleton are solid enough.
We have 4 halves that would get in most SL sides.

Our only flaw is McDermott and his unstructured headless chicken rugby.

With a decent coach Leeds could finish 1st. With McDermott we will finish 5th.

Saints look great on paper, but again its the coach. Nathan Brown is still unproven for me. Look what Anderson did with Huddersfield after Brown made a complete balls up.

Wigan, they will feel the losses this season. Last year they did well to replace the ones they lost, this year is too much and will struggle to keep pace at the top.

Huddersfield will have another outstanding season, they could run away with it.

I strongly believe McDermott is currently the wrong coach for this club, and has taken us backwards. However, I don't agree with your assessment on the players. Yes we do have the best backline, but I think you are over rating the rest on the post. We have aged half backs who whilst they have the rugby brain do not have the speed that they used to. We have forwards entirely reliant on Peacock who will be performing an ubelievable feat if he can go through the season missing only 8 or 9 games. We have lost 8 players who were used last season, and replaced them with 3, one of whom is out for a long period.

This year coming, because we haven't planned properly, I don't think another coach would make the difference how we will finish. It would however help for future years.

McGuire is the only halfback showing his age. Burrow still looks like a spring chicken. His pace out of dummy half, which created 2 tries, vs Wire playoff was sublime. Sinfield has never had pace anyway and still has an outstanding appearance record. The other is Sutcliffe who is a kid.

The Props, not forwards, may be reliant on JP. I'd have loved to have seen another prop added to the squad but for what ever reason thats not happened. However JP can be rotated, the others can hold the fort against the whipping boys. If JP is not fit for the big games, then we are in trouble, until then....

I've just read a tweet by David Sadler he says Phil Clarke is tipping Salford to win SL.I hope Salford do well,but I wonder if the Prophet Phil has had a revelation from Angel Gabriel

Phil Clarkes predictions arent overly accurate, think he's tipped Wire last few years to win GF..... expect the same level of accuracy this year.

Seem to recall him in the studio after Hull beat Wire at Halliwell Jones in the middle of last season saying he thought Hull would make the GF.

When their's a video ref decision and all the others are saying its a try he'll say it's not, and when they all think no try he'll say it should be given. He's a waste of airtime that would be better given to Carney or Wells.

Clurke's ramblings are those of a man insane www.skysports.com/opinion/story/ ... 31,00.html Pumped-up hedgehogs? WTF's he on?

Clurke's ramblings are those of a man insane www.skysports.com/opinion/story/ ... 31,00.html Pumped-up hedgehogs? WTF's he on?

What's more insane is he calls Lee Mossop one of the best forwards in SL.

Or a revelation & back hander from Dr Koukash.

If the Broncos keep recruiting at this pace they won't get relegated their squad is getting stronger by the day

Ross sounds hungry for it, so will lead them well down middle.

with 2 going round, for the bottom enders, they'll be throwing kitchen sink in if it helps them stay up. The battle to avoid relegation will be more captivating than seeing playoff positions.

Quote ="Clearwing"Clurke's ramblings are those of a man insane www.skysports.com/opinion/story/ ... 31,00.html Pumped-up hedgehogs? WTF's he on?'" The man is a clown. Don't know why he still gets a gig on sky. Thinks Salford will "walk" it to old Trafford because they have signed a lot of passed it players looking for a last big pay packet. They will be improved from last year but doubt the will just walk it to old trafford

Quote ="Clearwing"Clurke's ramblings are those of a man insane www.skysports.com/opinion/story/ ... 31,00.html Pumped-up hedgehogs? WTF's he on?'" The man is a clown. Don't know why he still gets a gig on sky. Thinks Salford will "walk" it to old Trafford because they have signed a lot of passed it players looking for a last big pay packet. They will be improved from last year but doubt the will just walk it to old trafford

I don't think Salford are by any means a certainty to make the 8, though if Noble gets them to click they have a chance. Hock is a signing that could go either way, Chase is a good player obviously, and Morley might be a little long in the tooth, but it's his home town club and I reckon they will get some good spells out of him. But I think making the 8 will be the big target. If they finish in the top 6 I'll be very surprised.

Stranger things have happened, but if they make the Grand Final I'll eat my hat, or at least a special hat-shaped cake.

1 warrington
2 wigan
3 st helens
4 huddersfield
5 leeds
6 catalan
7 hull fc
8 salford
9 hull kr
10 bradford
11 widnes
12 wakefield
13 castleford
14 london

gf warrington
cc st helens

slippery juniors predictions

1 leeds
2 st helens
3 wigan
4 warrington
5 huddersfield
6 hull fc
7 catalan
8 salford
9 hull kr
10 bradford
11 wakefield
12 widnes
13 castleford
14 london

gf leeds
cc warrington

1- Saints
2 - Hudds
3 - Wigan
4 - Wire
5 - Leeds
6 - Catalan
7 - Salford
8 - Hull KR
9 - Hull
10 - Wakey
11 - Widnes
12 - Cas
13 - Bradford
14 - London

Hock will probably run well. He was a one man wrecking machine for Widnes at times last year and improved them. Kevin Brown used him well...so can see Chase and Smith working with the same mentality.

As for Morley, the 'good spells' may be 15 mins a game, cant see how he will move them forward much. Hope he doesn't take valuable minutes away from darrell griffin.......

Garry Schofield's (League Express):

1. Wigan
2. Leeds
3. Saints
4. Wire
5. Hudds
6. Salford
7. Hull FC
8 Catalans
9 HKR
10 Widnes
11 Cas
12 Wakey
13 Bradford
14 London

Here goes but I think this season is the most open (hardest to predict) for some time:

1. Giants
2. Saints
3. Wigan
4. Rhinos
5. Wolves
6. Dragons
7. Hull
8. Salford
9. Hull KR
10. Widnes
11. Bulls
12. Cas
13. Wakefield
14. London

Grand final: Giants
Cup Winners: Rhinos
The latter is more in hope than expectation

Just to add fuel to the debate re: Warrington. I have it on good authority that the upper echelons of the club themselves don't expect to be challenging for silverware for at least 2 seasons. That doesn't mean they won't, of course, as evidenced by Wigan in 2010 winning the GF a couple years ahead of the perceived wisdom from inside the club. I think the difference between the two situations could be that Warrington are in a genuine rebuilding phase, whereas Wigan were not. Interesting that many posters still see them as big contenders given their record without Morley and, in particular, Briers which has been generally poor and given the fact that they haven't actually replaced them with anything approaching 'like for like'. I suppose it comes down to whether the players they already have can step up this year without them; something they were unable to do last season. Either way, it will certainly be interesting to see how it pans out.

It's not the year of the wolf?

Oh, and on the Wigan front, I think many seem to be overestimating the losses and underestimating the replacements which is how we like it!

We have 2 or 3 'bolters' this season (Think Charnley from last year or even Tomkins from a few years ago) and although Tomkins is a big loss in himself, Bowen is absolute quality who has done it year in, year out in the NRL. Providing he's up for the challenge I think he'll be a revelation against the much more open defences in SL. We have one of the youngest squads I've seen in a long time though so it all rests on whether the 'experienced heads' can do the necessary. In short, I think the likes of O'Loughlin need to stay fit for the greater part of the season and definitely be around at the business end. Not unlike yourselves and JP, albeit for different reasons.

Haha.

It's my understanding that the last decade has been the 'year' of the wolf!

1 - St Helens
2 - Huddersfield
3 - Wigan
4 - Warrington
5 - Leeds
6 - Catalans
7 - Hull
8 - Salford
9 - Hull KR
10 - Widnes
11 - Bradford
12 - Castleford
13 - Wakefield
14 - London

GF - St Helens
CC - Wigan