Some assumptions:

1) Widnes lose their away fixtures and win at home
2) Nobody misses kicks
3) Finishing twelfth in the tipping comp makes you an inarguable predictor of game outcomes

I opted to be particularly pessimistic about the HKR game and mildly optimistic about the Widnes and Leigh games.

HAL v SAL - SAL by 18
BRA v WID - BRA by 6
HKR v WAK - HKR by 12
LEI v SHE - LEI by 24

WAK v WID - WAK by 12
HAL v LEI - LEI by 24
HKR v BRA - HKR by 48
SAL v SHE - SAL by 24

SHE v HKR - HKR by 24
WAK v HAL - WAK by 24
LEI v BRA - BRA by 6
WID v SAL - WID by 12

BRA v HAL - BRA by 6
HKR v SAL - HKR by 12
SHE v WAK - WAK by 18
WID v LEI - WID by 6

[code W L D DIFF PTS
HKR 7 0 0 132 14
WAK 5 2 0 65 10
BRA 5 2 0 3 10
--------------------------
WID 4 3 0 46 8
SAL 4 3 0 23 8
--------------------------
LEI 2 5 0 -3 4
SHE 1 6 0 -154 2
HAL 0 7 0 -112 0[/code

Flip the game against Widnes to a narrow Widnes win and it looks like this:

[code W L D DIFF PTS
HKR 7 0 0 132 14
WAK 5 2 0 65 10
WID 5 2 0 58 10
--------------------------
SAL 4 3 0 23 8
BRA 4 3 0 -9 8
--------------------------
LEI 2 5 0 -3 4
SHE 1 6 0 -154 2
HAL 0 7 0 -112 0[/code

Beat Widnes but lose to Leigh, both one score margins:

[code W L D DIFF PTS
HKR 7 0 0 132 14
WAK 5 2 0 65 10
WID 4 3 0 46 8
--------------------------
SAL 4 3 0 23 8
BRA 4 3 0 -9 8
--------------------------
LEI 3 4 0 9 6
SHE 1 6 0 -154 2
HAL 0 7 0 -112 0[/code

Lose to both:

[code W L D DIFF PTS
HKR 7 0 0 132 14
WAK 5 2 0 65 10
WID 5 2 0 58 10
--------------------------
SAL 4 3 0 23 8
LEI 3 4 0 9 6
--------------------------
BRA 3 4 0 -21 6
SHE 1 6 0 -154 2
HAL 0 7 0 -112 0[/code

Disclaimer: other outcomes are available.

Apologies to Halifax for your lack of wins. I'm not trying to be disrespectful. It just comes naturally.

8/10 pts we are playing for then, HKR will depend which team they put out and if they are missing the HB pairing and also if they are safe by then which is def possible, especially as they are then to play which they should win easily.

Long way to go yet, just need to keep winning and then we wont need to worry, same intensity again and we should be home and hosed, would be nice to be safe a week early

With the way we lost to Wakee i think Salford came to Odsal thinking it would be a walkover and paid the price, however, now Widnes and HKR have seen the result they won't be playing us with the easy game attitude and it will be a lot harder for us to get the win.
That said with the confidence of this win and a big crowd at home we could upset the applecart

Need to be full strength and show what we can do.

Clare
Caro
Neilsen
Purtell
Williams
Gaskell
Mullaney
Clough
O'Brien
Sidlow
Olbison
Addy
Pitts

Ferguson
Crossley
Lauaki
Blythe/Mendeika (who can cover just about anywhere)

Is what i would go with I think

Did Lauaki come back on in the second half?

Yes but very late in 2nd half

Nope... Nothing has been mentioned with regards to injury or anything??

I stand corrected. Could have sworn he was on last few minutes in rain but sporting life has him down as only doing the one stint in first half.

Sporting Life manage the first subs but then run out of options for showing the subsequent ones. The very satisfying video on Bulls TV has him on the pitch at the end.

Good analysis VBFG. Confirms my pre super 8s analysis that 4 wins [ushould[/u get you into the £1m game, 5 wins get you promoted. There just ain't enough points for the probabilities to be any other way. indeed they called it super 8s because if you get 8 points you have a super chance of promotion. If you get it right on the day. Super.

Plenty of other variables of course. By no means nailed on that Widnes beat Leigh, or even that Leigh don't go unbeaten from here on in. Either outcome shakes things up again.

Points difference might yet be the key from 3rd to 6th.

I daren't even begin to try and predict what results will be in the final 4 games. I'm just praying we see performances closer to yesterday's than the one with served up versus Wakefield. If we manage that then we should have a fair chance of at least making the Million Pound Game. I don't expect it to be straightforward though and anticipate a few more shock results before the season ends.

Can't help but feel that the cup final has come at the worst possible time for us, might be difficult to carry that momentum forward with such a long gap to our next match. The next 13 days will seem like an eternity!

In terms of momentum, the week off doesn't help us, but we're unpredictable at the moment. I thought we'd push on after the Sheffield win and play with confidence at Wakefield. That didn't happen.

It does give us more time to get Mullaney and Gaskell fit once again, so that's a positive.

If Gaskell is fit I'd go with:


Clare
Caro
Neilsen
Purtell
Williams
Mullaney
Addy
Clough 
O'Brien 
Sidlow
Olbison 
Ferguson
Pitts

Gaskell
Crossley
Lauaki
Blythe

I think the team who played at Salford have earned the right to go again. Ease Gaskell back in after what seemed like an unpleasant injury by giving him a bench place. It would be interesting to see what impact an energetic Gaskell can make coming off the bench against a tiring team.

Early days yet but I'd go with this

Mullaney
Clare
Nielsen
Purtell
Williams
Gaskell
Addy
Clough
AoB
Sidlow
Olbison
Ferguson
Pitts

Crossley
Fleming/Lauaki
Ryan
Blythe

I still wouldn't be surprised to see Siejka. He was supposed to feature on Sunday but only dropped out late.

I fear this too! It really would bring Jimmy's decisions into question if he picked him after Sunday's performance unless of course both Gaskell and Mullaney are deemed unfit.

Like that squad. Think mullaney offers a bit more speed in halves. I thought Clare looked slightly safer defensively than jake while maybe not quite as good in attack. Be a big boost to be able to Gaskell off bench and we could also then move addy to hooker and give obrien a breather each half. We need to protect OB a little as its obvious refs are quite happy to see him targeted for high shots every week.
Slightly worried about sjieka being dropped for fitness rather than tactical reasons. Knowing how stubborn jimmy can be can see him bringing him straight back for Widnes game. Think sjieka has to miss out now unless we get injuries.

I'm similarly worried about the reappearance of Siejka and the fact he wasn't dropped but was injured.

I can't see Widnes losing to us and Wakey. They defend well and should have beaten HKR but for a howler under the posts. If Sunday's effort is repeated we stand a good chance but they're slight favourites for both games in my view.

Would be bonkers to include Siejka. I think Jimmy seems pretty set on Addy at HB, and I would imagine Gaskell being at 6 with Mullaney shifting to FB. But Jimmy obviously sees something the rest don't in Siejka an i'd expect him to be on the bench come the Widnes game.

No point predicting fixtures. All the sides are inconsistent (otherwise they wouldn't be in the middle 8's) So even though a team is playing well now, next week they could be woeful and vice versa.

We've just got to take each week as it comes. It's certainly in our hands now though.

Said all along this might come down to points difference. You finish at home to Fax & we (Wakey) are away at Sheff. Chance to get some points on the board?

BTW, feel that we may look back and see the Wakey win over Bulls as crucial and the difference between the two sides getting automatic or the £m game.

8 points are, IMO, the minimum needed for the million pound game. But that is also dependant on points for and against.
10 points are the minimum, again IMO, to get an automatic place.

Have to say, I'm not sure either Fax or Sheffield will pick up another point in the competiton as things stand unless Leigh or Salford have a meltdown (there have been rumours around both clubs of off-field troubles). Perhaps it might be worth a change in the point scoring system for next year and a return of the bonus point? I mean, the idea behind it when it was being used in the Championship was to balance out the table against the haves and have nots

There's no reason why we shouldn't be aiming at an automatic promotion spot now.

If you look at other club's forums their opinion on us seems to range between us being virtually guaranteed to finish 5th, through fighting it out with Leigh to play Widnes in the million pound game to not having a prayer of getting 5th spot.

A number of Wakefield fans think they're nailed on for 3rd. Conveniently forgetting that they are on the same number of competition points as us and as yet -unlike us - haven't beaten a Superleague team.

There is still time for upsets and I do not for one second think that we will be the only Championship club to take points off a Superleague side.

Games aren't played on spreadsheets. I'll stick my neck out and say I think Hull KR are more or less nailed on to finish in the top 5 minimum now by virute of them having 6 points. Everything else is still up in the air.

Fax will be fancying their chances in their home game against Leigh. With them losing to Sheffield I would say that is their best chance of picking up some points now, and no team will want to finish on zero.
A tough game for Leigh the week before we head across there would be ideal. Dare I say a few punch ups and suspensions wouldn't go amiss either?