Wigan
Warrington
Hull
Saints
Leeds
Castleford
Salford
Leigh
Wakefield
Catalan
Huddersfield
Widnes

Grand Final: Wigan
Challenge Cup: Warrington
MPG: Widnes v Hull KR (Hull KR promoted)

I predict it'll be another SL season of playing standards continuing to slide, along with attendances.

Wigan to win the WCC against Cronulla in a tight affair. Warrington will lose to Brisbane.

Only Wigan, St Helens or Leeds will be champions, though it wouldn't surprise me if Leeds are Whipping Boy SL rabble again.

Warrington and Hull will pretend they can become champions.

The rest are Whipping Boy SL rabble, though Cas at least will possibly overachieve and they'll definitely entertain.

Wakefield will not finish last.

And Bradford will enter administration again.

And again.

The CC will continue to underwhelm and embarrass the sport at Wembley with loads of empty seats on show along with the infamous ring of indifference. The RFL will still announce an official attendance of around 75K even though we all know it's closer to 50K.

There will be a mid-season Test against erm... France. Maybe.

Tragic Weekend will be another huge hit among season ticketed fans of Stupor League who get to pay £20 for six games, though a significant number will only watch their own club game. RFL announce a record attendance again claiming the concept is a roaring success. There shall be no scrutiny of their claims by any of the nodding-dog RL publications, as per usual. Nobody else will care, or even know of its existence.

England will fly home early from the RLWC exiting at the semi finals stage or possibly even earlier. Fans will blame Aussie refs if appointed or English refs if appointed for sucking up to the Aussies.

A few weeks of internal soul searching shall ensue about the future of the game which shall then be forgotten about by the beginning of December.

Just imagine if you were a part of the squad who did well enough too get into the top eight and then through no fault of your own you are cast into the relegation scrap, how do you think you would feel ? it could even be said that had that squad who would have finished seventh with the points they amassed had the enthusiasm the victories gave them might have just sneaked a couple more due to motivation ?

I know for sure it de-motivated the fans too a point where the fanbase halved once there was no reason to continue .

I like the sound of that...

1 - Wigan : Wigan will be strong this year again. Wane has a nack of getting them playing consistent rugby while peaking at the right time.
2 - Warrington : Again, this is there year, will be there or there abouts.
3 - Saints : They just have a nack of getting in the mix even though i dont really rate Cunningham as a coach, brilliant player though.
4 - Hull : Hull, Cas and Leeds will battle it out for 4th spot. I just think Hull will nudge it, they will miss Frank the Tank though
5 - Cas : Cas will again be the entertainers of the league, as a fan, i love watching us play, I just think we are short of 1 quality winger to push us higher.
6 - Leeds : Leeds will improve this year but I feel will be too reliant on youth, they definitely looked good towards the back end of last season, Segayaro (sp) is a fantastic signing.
7 - Catalans : I believe this will be a return to the norm for Catalans, awful in England but tough to beat at home.
8 - Huddersfield : Hudds will improve but i dont see the calibre of signings they need to return to top 4 footy.
9 - Saford : No points deduction this year should see them return to pushing the top 8.
10 - Leigh : Solid first season back in SL for Leigh, i dont think they will be in any danger of going down.
11 - Wakefield : Wakey will be competitive, Chester and Carter are building something there, just feel they are a couple of props down at the moment.
12 - Widnes : Not really been impressed with there signings....

The bottom 4 can finish in any order i think, im not wanting to put any teams down but this is a prediction. I just think we will have another season of everyone beating everyone, the most consistent team will come out on top.

G/F - Wigan v Saints
Winners - Wigan

CC Final - Warrington v Cas
Winners - Cas (Completely biased and wishful thinking)

MPG - Hull KR v Widnes
Winners - Hull KR

Wire
Saints
Wigan
Salford
Leigh
Widnes
Hull
Cas
Catalan
Leeds
Wakefield
giants
Alternatively it could be

Wire
Saints
Wigan
Hull
Cas
Leeds
Catalan
Salford
Leigh
Wakefield
Widnes
Giants

I hope you're right with your first selected predictions.

When I scrolled down I was wondering if there were going to be an endless list of permutations. I thought it was Carol Vordamen posting. Why did you stop at 2??

SL is generally predictable that's why I asked the question.
Your answer seems to point the way to why it is.

Oh my days

Care to expand on that?

Last year you were the worst team in the league (the table doesn't lie), and came perilously close to the MPG. You appointed a coach who has done nothing in his career and showed little if any improvement. Your recruitment so far has been uninspiring at best. I've tipped you to finish 8th pretty much based on the fact that a team featuring McGillvray, Cudjoe and Brough shouldn't finish bottom. But all the evidence suggests I'm being generous.

So enlighten us all as to why you are going to be so fantastic in 2017.

I really fancy Cas to have a big year and either make a final or be in the top 2 in the lls battle. Genuinely think it's the best squad we've had in my time as a fan with easily the best coaching staff we've had in that time too. Our injury list was chronic last year and we still had a reasonable year.


I know everyone is bound to have positive thoughts about their sides season ahead though. Pound for pound the side is much better then the 2014 side.

Also, wakefield will not finish last, 8th again or 9th.

Warrington
Wigan
St. Helens
Castleford
Hull FC
Leeds
Catalans
Salford
Huddersfield
Widnes
Wakefield
Leigh

Cup - Warrington
Grand final - Wigan
Man of Steel - George Williams

I was referring to the bit about injuries/disruptions etc, I assume it was tongue in cheek?

Huddersfield didn't have an injury crisis in the same way that Leeds/Wigan/Cas/Wakefield had where they had 10/11 starting players missing for multiple games. The coach leaving was a decision by the club which means that disruption could be minimised through forward planning... What else happened to cause disruption?

apparently there are 479001600 combinations in a 12 team league. good luck
1. warrington
2. wigan
3. hull fc
4. saints
5. leeds
6. cas
7. catalan
8. hudds
9. widnes
10. leigh
11. wakey
12. salford

I know the season didn't get off to the best of starts with the Ferres saga and a few injuries in the first few weeks, then obviously there was Luke Robinson's retirement. But you had it easy with injuries compared to a lot of teams, and it can't really be used as an excuse for finishing where you did. Cas, as an example, were riddled with injuries all year, but remained competitive throughout. Paul Anderson leaving was because of your poor form, not a contributor to it.

If I'm wrong though tell me why, rather than the cryptic messages.

SL 2017

Wigan/Wire
Wire/Wigan
Hull
Cas
Saints
Leeds
Salford
Wakefield
Leigh
Giants
Catalan
Widnes

Championship

K.R
London
Batley
Toulouse

(Bradford would have been in the 4 pre administration)

SL

1. Wigan
2. Warrington
3. St Helens
4. Cas/Hull
5. Hull/Cas
6. Leeds
7. Catalans
8. Wakefield
9. Leigh
10. Salford
11. Huddersfield
12. Widnes

Championship

1. Hull KR
2. London
3. Featherstone
4. Batley

1 Wigan just know how to win when it matters
2 Hull FC getting there, just need to be a bit more consistent
3 Warrington decent side with good depth in the squad
4 St. Helens still seem to be up there with an average squad but have added some decent forwards
5 Castleford great coach with a decent squad but will find it hard to replace Solomona if he goes
6 Leeds cant possibly be as poor as last season but the belief has gone from their mentality
7 Widnes If we can rediscover our home form then we will be ok with a settled squad.
8 Catalans Never easy to predict where they will finish Home form dictates their final position
9 Huddersfield If Brough can stay fit and produce his 4 nations form then they will be better than last year.
10 Wakefield Kear will have them motivated but a small squad will catch them out in the end
11 Salford Seen nothing to suggest anything other than another struggle with Koucash no longer throwing money at them.
12 Leigh Will start well but the grind of S/L will eventually tell. Valiant effort but will be a step too far this comin season.

CH
Hull KR
Toulouse
London
Halifax

Challenge Cup Wigan
Grand Final St. Helens

No team Promoted/Relegated

I'll go for:
Prediction Range
1 Wigan 1st - 3rd
2 Warrington 1st - 3rd
3 Hull 2nd - 4th
4 Saints 2nd - 4th
5 Catalans 4th-8th
6 Leeds 4th-8th
7 Cas 5th-9th
8 Widnes 6th-10th
9 Salford 6th-11th
10 Wakefield 7th-11th
11 Huddersfield 8th-12th
12 Leigh 9th-12th

Wigan or Warrington for LLS
Wigan GF winners
Hull cup winners
Salford most difficult to predict. On paper, easily top 8, but in practice?
Leigh looks a bit tight, but looking at the fixtures they will be lucky to get any points from their first 5 games and losing/winning is a habit.

Middle 8s from Championship:
Hull KR
London
Featherstone
Toulouse

Leigh to beat HKR in MPG

There's no denying we were abysmal last year, but I don't know how much clearer an injury crisis could be than signing Jamie Foster, Jordan Tansy and Gene Ormsby.

From memory I think our maximum out injured was about 10 + 2 permanent in robinson and ferres.

Huddersfield lost Robinson pre season plus of course Ferres

Huby missed the first few weeks of competition through injury and copped a few more injuries through the year
Dan Smith made it to week 4 then missed the rest of the season
Rapira missed a month at our most crucial period due to injury
Crabtree missed a stack of games due to injury
Grix missed 75% of the season

Off field the conditioning coach was disastrous, plus the Ferres debacle

Our season was littered with injury issues, awful coaching and off field problems - to suggest otherwise shows a staggering bias or a complete lack of insight

2015 we finished top 4 with a near identical team
2016 was a disaster
2017 the team is still capable of top 4, there's a new coach, new signings, dead wood let go, long term injuries back and a real sense of self belief in the club again

The giants lost most of their games by a score or two, thats a fine line and a minor improvement sees us top 6

Bottom 4 in no order
Leigh
Wakey
Salford
Widnes

Here goes:

Wigan
Warrington
Hull FC
Saints
Castleford
Leeds
Catalan
Huddersfield
Wakefield
Widnes
Salford
Leigh

KR & Leigh in the MPG

I generally agree with the first post although not sure he's right about my team, Wakey. The season ended with the semi-final as we'd secured safety from a very competitive middle 8's. We'll probably go in patches, but I think we'll be competitive. We have a habit of surprising people and have finished in the top eight three times as often as we've finished bottom. Not the greatest addition to a trophy cabinet, but seeing as though we are predicted to be bottom every single year it's not bad going.

The interesting thing next year could be that 6 to 12 could be a lot closer, with all positions in it determined quite late.