1 wigan
2 fc
3 warrington
4 saints
5 castleford
6 leeds
7 catalan
8 huddersfield

9 wakefield
10 leigh
11 widnes
12 salford

As posted on the widnes/salford thread 7th to 10th could all swap around

I think Wakefield will be the bolter this season. Might even end up in the top four.
I think the bottom four will come from Huddersfield, Catalan, Leigh, Widnes and Salford.
There will be no change after the MPG.

Saints will finish 5th, and then Cunningham will declare "it's not his squad", and he'll carry on saying "that he can't believe Widnes let Owens leave on a free".

Oh no. No one is predicting Trinity will finish bottom. We could be in trouble. That's never happened before.

Don't worry a few have if you could be bothered to trawl though it all but i wouldn't bother.

You should read the O.P.




Is this at the end of the Middle Eights?

No, after 23 rounds.

Castleford won't be the same without their try scoring wiz Dennison Solomona. They will be fighting for 8th spot with woeful Wakefield.

Wigan, with the addition of French stars Morgan Escare and Romain Navarette should be too strong for most clubs.
Leigh, with the addition of French stars Eloi Pelissier and Antoni Maria should avoid the drop and even the MPG.

My list:

Wigan
Warrington
Hull FC
St Helens
Catalans
Leeds
Huddersfield
Castleford

Wakefield
Leigh
Salford
Widnes

Although Solomona is a great finisher, his prolific scoring had more to do with Gale and Dorn, ripping the opposition to pieces with their left side offence.
Sure, Solomona had great pace and is an excellent finisher but, other wingers in that position, with the same syle of plat would have scored 30+ tries and if Cas, as a team, stay fit, they will be pushing the top 4.

As for "woeful Wakefield", their recruitment in the close season, especially in the pack, where they were weak last season, will see them challenging for the top 8.
I just hope that they play for a full season.

Huddersfield look like the biggest unknowns.
They dont appear to have strengthened massively but, they have certainly lost a host of players and Catalan look some way off challenging for the top 4.

Apart from that, you might not be too far off

Eddie without Stevo will spout yet once again " this is the most open Superleague ever".
It won't.
The same old will be there or there abouts.
There is no way under the current system that Widnes, Wakefield Castleford Salford or Leigh will ever have a tilt at winning it with a realistic chance.
The chances of a blip are extremely remote. Look at the bookies odds and then see who are the rich ones, bookies or punters

Maybe - but we have replaced him with Gregorius Eden.

Wigan
Wire
Hull
Saints
Cats
Hudds
Leeds
Cas
Wakefield
Salford
Widnes
Leigh

Warrington
Wigan
Castleford
Hull FC

Saints
Catalans
Salford
Wakefield

Leeds
Widnes
Huddersfield
Leigh

I don't see how Huddersfield and Leeds have strengthened as yet.
I think Leigh will find the intensity of playing in SL every week more difficult that they might imagine. They have made some decent signings but once the inevitable injuries strike, they look paper thin.
Zak Hardaker, if he can rediscover his form under Powell, should improve Castleford's defence. Whether the attacking ability of Dorn and the finishing of Solomona can be replaced is another matter.
Saints will be relying on new overseas signings to settle and play well.
As always, injuries will play a key part in the success of every club. Last season seemed to be beset by injury problems for all teams (apart from Hull FC).

Cas had key injuries last year so have some good fresh players like Roberts to add in along with Hardaker.
I reckon Cas will be pushing for 4th.

Wakefield look slightly better than last year so woeful is well short of the mark.
Still think 8 will be a descent finish with other teams improving too.

Another prediction.
When your team loses, it will be a match officials fault and this site will go into overdrive.
If your team wins there will be no comment.

Another prediction.
You will come on here in 2017 and moan about people moaning. Constantly.

Happy Christmas

Yes PT. Add Mick Shenton to that as well.

They were right when they said how unpredictable SL was last season


Leeds and Huddersfield falling from grace, Widnes as pace setters early in the season (that seems like years ago), Trinity's mid season run (thrashing Wigan 62 - 0 along the way and Millers amazing DG to beat Les Cats), Hull braking their Wembley jinx, Wire, probably the most consistent team and Wigan as Champions.
Plus, the absolute drama of the MPG, together with Leigh finally getting into SL.
It's just a pity that the sport doesn't know how to sell itself !

2016 was a fantastic season, unless you are a Leeds or KR fan

Next season you expect Leeds to improve, see how Leigh perform in the top flight and find out if FC can compete at the top.
Plus, Cas with a fit squad could really shake up the top 4.

Cant wait till Feb.

When you look at it like that, 2016 wasn't all that bad at all. Plenty of drama and talking points.

Especially if you are from Wigan.

Yep it wasn't that dull was it ?

After several seasons of pretty much demolishing most put in front of us , I fully expect a very different challenge next year , can't wait

Putting Leeds to one side I'd say result wise it was good in terms of being more unpredictable than usual. Think the issue wasn't the results but the style the games are played in. Biggest issues we have now is that the games are too dominated by the wrestling in the tackle and how much you can slow the PTB down. Until we find a way to improve this area of the game then things like keeping the better players from/getting better players from the NRL is secondary. Castleford have shown you can play a style of rugby that people like to watch and enjoy without having a team of superstars. If we could have most teams playing that style it'd make a good difference.

One simple rule would help with the ' Wresting disease ' we have , once a player contacts the floor ( and is effectively ' held ') no defender is allowed to change their grip on the tackled player , this includes touching the player as he plays the ball

We need to get rid of ' interpretation ' as much as we can , simple rules rigidly followed by the refs , ignoring the moaning coaches , so everybody knows where they stand

Clamp down on time wasting at drop outs and conversions/drop outs

It's simple enough now, if the ref calls "held", anything after that is then a penalty.

but that doesnt happen does it? how often did we see games on tv, where the ref screams held and players still refuse to move/roll away from the ptb area


cant see anything changing much next season either! we may get the first game penalised to the max then the refs will be told to be more lenient