I think you'll find you actually finished 8th.

That depends on whether you class the 8's as a separate comp or a continuation of the regular season. I'll leave it to you to decide whether we finished three spots above you or whether we were in a whole different league.

As Zucchini alluded to below what position do you consider Rovers finished 9th or 10th? serious question.

Rovers finished 10th, and then 1st in the middle 8's.

As the points carried forward into the Super 8's, it was in essence a continuation of SL, so Hull ended up 8th.

I think.

I agree. 8th and 10th respectively. Not good enough for either team. As an aside I think a fit Campese is critical if Rovers are to finish in the top eight. There seems to be little information from Rovers if he will be fit for the start of the season which must be a worry.

for the giants top aussie signing hinchcliffe working his magic at hooker and feeding brough to supply mcgillvary on the wing for bags of tries



rapira strengthening the pack for them to work behind too

Just on Hinchcliffe - I think he'll quickly become one of the most hated players in SuperLeague - he's absolutely from the Melbourne school of poophouse wrestle and niggle. It'll take no time for people to start complaining about late hits, facials and 'undue pressure on limbs'...

Should add a bit of steel to the Giants pack, but if I'm honest, he's not got much more than that in his locker in my opinion...

I started this thread as a means to be positive about your own team without the need to denegrate any other teams or rank your team above others by predicting a league table.

I think it's a nice spin on the type of threads we normally see at this time of year and it's been good so far.

Keighley Cougars' supporters have been excited by the signings made since the end of last season. Today's friendly against a full strength Oldham Championship team shows Cougars could be on to a winner this season. LLS & promotion could surely be the result. The players selected today handled everything Oldham could throw at them and scored three nice tries to secure the win. Team spirit & confidence on a high. After the trauma of 2015, hoping this could be Cougars' season.

I agree with you, I'm not sure I've caught the games where Hinchcliffe has 'pulled the strings' from dummy half. Workhorse and strong as he may be, he's not the most inventive player. Steady, but not going to unpick defences.

Improvement on what they had, but I don't expect to see him at the man of steel awards

In terms of pure playing ability I think you're right, but what you've lost from Sinfield and Peacock in terms of experience, leadership and big match nous simply can't be bought. Sinfield did play a reduced role for you guys last year, but without him pulling off that 40/20 in the semi-final - which was so typical of Sinfield in big matches down the years - I think it's pretty much certain that you wouldn't even have been in the Grand Final. You've got a great squad, but I'd be amazed if the loss of those three leaders didn't take its toll in some way.

At Saints I think we're well equipped to challenge for the LLS. We have what looks like a better pack than last year, with the excellent Savelio likely to take a more senior role and Lama Tasi able to make a more consistent contribution than Mose Masoe. We also now have backup in pivotal positions, with Fages and Owens on board. As a result we should be able to spell Roby a bit more to keep him fresh, and also have plenty of cover when the inevitable halves or full back injury crisis happens. We have better competition for places this year and we shouldn't be as badly affected when we get injuries, so I think we'll be stronger on a week-to-week basis. I suspect, though, that we're a star player or two away from being a favourite to win the showpiece games.

to be fair he's one of those workhorse players that every team needs. he's definately one of those who you don't always notice - until he's not in the team. was one of the first picks for craig bellamy and that should tell you a lot. that said i'm not sure i would have spent a chunk of the cap on bringing such a player halfway round the world, but i guess we'll find out soon enough

It looks to me that this year has a lot more uncertainty for a lot of clubs than the last few, which is a good thing IMO. In terms of Leeds its all about the halfbacks and hooker for me. The kicking game will be a big question mark, as will goal kicking.

Looking at the other clubs the big question is Sam Tomkins. When he comes back he'll be a yard slower than when he left, but he's a very good player with a great rugby brain, so for me its not that he won't be massive for Wigan, but more how he and Wigan may have to adapt to get the best out of him.

isn't tomkins out injured until around april?

(makes a bit of a farce all these 'rugby pages' on fb and twitter tipping him for MoS already)