Right then guys, apology's if it's been done already, but how are we all feeling about out chances in 2014?

All of the talk seems to been of how Saints are going to be the team to beat this year. Still seems that we aren't a team fancied for any of the honours this year.

In my opinion we are much stronger unit this season, Antonio coming in will hopefully take some of the pressure off Crabtree and Kopczak. The Warrington play off game to me highlighted just how much work these 2 do, and how much go forward we lose when they are off, in that game when these too came off and Patrick and Taii replaced them warrington began to dominate the ruck, and we seemed to be playing to keep them out rather to score for ourselves. Hopefully rotating these 3 and whoever our 4 prop will be hopefully allows to maintain the intensity for the full 80.

Bailey we are hoping is going to add something else to our attack, and again ease the pressure off Robbo and Broughy. I the tight games we played last year when we chasing the score I think Broughy struggled a bit, he seemed to be thrown the ball in a hurry off 'here do something' and teams shut him down quickly or he panics and chooses the wrong option, i would like to see Robbo act a little more dominate and dictate play this year a little and not leave it all to Danny.

What's everyone's opinion?

yep a few are tipping saints again, just like last season and also writing off wigan..again just like last season!

and we are being forgotten, even though on the face of it we look stronger! thats fine with me, we like to play the underdog, worked well for us last season.

just read a martin offiah piece [urlhttp://www.sportinglife.com/rugby-league/news/article/480/9108618/martin-offiah-tips-warrington-rather-than-wigan-to-win-super-league[/url not a mention of us...but we are not the fashion i suppose.

i really hope we can actually beat warrington this season



agree about us losing the ruck when crabtree and kopczak went off, hopefully kaufusi can help on the area.

and like you say bailey coming in will see us play maybe a different style of rugby... good thing after a great season just gone? adds an extra string to our attack.

one thing is for sure, keep players fit and we will go far.

7/1 the Hubcap, 8/1 Challenge Cup, 9/1 Grand Final so far from being forgotten and think we have to be looking to make at least one of the two finals if not actually winning one.

Would not write off Wigan but are likely to start slowly whether they beat us or not with their trip to Oz and Wire are in transition so will probably not be as good as they have been in recent years unless Ratchford does for them what Brough did for us last season. Leeds will probably be like Wire were last season with the likelihood some of there big names are in their last season at the club and will be there or there abouts when trophies are handed out.

Not convinced with Saints but with other teams possibly stagnating or going backwards they do not have to improved much to get involved,

Think Hull and Catalans are vunerable and their regular top 8 slots are up for grabs. Salford are a play off shoe in I'd say. If Bradford keep it together they will threaten the 8 but my surprise packet would be Cas and whilst the Cup might be their best chance of glory they might sneak in.

My top 8 are

1) Giants
2) Leeds
3) Wigan
4) Saints
5) Wire
6) Salford
7) Cas


Hull

We have strength but we have no one who could be half as affective as Brough.

Lose Brough and we have no real quality cover. Maybe Bailey can fill that role i am not sure.

Lose Brough for even a portion of the season and i would say it is potentially the difference between 1st or 8th.

( other teams are in a similar situation as well) but we are so reliant on Brough it is scary.

Agree, our reliance on Broughy is a concern. That's why I'm hoping that Robbo will step up this year and dictate a bit more, only one game Broughy missed last year was bradford and my god were clueless in that match!

I presume you mean Bradford at home where Grix played 6 not Bradford away where hardly any of the regular first team played?

Yeah bradford at home. My apologies

i agree, its a given that if no brough we have had it!

managed to keep him fit last season, hope for another one

I don't agree we've had it without brough.

This season is likely to be a good one! We are certainly stronger!
Last season we had to mess around with the squad to sort out the halves if they were injured of rested now we have wood who may not have the same quality as brough, however with a full preseason with the lads I am sure he can cover well! Also Bailey can slot into the halves!
Our pack has last year was formidable but with Fielden out for so many games and mullay not making the impact at that point the big packs of other teams could eventually grind us down! Now kafusi has come and is looking fit we have three out and out props and one explosive prop in Patrick with mullay and mason waiting in the wings and fuey, taai able to come in too! Our pack will hopefully match up against the big packs out there!
Aslong as we are competing I don't mind! A final would be nice and to beat wire just once would top it for me!!

prob not if we sign up sammut



will be interesting to see how bailey fits in the team...shame he didnt go out to portugal to train with the lads.

also taai after missing last seasons pre season, but cant be helped

Expecting a lot. Squad better than last Season imo and more experienced. Know Paul Anderson is happy with additions - hope kafuski refinds his Nrl form. He could be immense.

Top 4 mimium for me. Bet on top 2.

We are strong in all areas and still like our centres and second rowers especially. Still a young side too.

That said last year was special. Just want to see the lads compete each week and enjoy the season again.

Many reasons to be very positive. Bring it on.

Not convinced the squad is better than last year (on relation to the newcommers) but it might not need to be to to claim silverware. What is better is the likes of Murphy amd Wardle are far more rounded and experienced than they were this time last yeat and Grix is less like a rabbit in the headlights and although not a top notch full back he id less of a worry thN in the past. Ferres is the flavour of the month and a good season could see him gping for man of steel and anything like thia world cup form will see him push us and himself on to a new level.

We should not take a step back which you can not say for sure about the likes of Wire and Wigan and Baloo will not let complacancy set in so it will be diasapointing if we do not get within touching distance of a Final if not win one of them.

IMO the squad is better than last year- Broughton is better than george, bailey offers more than ferguson or cording , kaufusi will (hopefully) be on the field and so contribute on the field more than fielden. We aren't going to have to miss what he provided off the field. The others (youngsters) we have lost featured even less and so won't be a miss.

I was comparing pre season to pre season and factors like Fielden'injury and the fact George never got a game would not have been known this time last year. The two London lads have a bit to prove but if they step up we will probably be a stronger unit especially if Patrick puts behind him an indifferent 12 months and Ta'ai continues to improve even though he will probably never live up to the hype we saw here and elsewhere before he played a game. We also did not know this time laat year LOD was off and 2014 will produce a few twists and turns too Im sure but the main thing is we are a settled squad and in this day and age gelling in 3 new faces into a winning outfit is a luxury and lets hppe we make the most of it.

i know what you are saying, if i had the choice of a fully fit fielden and o'donnell to go into the 2014 season id take them over kaufusi and bailey... but as it turned out the former didnt play much at all! hope we dont suffer the same fate on the incoming duo.

one thing is for certain is that broughton is way ahead of luke george... top top signing, bet he took a fair chunk of the salary cap though, must of been lined up for a while, might not of gone for him if we knew how well murphy was going to go on the wing!

i think this season will be harder to emulate what we did last, simply because we weren't expected to be up there challenging for so long, right up until august people were still expecting us to buckle and fade away.
i suppose last year we were a bit of an unknown quantity, the team that chokes etc, i think we surprised people by doing what we did and not what was expected of us.
this year teams will know just what we are about.
our goal this year surely has to be getting to the grand final or win the cup, so in that respect i would be happy with a top 4 finish.

Agreed on what we need to achieve.

Our squad is as settled as anyone's and we never seemed to like losing last season and after a defeat usually put our next opponents to the sword and that mentality can get us a long way

I honestly think we will be going all out to retain top spot and perhaps a distraction like a Challenge Cup Final may mean that does not happen but rattle off the wins early doors and if the end of the season stutters whilst we are still in as nice finishing position as happened with Wigan last year so be it but I think us more than any other top club rely on momentum and the more we boss our rivals week in week out the more we will achieve.

The only real thing we are missing is that killer instinct in the really big knockout games but the more we get into that position the chances of turning heartbreaking losses to triumphant wins increases and the more we show we can beat everyone home and away the better the chance of taking that final step which is what we really need.

We are better than last year, I think the additions will improve us, but more importantly the ones who we already had, last season showed alot of them what can be achieved with the right structures.

The team, coaching staff and support staff are alot more experienced having gone through it last season, they are more ready than not to improve on the things that didn't go so well.

Are we better than last season in a word yes.

I expect top 4 and a final, maybe win one

Spot on and not sure anyone bar Leeds can hold out such optimism and they are ageing far faster than we are.

Wigan and Wire will do well to start fast with them losing the players they have and Saints and Salford could be anything but in those early few weeks we need to stamp our authority on the league and any cracks in the make up of our opponents may be sorted in time but hopefully we are away and gone by then and if we do make any Finals we will go into them from a position of strength.

The League Leaders Shield has been a platform from which others have kicked on and gone on and won other things and we need to do the same and indeed if a bit of luck and injuries allow we should expect to be there and there abouts in everything.

Giants
Saints
Rhinos
Wolves
Warriors
Dragons
Codheads
Reds
Rovers
Tigers
Wildcats
Broncos
Vikings
Bulls

Giants top Bulls bottom = deap joy

well our captain does not want to finish top again

[urlhttp://www.sportinglife.com/rugby-league/news/article/480/9120680/brough-wants-major-trophy[/url

interesting comment about mcnamara, always said he wasnt wanted rather than brough not wanting to play for England.

i would like to see you do better than wigan, saints or leeds thought it was ace last season for you to be the most consistent team shows that it really was nathan brown holding you back good luck for the upcoming season

john kear thinks we are certain for a top 2/3 finish

[urlhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gMacUl9l9Vs&sns=em[/url

How did it work out well for you last season? You lived up to everyones expectation and fell flat on your face in the playoffs.