here is our current league position

Team: Pld W D L F A Diff Pts
St Helens 8 7 0 1 197 100 97 14
Leeds 8 6 0 2 185 94 91 12
Huddersfield 8 6 0 2 196 115 81 12
Hull Kingston Rovers 8 5 1 2 200 137 63 11
Wakefield 8 5 0 3 194 145 49 10
Hull 8 5 0 3 178 145 33 10
Castleford 8 5 0 3 189 177 12 10
Harlequins RL 7 4 0 3 190 144 46 8
Wigan 9 3 0 6 174 173 1 6
Bradford 7 2 1 4 125 167 -42 5
Catalans 8 2 0 6 158 228 -70 4
Warrington 8 2 0 6 145 246 -101 4
Salford 8 2 0 6 126 285 -159 4
Celtic 7 0 0 7 92 193 -101 0


The next 8 weeks are huge in the context of our season.

We need to put on a big winning run if we are to be in with a shout of a top 4 or 5 place this year.


The next 13 league fixtures lend themselves to some good winning runs.

What are your thoughts with how many we will get?

Mon 13 Apr Catalans Dragons Away 17:20 - -
Sun 19 Apr Celtic Crusaders Home 15:00 - -
Sun 26 Apr Wakefield Trinity Wildcats Away 15:30 - -
Sat 02 May St Helens Away 19:00 - -
Sat 09 May Wakefield Trinity Wildcats Away 14:30 - -
Fri 15 May Hull Kingston Rovers Home 20:00 - -
Fri 22 May Warrington Wolves Away 20:00 - -
Fri 05 Jun Salford City Reds Home 20:00 - -
Sat 13 Jun Celtic Crusaders Away 18:00 - -
Sun 28 Jun Hull Kingston Rovers Away 15:00 - -
Fri 03 Jul Harlequins RL Home 20:00 - -
Fri 10 Jul Catalans Dragons Home 20:00 - -
Sun 19 Jul Bradford Bulls Away 15:00 - -

My predictions:

Red - Wins.
Blue - Losses.

We must win at least 9 of those games.

First Wakey game away is the Challenge Cup.

Aaaahhh, obviously - didn't spot they were both away.



Still think you'll win one of the 2, no idea which.

I'd rather have the cup win than the 2 points!

The way the play off system works finishing in the top four would give you a much more realistic chance of making the final that it would have done using the old system.

Top 4 is a must, due to the new system.

Fri 22 May Warrington Wolves Away 20:00 - - 43 - 0
7 converted tries and a drop goal from mathers






on second thoughts ...

If we play to our full potention we should:

Mon 13 Apr Catalans Dragons Away 17:20 [Win
Sun 19 Apr Celtic Crusaders Home 15:00 [Win
Sun 26 Apr Wakefield Trinity Wildcats Away 15:30 [Win
Sat 02 May St Helens Away 19
Fri 15 May Hull Kingston Rovers Home 20:00 [Win
Fri 22 May Warrington Wolves Away 20:00 [Win
Fri 05 Jun Salford City Reds Home 20:00 [Win
Sat 13 Jun Celtic Crusaders Away 18:00 -[Win
Sun 28 Jun Hull Kingston Rovers Away 15:00 [Win
Fri 03 Jul Harlequins RL Home 20:00 [Win
Fri 10 Jul Catalans Dragons Home 20:00 [Win
Sun 19 Jul Bradford Bulls Away 15:00 [Win

But. I forsee:

Mon 13 Apr Catalans Dragons Away 17:20 [Lose
Sun 19 Apr Celtic Crusaders Home 15
Sun 26 Apr Wakefield Trinity Wildcats Away 15:30 [Win
Sat 02 May St Helens Away 19
Fri 15 May Hull Kingston Rovers Home 20
Fri 22 May Warrington Wolves Away 20
Fri 05 Jun Salford City Reds Home 20:00 [Win
Sat 13 Jun Celtic Crusaders Away 18:00 [Win
Sun 28 Jun Hull Kingston Rovers Away 15
Fri 03 Jul Harlequins RL Home 20:00 [Win
Fri 10 Jul Catalans Dragons Home 20:00 [Win
Sun 19 Jul Bradford Bulls Away 15

Probably leaving us 8th or 9th.

I really think we'll lose to Celtic next week. It just seems oh too perfect for them to get their first win at the mighty Wigan. But can see us going down there and getting the win. I think we'll beat wakey but lose in the cup, or the other way around.

I think that is a big ask, but if your new players can continue to improve, not impossible

I think we are too inconsistent to achieve top 4 at the moment.

BUT

Hopefully Riddell and Roberts can settle and we have stability in the backs and halves now so they should improve each week. The forwards still aren't good enough though and we need someone shove a rocket up Fielden's and hopefully Feka can improve his game time a bit more (not having a go just think we need him really badly) and Hock can stay injury free and carry on his excellent form

Thats the plan

Just need some players to step there game up but i think its gunna be too hard to get considering the start. But the knowing us we'll be in top form in the Playoffs and get the the final eliminator and lose

[url=http://www.superleague.co.uk/statistics_club.php?season=2009&stat=clean_break&hs1=2009&hp1=450&hs2=2009&hp2=800Interesting stat.[/url

so our support play is to blame?

Don't think you get it Jeff? You really think your team is good enough to win all those? I think not. If you spend the season like that you are gonig to spend a lot of time disappointed

Going off those stats, Feka has made 0 clean breaks all season?

Yes I believe we have the ability to win those games. I really do. BUT do i think we will? Not a chance.

We have played one or two games more than all the other sides. So we drop down the list on average.

Dave

Our extra game was the Wakey home match, I doubt this plunges us down on a par with our league position.

It puts us down to =4th in that particular statistic on 41 with Cas so I am not sure what the relevance of this particular statistic is to league position or rather how you can tell it's influence.

A clean break for Wigan has probably led to a lot less than clean breaks from say Saints!

We also top the tackles made statistic which suggests we are on the back foot more than other sides but then Saints are not too far behind us in this statistic but the difference is we make a few more tackles than them per game but have conceded 73 points more. We are doing all this defending yet still conceding a lot of points.

So if you take those two stats together they are one of the best pointers to our league position IMO.

Dave

Well as I merely referred to it as an 'interesting stat', and it's clearly interesting enough to get you a bit excited, I'd suggest it at least demonstrates that plenty of scoring opportunities are being created despite claims of dour rugby being played. I'll admit it's not interesting enough for me to research it to the depths you have chosen to.

In my opinion we have played more attacking rugby this year than last, and made more breaks than we have in a long time, but we don't have teh composure, and support play to convert to points.

Regarding the clean breaks stat, I believe it has more to do with poor decision making than poos support play.

There are two perfect examples in the first half against Saints:
First, Hock's no try where he was pulled up for a double movement. By taking the outside line he allowed the defence to slide out and reduced the space for Carmont and Ainscough to operate in. If he had held straight, or taken an inside line, he would have given Carmont and Ainscough space in which we could have created the overlap.
Second, Tommy makes an excellent break up the middle out of nothing and an inside ball would have seen Phelps in under the posts.

Regardless, league tables don't lie. Just the same as results. It is like when people say the best team lost because they had the better of position and possession. If they had that and lost, then they weren't the best team because they either couldn't exploit their own chances or defended weakly.