After a superb start to the season, the next three games will have a massive influence on where we finish both in the cup and league. We come up against a Wigan side struggling to find consistency, a Bulls team with a growing injury list who can't seem to close games out (Edinbrugh) and then Wigan at Belle Vue in the cup.

Beating Wigan would put us in with a very good chance of finishing above them especially with so many games lost at home to sides they'd hope to beat. Bradford look on the rack already and if we can gain a vital two my well end their hopes of finishing above us.

How does everyone think we'll get on;

Wakefield v Wigan - Wakefield win
Bradford v Wakefield (Edin) - Tough one to Call, narrow Wakey win
Wakefield v Wigan (Cup) - 50/50, possible Wigan upset?

Problem with the Wigan games is that I don't think we will win both. So would I prefer to maintain our league position or stay in the cup? If someone could despatch Saints for us, we would have a decent shout for the old tin pot.

Why not 6 on the bounce.
We will have very near a full squad to use over the coming weeks it gives the boss the chance to freshen up the team without hopefully diminishing it's impact.

I can't find a reason to doubt that we'll win all three.

Cup games are always a little different, but JK seems to work his magic when it comes to cup games.

Really looking forward to the next few weeks, wish i could go to Murryfield

Would much rather win the cup game, than the league game. However I wouldnt mind both

If we try to pick and choose we'll lose the lot - go into every game TO WIN!!!

Our aim this year should be top 5 AND Wembley - and for the first time in a long time, it's achievable.

agree BUT if you had to choose i would go for a cup win.a wembley appearance would do wonders for our club.

Because of our lofty position in the table, EVERY game is a big game. Once we've got shut of them three, we have two potential banana skins, Harlequins and fart-town, then we have Bradford away. Last two seasons we've been to Odsal with high hopes only to be let down and the season ending up drifting away from us after then. Do we want to go down that lonely road for a third season running? DO WE?

Before the start of the season, Kear singled out the fact that we've fallen away badly the last couple of seasons, and that the approach to pre-season had been different this year, in the hope that we can finish stronger. Given the nightmare start to the season that we've had, what with Adam, Leon, and the many injuries to first team players, the fact that we are where we are is nothing short of a miracle. IF we get lucky, stay relatively free from injury and get some lads back, who knows what may be possible?

I'm not a chicken counter, and I believe in the "one game at a time" approach. There are plenty of other evenly matched teams in this league, and the table shows that there is plenty up for grabs. I'd like to think we might get our share this year, if only for the sake of some of the senior players, like JD, who really deserve something to mark their contribution to the game and the club.

I would push for 3 wins, not easy and you need some luck but the squads getting bigger and players coming back can step in and do a job.


Just out of interest would a top 5 finish and a play off win be better for the club than another semi, from the point of attracting new/more fans. I know both may be asking too much

Look at this season and you could have your answer. A well contested top 5 spot and a playoff win will certainly keep the interest alive over the regular season and beyond, and may just make people realise what they've been missing out on, whereas a semi final (defeat) may seem just a bit of hot air. A semi final win, on the other hand, with any team other than Saints to play in the final might be just the ticket.

When you consider that our success this season has thus far been based on 2 factors

a) our ability to play a disciplined and relatively error free brand of rugby, build pressure and score from attacking kicks and
b) having the good fortune that many of our opponants have been in poor form

I think it is most unlikely that we will sustain these over long periods. A few dropped balls, penalties conceded in many of our fixtures could and may easily have reversed the results. We have not demonstrated the type of rugby that suggests we will go on very lengthy winning runs (allbeit 7 from 10 is great).

Hope I'm wrong but I think we are in a slightly false position.

I don't think we are in a false position,
the only side that we fail to score a try against was leeds, the other two losses we managed three tries in each and the lowest win was against wigan scoring two, that in its self say we have an attacking side, defensively we have only once allowed more than 22 against us and that was after the trauma of losing Leon Walker, by far this must be the best team effort ever,
going on preseason predictions by the cynical pundits we might of well shut up shop.
as for getting the run of the luck, I believe you make your own luck through pure graft

on reflection snowie I agree with you, we are not in a false position - we have earned our position. I guess I simply feel that the formular for our success is a fragile one with a small margin of error. One or 2 penalties or dropped balls and it can all go wrong.

As such I don't think we will maintain the 70% success rate that we have enjoyed in the first third of the season.

but we have some talented players coming back as other teams are now suffering what we had lack of players, next three games wigan x 2, and bradford in another year would be daunting, not now bring them on

your right of course and I'm leaning towards your optimism. This is the first real occasion in 30 years that I go to games and both my heart and my head tell me we have a great chance of winning.

dont you think we should let the guys play on game at a time.

Always the case and we could quite easily suffer at some point but confidence is up and the lady luck is staying with us for now.

I don't think many will get carried away, we've all been around too long for that

i fear people are getting carried away already. No harm in getting hopeful, as long as people can be reasonable when the tough spell occurs.

For one, Wigan have improved over the last few weeks despite the efforts of Noble.

Carried away...no way. I'd settle now for Wembley and the Grand Final

I say take each game as it comes, It is no use getting carried away, wigan and the Wildcats will be looking at this Sundays game as a yard stick, Wigan to see how much they have improved over last few weeks, and Wakefield to see if they can string a few wins together, but all in all this Sundays game is going to be a cracker

Yep, that will be interesting when it happens and it will at some point.

I will take the rough with the smooth but i'm sure some will not be able to do so.

not thinking about next 3 games, only 1 matters...the next one