Interesting that most on here think the middle 8's will be a walk in the park.
For the Leeds of the last decade I'd agree but this is the Leeds of 2016 that is bottom of the league and has seen us lose to the likes of Hull KR and Wakefield at Home and so far win only 3 games all season.
Granted, with all our 'stars' back we SHOULD be able to retain our SL status but the way things have gone this year it's not guaranteed and I hope the players don't share the same complacent attitude to the middle 8's that some of our fans have as that would be a recipe for disaster.
I agree with the OP that the middle 8's is going to be a bit of a culture shock to many and we will be playing other SL teams that have have all beaten us at least once already this season and Championship teams whose game against us will be their GF and CC Final rolled into one.
I recall that our strongest outfit at the start of the year looked 2nd best at home versus Bradford for a good 60 minutes
I'd much rather have us scrape into the top 8 and have 'meaningless' games for the rest of the season and build for 2017 than have to go through the pressure, indignity and nerves of the middle 8's
Looking at the current SL table, having several meaningless games in the super 8's last season for Warrington, Hull and Catalans who all had zero chance of getting into the top 4 at the split hasn't done then any harm