Re: Is anyone worried about the middle 8's? : Mon May 02, 2016 8:10 am  

ploinerrhino wrote:

lose on Friday , season over . Then concentrate on getting players fit and fresh for next season , sign a quality Hooker and half back . Achurch and Falloon out . Super league champions 2017 and this year forgotten

I suppose making signings might be more difficult if we end up in the middle 8's as players might not want to commit until our SL status was re-confirmed. We might loose out to other clubs if there is competition for a signing.

Re: Is anyone worried about the middle 8's? : Mon May 02, 2016 9:24 am  

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

Re: Is anyone worried about the middle 8's? : Mon May 02, 2016 7:11 pm  

Come the middle 8's we'll have the strongest side we've had all year. None of the Championship clubs could touch us with 10 players out, and Huddersfield, Salford and KR would be easy meat with a couple of our injured players back

Re: Is anyone worried about the middle 8's? : Mon May 02, 2016 9:16 pm  

The most likely route by which a Championship team gets promoted:

A SL team is in the M8s. They have not been able to beat the teams around them for most of the season. They're away from home to a good championship side early on and underestimate them. They lose. They lose to all of their SL peers.

One more bad result and that team could be in fifth, which means a championship side is in third and automatically goes up.

Unlikely, but probably likeliest of all this year.

Re: Is anyone worried about the middle 8's? : Tue May 03, 2016 9:37 am  

Stevosfalseteeth wrote:

Come the middle 8's we'll have the strongest side we've had all year. None of the Championship clubs could touch us with 10 players out, and Huddersfield, Salford and KR would be easy meat with a couple of our injured players back

I wouldn't like to play your 4 aways at present with 10 players out.

Re: Is anyone worried about the middle 8's? : Tue May 03, 2016 10:38 am  

As things look, Leeds may as well finish in the Middle 8. Least those games will mean something.

If we scrape into the Top 8, which is a huge task now, we'd be miles off the Top 4.

May as well enjoy a trip to Batley

Re: Is anyone worried about the middle 8's? : Tue May 03, 2016 11:43 am  

atomic wrote:

I wouldn't like to play your 4 aways at present with 10 players out.

The chances are that by Middle 8s Leeds will have the majority, if not all players fit. On mostly dry tracks i would be very surprised to see even competitive games played out. Leeds should, and probably will wallop most of the middle 8 teams.

Re: Is anyone worried about the middle 8's? : Tue May 03, 2016 6:08 pm  

atomic wrote:

I wouldn't like to play your 4 aways at present with 10 players out.

The Championship is a million miles away from super league. Ask any team from Widnes down,( plus the Championship) if they want Leeds in the middle 8's. They are lying if they'd prefer us to wakey, cas or widnes

Re: Is anyone worried about the middle 8's? : Tue May 03, 2016 6:43 pm  

Theoretically we should not be worried about the middle 8's .....but at the begining of the season how many actually thought we would be even discussing the prospect?

Injuries have had (and could continue to have) a huge bearing on the prospects of what happens ....(I always said it would) .....the scraping into the top 8 might give us the prospect of a boring end to the season, but it must be a darn sight better prospect than potentially banana skinning it down to the championship for 2017

Re: Is anyone worried about the middle 8's? : Tue May 03, 2016 7:26 pm  

vbfg wrote:

The most likely route by which a Championship team gets promoted:

A SL team is in the M8s. They have not been able to beat the teams around them for most of the season. They're away from home to a good championship side early on and underestimate them. They lose. They lose to all of their SL peers.

One more bad result and that team could be in fifth, which means a championship side is in third and automatically goes up.

Unlikely, but probably likeliest of all this year.

Or SL teams finish 1st-4th and the the top Championship team (5th place) pull off a win. 8/9 times out of 10 they'll lose that Million Pound game but one year they'll win one.