Re: Middle 8s : Mon Jul 25, 2016 9:53 am  

wakeyrule wrote:

Think Leigh could nick third place, leaving Huddersfield and Hull KR to fight it out in MPG. Huddersfield should have the quality to stay up, but heart seems lacking.

Cant see that.
They would need to beat 2 SL clubs to nick 3rd and despite their excellent Championship campaign, there is still a gulf in standard between SL and the Championship.
It's been said many times but, all 4 SL clubs in the M8's are far better than we were last season and we got past the Championship outfit's (apart from Sheffield (but we wont talk about that) and all of the other SL clubs comfortably disposed of the lower league outfits.

The bottom 4 in SL look pretty good this time round and Leeds current form plus Salford are nailed on for the top 2 spots in the comp KR looked good, even though beaten by Leeds. The only question mark for me is whether Huddersfield can get there act together.
They have plenty of quality in their team but, just haven't clicked.
Kelly looked to have got them playing again but, I think he's in Australia.

It would be great if one of the Championship clubs could get one over on their SL rivals early in the competition, which would really liven up the M8's but, it would be a massive shock.

Re: Middle 8s : Mon Jul 25, 2016 10:50 am  

Hull KR, I think, just because of the strength of the other teams in there. And they look tired.

There is an argument that the MPG should be scrapped and just have it as a league format. You could have a situation where the Super League teams trounce every Championship team and finish a few points above all of them but then get relegated on the back of one iffy game. A pure league format at least makes it a proper scrap and awards merit accordingly.

Re: Middle 8s : Mon Jul 25, 2016 4:18 pm  

wrencat1873 wrote:

Cant see that.
They would need to beat 2 SL clubs to nick 3rd and despite their excellent Championship campaign, there is still a gulf in standard between SL and the Championship.
It's been said many times but, all 4 SL clubs in the M8's are far better than we were last season and we got past the Championship outfit's (apart from Sheffield (but we wont talk about that) and all of the other SL clubs comfortably disposed of the lower league outfits.

The bottom 4 in SL look pretty good this time round and Leeds current form plus Salford are nailed on for the top 2 spots in the comp KR looked good, even though beaten by Leeds. The only question mark for me is whether Huddersfield can get there act together.
They have plenty of quality in their team but, just haven't clicked.
Kelly looked to have got them playing again but, I think he's in Australia.

It would be great if one of the Championship clubs could get one over on their SL rivals early in the competition, which would really liven up the M8's but, it would be a massive shock.

Might just be wishful thinking

Obviously I wouldn't want KR to go down.

Re: Middle 8s : Mon Jul 25, 2016 7:43 pm  

wakeyrule wrote:

Obviously I wouldn't want KR to go down.

Me neither. Marwank please.

Re: Middle 8s : Mon Jul 25, 2016 11:18 pm  

if Leigh get a super league team in the first game and start hot... they might be irresistible

and qualify automatically...

we were lucky last year that there were three teams who were just better than the rest... and we won the dogfight of the also rans...

this year it seems less clear cut, particularly with the recruitment ... I would not want to be in there this year... should be a real eight way battle.