Predictions For The 2017 Season : Thu Dec 08, 2016 1:38 pm  

How does everyone feel about the squad we've put together for 2017?

I think we've got a stronger squad than last season but I think the league is likely to be more difficult than last season too.

Swap Toulouse for Toronto and that almost certainly leaves everyone else battling for promotion through the play-off system. They've changed the rules so the top club is automatically promoted.

Will we be better than Barrow, Whitehaven, Workington, Hunslet, Keighley and York?

There will be too may non-competitive games in the league during the first half of the season. The interesting part of the season will be when the league splits. It's a shame the powers that be, and the clubs, can't see that the league structure detracts from the interest generated. I'm looking forward to the new season but I'd be looking forward to it more if the seven teams mentioned above plus the Dons made up an 8 team league. Every game would be meaningful, competitive, and well worth looking forward to.

I'd like to think we'll be good enough to challenge for promotion but that might be blind loyalty talking as opposed to a calculated assessment of the situation!

Re: Predictions For The 2017 Season : Thu Dec 08, 2016 1:52 pm  

I am feeling quite optimistic really and looking forward to the season.
But we will have to see, Newcastle have made a few decent signings for next season as well, so they could improve.

Re: Predictions For The 2017 Season : Thu Dec 08, 2016 8:00 pm  

Team finishing 1st promoted automatically well that's a step in the right direction !

Not sure about our chances , average age will be up on last season with an experienced pack .

Re: Predictions For The 2017 Season : Thu Dec 08, 2016 10:43 pm  

For me the biggest impediment to our advancement was the way we did not move up in defence, run onto the ball in attack or use dummy runners. The former allowed opponents to make easy meters, while the latter two seemed to stem from our attack standing much too shallow.

With no running onto the ball we struggled for meters and with no dummy runners coming back against the grain to hold up the defence, our spread plays were predictable allowing the opponents to just slide along defensively until we stopped passing. This combined with our lack of running onto the ball meant we often lost ground or got taken into touch (sometimes both).

My first thoughts were that this was a new team and that these aspects of play would come as we got to know each other but it never seemed to.

We were the fourth best team in the league last season despite effectively hobbling ourselves. If we can fix these issues I see no reason why we can't do it, especially as we have added size across the board to what appeared to be a very lightweight squad last season.

Like others I feel that we have improved on last year recruitment wise, while on paper I personally believe Keighley and York have gone backwards. Still with Newcastle's recruitment suggesting improvement and a new coach in Craig Lingard as opposed to Paul March, at Keighley (who I felt under-performed last year) its going to be very difficult to call.

Also at this point there is no way of knowing what effect Rhys Lovegrove will have on ourselves. There are certainly a lot of variables to consider and it will be sometime until we know where we are I think, thanks to this stupid league structure lopsiding things.

That being said I am hopeful and can't wait to see how we do in preseason - especially against Sheffield. Perhaps I am being an optimist but with all their off field problems putting them behind in terms of recruitment I sense an opportunity.