given the remaining games I will be astounded if we don't finish top. the top 8's, however, are a different animal. should the coach continue to flog the forwards and have such a terrible replacement attitude we may struggle to finish top 4

Top spot after 23 games pretty much depends on the result of the Saints game at Headingley imo. After that thier is an unknown because of how the fixtures differentiate between finishing positions. Finish first and we get 7th and 8th away from home. As away fixtures go, not the trickiest we could face.

If we go in to the 8s top then I think we will qualify for the playoffs.

The likes of saints and Wigan might be a different beast but there will still be some pretty average sides in there. Winning the games against 7 and 8 who aren't likely to be great sides would mean if we won 2 of a likely wire, wigan' saints' hudds' les Catalans would mean 5th could only gain a maximum of 6 points on us during the 8s. And that's on the basis they win every single game.

I thought Leeds were absolutely brilliant in the first 20 minutes on Saturday and would have blown most teams away. On that basis you are certs for top 3 and must be favourites for first place.

I would have thought that you would want to avoid coming second as that could mean playing Wigan or Saints in the semi. Playing the fourth place team at home this year is a genuine advantage.

Each of Wigan, Saints and Leeds have the potential to win it so it makes sense this year to aim for the LLS. In doing that you might just knacker your older players - which could be quite a problem for each of the coaches.

Whoever wins SL might just be the last team standing after 30 rounds plus a cup run (maybe Wigan have inadvertently improved their chances by getting knocked out of the cup early - we shall see).

Don't get your knickers in a twist.

It's a forum where people post opinions. Opinions differ. deal with it.