1. Saints. I can't really make a strong case for anyone else. Much as I'd love to..
2. Wigan. Looking pretty solid and I rate Matty Peet. Based on his contribution last year, the loss of Bateman won't make a difference.
3. Hudds. The strength and depth of their squad should really see them as saints' main challengers. Watson's caution could well hold them back in the ones that matter.
4. Leeds. Rohan's reorganisation of the squad has been too great for us to be realistically considered this year, I reckon. I think I'll be rating is higher this time next year though.
5. Hull FC. TS and his magic hat will see them in the play offs. Comfortably.
6. Catalans. Some of their old weaknesses on show last year. McNamara might lift them; equally he may have taken them as far as he can.
7. Salford. Will continue to confound the odds and will hopefully continue to play some great rugby
8. Warrington. 2023 won't be. Powell might have his own squad now but I'm not convinced his coaching methods aren't stuck in the previous decade.
9. Wakey. Surviving comfortably. A game they're good at. Probably keeping a bit of their financial powder dry in case they need to spend in order to draft in a player to cover injury - or not if they don't have to.
10. Cas. Might be doing them a disservice but their signings lack wow factor for me. As do their incumbents...
11. Leigh. Could do a fair bit better than this, maybe their newbie status is what's putting a bit of doubt in my mind.
12. Hull KR. Hope I'm wrong as they're one of my favourite sides. Plus, I'll always wish Danny Mags well unless in direct competition with our lads. Think they may be in for a tough year though.

With luck with injury we could be top two. I might be wrong but a league table calculated after Rohan’s arrival puts us in the top three. Despite getting rid of lots I'm pretty sure we've recruited better. I think we can give it a real shake.

1. Saints, they are miles better than anyone else and anything other than 1st is a massive failure given the state of the competition.
2-4. In any order given injuries, Leeds, Wigan, Huddersfield.
5-7. Hull FC, Catalans, Salford. Again depends on injuries, could be in any order.
8-10. Warrington, Hull KR, Cas.
11. Leigh
12. Wakefield

1-4 Saints Leeds Wigan Huddersfield in any given order. Think 2 games for Saints in Oz combined with travelling will curtail their early season.
5 Catalan
6 Warrington
7-9 Salford Hull Cas in any order
10-12 Hull KR Leigh Wakefield in any order.

Not going to predict a league but here are my thoughts.

Saints won't finish top but will probably win the GF

Wigan will finish top but won't win the GF

Warrington will be rubbish again and Powell will get the sack

Hull FC will finish in the top 4 and have a good season

Huddersfield will not be nearly as good as people think and finish mid table

Hull KR will be hot and cold and finish around 8th

Leigh - I hope they finish last because of their arrogance on coming up, and that bloody kit and rebrand

Wakefield - will shock a few

Catalan - top 5 finish but won't be winning anything

Castleford - mid table mediocricy, squad is too old

Salford - ups and downs but not as good as last year

Leeds - rubbish start to the season but we'll be in at least one final, and might win one.

1. Saints. 7. Salford
2. Huddersfield 8. Castleford
3. Wigan 9. Warrington
4. Leeds 10. Hull FC
5. Wakefield 11. Hull KR
6. Catalans 12. Leigh

Grand Final - Saints bt Wigan
Challenge Cup - Leeds bt Wigan

Worst Wigan side I've ever seen.

Talk about arrogance? WOW!!

Leeds won't finish in the top 6, that's for sure.

I hope you're right. But as was the case with the post Smith table, an awful lot would need to go just right for it to happen - no annual injury crisis and new faces and young mergers all having good seasons.

Fair dos Cokey lad. Now how's about giving us a bit more insight. Where do you see Leigh ending up?

You've done it now, the indignant Wakefield fans will be along soon. They're all rather optimistic after beating leeds Academy in the last 10 minutes.

10th.

I don't know enough about the other SL teams to make a reliable stab at this. From a Leeds perspective, expectations are rightly riding high after the raft of changes made by Rohan Smith, and factoring in our late season run in 2022 that saw us make the GF after such a terrible start to the season under Agar (although perhaps a better opponent ought to have humanely put us out of the play-offs by the semi-final stage).

A top 4 finish to the regular season would be a minimum expectation for me. Not making the GF would be disapppointing but we have to earn the right to be there. I'm not sure whether we realistically have the quality in the team to do this - at least, a lot depends on key players performing to their potential and fringe players and younger squad members going beyond what might be expected of them.

Suspect Leeds will fall short of a GF this year. I think we over achieved last season but a lot will depend on injury and if we can keep Newman on the field . Top 4 would be good progress from a consistency standpoint. Could poss win cup with a kind draw.

Wigan could win it imo. Im unsure on Saints. There are a lot on unknowns for them. Would love Cas to go down

Getting, and keeping, Newman, Fusitua and McDonald fit is crucial. If they play in the majority of games they could bag 50 tries between them. I've got tremendous respect for Wigan as a club but I'm not convinced that they will improve this year. Bateman is a loss no matter what anybody says and while young Wardle could be very good, King is pretty average in my book. Not aware that they have players returning from injury (like Newman and Holroyd) who could have a transformational impact.