6 giants players have been away while all but one of ours has had a full pre season for the first time in many years, and all have had minor ops to tidy up niggles.
last year we were battered by injuries but still finished above shudds and i firmly anticipate us finishing above them again next season

Yes I agree it can't be a bad thing that most of the squad have had a good rest, cleared up niggly injuries and had a good pre season together

Don't be fooled by 'Keith' - he is a Leeds supporter and also the most seasoned and subtle troll to frequent these boards.

Just take what he says with a large pinch of salt and don't let him get under your skin.

I am also optimistic for next year. They key factor for me will be the effect the new coaching set up has on the team. Last season I felt we didn't play well as a team and went backwords in our team skills and tactics. IMO we finished higher in the league than our form deserved and that top three finish was down to some outstanding individual work by a certain few players, Danny McGuire in particular, rather than the overall team performance.

So I an expecting (hoping) the new coaches to overcome the loss of the injured stars by concentrating on the regaining the team skills with good backing up and offloading and having a better tactical game plan.

The addition of a fit again DM and JP in mid/late summer will give a huge boost and be like two new star signings. Also Sinfield will have had a good rest for the first time in many years and if he plays at 6 for the first half season, which I expect, he will have had less tackling to do and his attacking flair will be all the sharper for it.

I agree, I felt for alot of last season we were playing without any real structure or purpose and were mostly relying on the likes of McGuire's individual brilliance to win matches. We know we have the quality available, it's just getting everyone firing together. I Reckon if we can get back to basics and start playing as a proper team with attacking lines and defensive structure, we have more than enough quality to make it successful.

I agree last year we did seem to rely on individual brilliance with the odd game appearing to all gel. I am excited regarding the new season but looking forward to boxing day for the first glimpse of possible new structures play etc

i'm going for a regular season sl table finish of
1:wigan
2:saints
3:warrington
4:rhinos
5:huddersfield
6:hull fc
7:hull kr
8:bulls
9:castleford
10:salford
11:catalans
12:crusaders
13:wakefield
14:quins

Wigan
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Leeds
St Helens
Warrington
Huddersfield
Bradford
Hull FC
Salford
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Hull KR
Catalans
Castleford
Crusaders
Wakefield
Hralequins

1 Wigan
2 Wire
3 Saints
4 Leeds
5 Hull
6 Huddersfield
7 Bradford
8 Hull KR
9 Salford
10 Catalans
11 Harlequins
12 Castleford
13 Wakefield
14 Crusaders

Because we will be playing the first half of the season minus two key players I predict the regular season's table to end up like this..

Saints
Wigan
Wire
Leeds
Hull
Huddersfield
Hull KR
Bradford
Catalans
Salford
Wakefield
Castleford
Harlequins
Crusaders

Saints
Leeds
Wigan
Wire
Hull
Huddersfield
Hull KR
Salford
Bradford
Castleford
Catalans
Wakefield
Harlequins
Crusaders

I think we will do better than Warrington and will be contesting closely for 2nd.

1-Warriors
2-Saints
3-Rhinos
4-Wolves
5-Giants
6-Hull FC
7-Hull KR
8-Bulls
9-Reds
10-Dragons
11-Tigers
12-Crusaders
13-Wildcats
14-Quins