First time post :) What is this dark background matter McD k

Quote: SmokeyTA "I think if we can win 4 out of the next 6 then we can still make a play at the 4.

Last year you had 4 sides which were pretty comfortably better than the rest. This year i dont think that is as much the case. I think Wigan pretty much already have a place in the 4. But Wire have stumbled a bit recently without Sandow and if he doesnt get back quick they might fall back to the pack a bit, Les Catalans have been the best side this season imo, but they have struggled to put a full season together for a long time.

Then you are down to 4th here Hull are 8 points ahead of leeds. if we can get 2-4 points over them in the next 6 games, then we can probably look to cut that down a bit more in the 6 after.

Win against Sts and we are only 4 away from them

Within 4 points of 4th at the split and we are in with a chance because none of the other challengers for it have really set the world alight.'"

Yeah I agree. As I've said I think people have to look at the gap between us and the likes of Hull and Saints and working on narrowing that. Some are under the thinking we need X amount of points, usually 38 because that's what Saints got last year.

Really though Saints didn't need 38 points to qualify for the top 4 last year.....they needed 32. If they lost to us post Wembley and then when everyone expected Wigan to beat them to snatch the LLS of us and if they lost in the regular season when they beat Hudds by a single point the outcome of the table would've been EXACTLY THE SAME.

But instead of

Leeds - 41
Wigan - 41
Hudds - 38
Saints - 38
Cas - 32

It would've been

Leeds - 43
Wigan - 43
Hudds - 41
Saints - 32
Cas - 32

*Saints points difference was miles better than Castleford's so unless those hypothetical defeats were cricket scorelines they'd have kept 4th and absolutely nothing would've have changed. Same four teams in the playoffs, same semi final fixtures.

So the idea that we can only afford to lose 11 games isn't certain (although it might turn out that way).....we could potentially have enough wriggle room to lose 13/14.