Are the 2 teams in the championship who could finish above them in the 8s? I'd like to see Toulouse to come up

Widnes straight down. Hudds In MPG v London, Toulouse.

HKR you'd have to fancy could take a SL teams place. We were the only one of the 4 SL teams last year who negotiated the qualifiers comfortably and you saw what poor form and no confidence can do wrt to the other 3 which some of the SL teams dropping into the qualifiers this year will inevitably have.

Salford started ok last year and should've been top 8 without the points deduction, but in the qualifiers they looked a lost and broken team and even London beat them at home before that escape act in the MPG. This season without many changes they're looking quite promising.

True. It's hard not to look past Widnes right now though as being very vulnerable to the drop. They have a few injuries to be fair, but losing becomes a bad habit and not easy to turn around at the flick of a switch. I like Betts, he has done a very good job with his resources given and i find it hard to imagine how he could have done much better over the last few years but i imagine if results don't turn pretty quickly the panic button will be pressed.

The thing I don't like about the system, Widnes could not win a single game between now and round 23, then make 4/5/6 new signings that keep them up with a few wins after the split in the super 8's.

true, but leigh made a few signings before the middle 8's so it works both ways

And who are you going to sign really that could make a difference at that level who is willing to take a gamble on a short term deal that you will make it back to SL? Unless you get lucky with a miscreant NRL player you are probably scraping the barrel.

Also, is there not a cut off date now when you can register a player for the last part of the year?

not sure about the date but there should be one.
and it worked for leigh. theres always the odd player around

They are the only team at the moment I think are guaranteed to be in the bottom 4, but interestingly I think their fate will be decided so early that they'll have several weeks to prepare for the Middle 8's, could actually help them.

Will be interesting how Featherstone go in the Middle 8 (I imagine they'll be in the top 4 of the Championship) after having the experience of last year. Also because they'll feature some of our guys more than likely, potentially the likes of Oledzki and Smith, could be a really good experience for them and see how they go against SL sides.