I think the bar has to be set realistically

And you could argue Tony Smith, what were his coaching credentials before joining us?

Didn’t he get Huddersfield relegated?

What would you say is realistically?

Challenging for the playoffs

In a 12 team comp with at least three really poor teams what is a 'realistic' objective? 5th? 6th?

Its hard to say. My worry is that we'll keep making excuses and find 8th or 9th or worse are acceptable as that's not really a long way from 5th, player X got injured etc etc.

Outstanding candidate! of course he is, depending on who you are. A director of Rugby who wants a yes man who won't ruffle feathers or someone who usually invests ££££££'s in corporate or season tickets?

Well it depends if you think Kevin Sinfield and Gary Hetherington are just egocentric and looking out for themselves or you think they are actually doing what they think is best for the club.

It’s a real shame that you and some others fall into the former category in my opinion.

Christopher, saying that doesn't make your view the right one. People are entitled to their opinion. In terms of Gary Hetherington, I have been dealing with him as a business for 20 years. I also have social times with Rob Oates. I can say with confidence that Gary's views have changed a lot over the last 6 or 7 years, and he most certainly looks after himself now. I don't know enough on Sinfield to say the same.

Quite, that’s why I said in my opinion. And if were talking about posters who think their opinions are the correct ones.... erm, bit of irony there!

Of course everyone is entitled to an opinion I don’t see where I’ve suggested otherwise.

Regarding what's realistic, in my view we should be able to achieve 5-8th. Better than 5th would most likely need more quality in the squad an lower than 8th would represent a significant failure. I have no expectations in the cup as it depends entirely on the draw.

I'd say we really need to have a strong push for the playoffs next year, to me that means still in contention (practically not just mathematically) with 2-3 rounds to go. If we don't do that, then there would have to be some very good justification for continuing with the same set up the year after.

It's very important to start to introduce some of the kids next year, they will be the future, and they need to be surrounded by better quality players (either the same ones performing much better, or new additions) to give them a realistic chance to develop.

It will be an interesting 12 months.

That all sounds reasonable.

What I would like to see next year is P&R suspended, and then we can really use the time to do whatever is best for the academy lads coming through and build for 2021 onwards, without worrying too much about a result one particular week.

We will still want to be winning though and I think somewhere around 5th would seem like progress. Everything is relative and it depends how the other teams strengthen or weaken for next year too.

Our squad flat out lacks star quality at present. We have some good players who could raise a level with better individuals around them.

KS and RA will earn their stripes over this pre-season with contract negotiations etc.

Rob Oates is a top guy - no one could be more committed to the club than him. Unfortunately he is not selecting the coach, if he were I doubt Agar would be top of his list.

However it could be that the club are going to bring in a huge signing over the summer - hopefully not Gale - to appease the fans and help Rob with the corporate sales. Would fans prefer a top coach and the same squad or Agar and a better squad? The money can only go so far.

£50,000-£100,000 would be the difference between the two, not so sure that one works David. That would be recovered easily to do both.

Appeasing fans isn't the issue. Its bringing in bigger crowds, more sponsors and corporate money. Without something fairly significant on the playing side it will be almost impossible to generate much enthusiasm before next year.

I know we can grow things more organically - by playing good rugby and winning, but after this year following last year's debacle I imagine marketing will be a tough slog by that route.

A 'big' signing might be more about trying to create a positive pitch than a genuine hope they'll get us amongst the trophies in 2020.

I think they will want to put the season properly to bed before having a big marketing push for next season, it will be interesting how they sell it to the floating fans that's for sure!