nah i don't buy it.

Neither do I. The only team that looks stronger next season is Catalans, Wigan could be weaker in the pack, and Warrington look as though they might have kept too many old players for next season.
We lost all stability this season, an unsettled side through injury and contract disruption and not playing a "home" game this season.
Our new signings are quality and don,t know why Lance is getting all this negativity in other threads.

When comparing the strength of this years squad to next years squad you have to ask yourself what the leaving players have contributed to this years campaign.

Graham - obviously one of our best players and gets through so much work it's unreal. Will be very hard to replace. However, props are quite easy to replace, but his leadership skills will not be.

Pryce - has offered very little this season having only played a few games. He may turn out to be useful for the last few games but we still made the top 3 without him.

Eastmond - has played a few more games than Pryce but overall not had much impact on our season, infact for part of the season he was having a negative effect on the season.

In essence we are only losing one player that has had a major positive impact on this seasons campaign. So we are losing Graham but bringing in Hohaia, Laffranchi and Flanagan. Add to that perry will be like a new signing when fit, and add to that we surely cannot have as much bad luck with injuries again next season and it is clear to see that we will be in much better condition next year and I believe we will go very close to winning sl.

I dont see why people are complaining about Hohia coming in to play halfback when he has played there before ( granted its not that often but he has played there ) the modern era fullback is more or less an extra halfback anyway.When we signed Leon he was a winger or centre before he came to us and he made the transition into a 6 and as mentioned has been unavailable for us for a long while so we have more or less got to where we are without him.

Agree on Eastmond,his influence has been minor at best this year.

Jammer is a loss,but now we need to look to LMS to step up a level and Perry to stay fit ( hopefully there is another forward to come as well )

With only 2 prizes on offer all we can ask is that we are competetive and in the mix and i think that we will be.

Once the new stadium is up and running and we can get better cash incomes and sponsorships then we can look to add some more strength to the team,a few quality signings to augmnent our very good youth setup and we will be competetive for years to come.

I really dont see why all the negative posts.

I agree that, with the exception of Graham, the other departing players haven't had much influence this season.
I also agree that bearing in mind injuries and other distractions finishing third is quite commendable.

I can also see that we will most probably be good enough for a top 4 spot next year but if I'm going to shell out my hard earned cash for a season ticket I want to watch a team that has a realistic chance of the title and at the moment that doesn't look to be the case.

The only compensation on offer seems to be that Wigan won't be as good without Maguire and that Warrington have an ageing team.

S57

Do you not think a fit Leon pryce could have had us finishing higher in the table?

Could he have been the difference in the wigan game at cardiff? the Wigan gane at DW? the hull game away? the Cas game at home?
the bulls game away?

IMO the loss of pryce isn't the big worry it's the fact we've not signed a experienced ball playing hakfback to replace him.

That hits the nail firmly on the head....

We've got decent forwards, we've even got some pace in the backs, we just need that older headed player who can someone through a gap.
Maybe Ohaiha will surprise us, he may have the skill to do this but I've only ever seen him used as a utility player.

Strange you mention seventh as although whilst you are third you're actually closer to seventh spot than you are to second.

But we are still third though, and on the back of the worst season for injuries I have ever known for any team. This is a good achievement and we have more than a decent chance in the playoffs, certainly McGuire and smith won't be writing us off.

Aye. That's because in those games we had a damn fine chance of winning but ended up losing, some of our senior players were lazy a*ses and decided to do stuff like drop the ball, miss tackles and give away stupid penalties. We deserve to be no higher than third IMO but that we are in fact third is amazing given the high volume of inexperienced players we have had to field on a regular basis this season plus the constant disruption (most recent being Pryce returning and then announcing he is leaving).

Awesome!

this particular troll has been quiet recently

Delighted to be proved wrong!