Just me who prefers option 1 then? Remember, you only need to finish 5th in the super 8s to get a shot at promotion. So essentially, you only need to finish above your championship counterparts, and anything else is a bonus.
For that reason option 1 seems to make that scenario far more achievable. Home ties against SL clubs are a red herring imo. Whatever ground you're playing on, it's still £1.6m against £1m (in most cases). So I think even if we were at home, it would be a struggle to get a win, as evidenced by our gutsy performance in the challenge cup. We gave it a good go and still ended up conceding 50 points.

I think it will be us and Leigh in 4th and 5th in any order... The play-off final will be a blood bath!!!

Bradford vs either Leigh or Wakefield for the final stands to be a serious grudge match. Either would do me!

Not quite. For example, Wakey may have agreed pre-season to pay £1.6m, but we are playing the recipients of the cash, not the cash itself. My question would be, if you could renegotiate each player's wage instantly, how would you value (say) Leigh's team against (say) Wakey's team? Given a choice, position for position, how many of Wakey's players would you pick over Leigh's players? That's the way I value the teams. We may be only paying up to £1m, but (for example) Gaskell and a couple of others are surely worth considerably more.

On a slightly related topic, Webster has departed from Wakefield. Many posters on the Wakey board are wanting John Kear back in the hot seat. Personally I think he would be mad to leave Batley, where he has some stability and consistency, and join a club currently in freefall. But money talks after all, and John might fancy the challenge of keeping Wakey in the top flight.
It should be interesting to see how the second half of their season develops if nothing else.

Now Webster has departed Wakey www.bbc.com/sport/0/rugby-league/32795591 They will need a proven fire fighter get the right one and it could be a different Wakey in the 8's, I see John Kear has been mentioned elsewhere and he could motivate their Squad, it's going to be interesting come August

Now Webster has departed Wakey www.bbc.com/sport/0/rugby-league/32795591 They will need a proven fire fighter get the right one and it could be a different Wakey in the 8's, I see John Kear has been mentioned elsewhere and he could motivate their Squad, it's going to be interesting come August

thats a shame, Webster was doing a fine job running down one of our middle 8 rivals, putting Kear in charge would make them harder to beat in the middle 8's IMO.

On the playoffs, I could see a situation with Leigh making 3rd and us being in the playoff against Wakey or more probably Widnes. I still think the final playoff should be at a neutral ground too, but there you go.

That's just typical Trinity arrogance. They should just cut their cloth accordingly, plummet through the leagues, become insolvent, sell their ground, then merge with a local amateur club. If it's good enough for Bramley...

Maybe someone can get agent Cummings in to Wakey to finish the job?

paranoid about injuries, are clearly going for the very big, let's make absolutely sure we can always get 17 on the field, approach - but just think what good individuals we might have had in our side if we'd just stuck with 4 props and say, 3 second rows and 3 centres..others though may well have gone with 22 or 23 player squads at the bottom end, 25 to 27 in the middle.

That said, in comparing Leigh and Wakey you may well come to the same decision, though I've not actually looked at their whole squads, so couldn't say.

Beat me too it!!!

Leigh signing Higham strengthens their chances for the 8's. Still a cracking player for a TOP SL club.