Well the results are in and the middle 8's are going to line up like this

1. Widnes
2. Hull KR
3. Leigh
4. Bradford
5. Salford
6. Wakefield
7. Sheffield
8. Halifax

So we've got Widnes, Salford, Sheffield & Halifax at home and Leigh, Wakefield and Hull KR away.

If we're going out at full strength then I think we should be able to push for wins in our home games.

Agree glad we have Widnes at home as opposed to away, long as we fire on all cylinders no reason why we can't win 5/7 may be close but possible

We have to play four SL teams and have lost to the other Championship sides in the middle 8's. We are now relying on several players that have not played for god know how long. Must be putting more that fluoride in the water these days.

Take it your a glass half full type of guy?.

I'm open to arguments if anyone has anything other than ' We have a lot of really good players that are coming back and will turn us into world beaters'. Has anybody heard when Gaskell will be fit?

Gaskell, Mullaney and Siejka are all back in full contact training. Which means essentially they are fit now and just not being risked.

Gaskell has been fit to play for a couple of weeks now, just decided not to risk in what are fairly meaningless games in terms of outcome. Pretty sure Jimmy would of wanted a better effort than what we saw in the 1st half.

If this is to be believed. However Jimmy has not shown that he is inclined to 'not risk' players hence is running GOB into the ground. He has his top 17 and they play if possible. So why hasn't Gaskell played if he is supposedly fit. After such a long layoff surely he needed game time before things got serious. Or will he be played whilst unfit as a last throw of the dice.

Who is GOB?


If you mean AOB, he only played in the second 40 today. So at least he got a bit of a break and they now have two whole weeks to have a few days rest and then get ready for the important fixtures.
Let's wait and see how things shape up over the next fortnight. I admit we're not going into the business end of the season in ideal circumstances, but it can't be helped now.

It really is all about what happens next. With key players fit, we have the quality to beat any side in the 8's on our day. I guess we'll see if Jimmy has the ability to get us up to the right level of performance consistently enough.

What would be the point in playing Gaskell - whether he's fully fit or not - against Halifax when our league position is already decided? There's been times this season when the 'top 17' has played when possible but there's no need to do that when we know that we've already qualified for the Middle 8. We've been taking it fairly easy for a while now because we know that the matches in the last few weeks have been unimportant. The season starts in 2 weeks time.

On paper the Bulls have a better side than Fax (and Sheffield), but the difference is that Fax are now on a winning run of 9 games on the trot, whereas you've just lost 2 and drawn 1 against the other Championship clubs in the middle 8's - and that's without thinking about the SL clubs we all have to play.

Fax have no expectation from the middle 8's (to quote Richard Marshall, we want to have some fun and maybe cause a few upsets), but your prep for the business end of the season isn't exactly looking that good...