FAs prediction doodar is a curious thing. I'll be honest I'm of the belief that we are already as good as relegated. But when you complete the predictor it at least gives a glimmer of hope.

If only we could have nicked it at widnes..... If only if only

If the new owner and board are serious about keeping us up, then they need to be working round the clock on getting those 6 points back off the RFL.

I don't think panic buying of players will change much of how the team play as I don't think there's really anyone of sufficient quality who's currently available and as FC has already said he won't stoop to the level of other clubs and try and unsettle players, I don't see that situation changing.

just had a go with FA's predictor...now....some folk might call me biased, but, I had us to finish as league leaders with Leeds finishing bottom

Another prop and my confidence will be much higher.

Wonder what Tom B is up to over in Aus - not seen him play for Souths this season.......

Only way we can do that is paying back creditors. The large HMRC be would be the absolute minimum the RFL would expect us to pay back to even consider handing any points back.

The teams character will be tested to the limit here in next few weeks. Cummins as always praised it. We really need it now. On paper we have a good

The forwards have to roll their sleeves up and running like a train on to the ball. Against Salford our biggest metre maker was 89. Thats pathetic!

The backs need to be backing up every play just in case we make a break and also pushing up in defence even when ball on other side of field.

Lastly Luke Gale needs to pull his finger out of his backside. Since Wakefield game i cant think of anything positive hes done! Get the bloody attacking line organised and get some dummy runners!!!

If you do the spreadsheet then you will certainly get a pleasant surprise

Only one person brave enough to do it, and post it, so far. Surely you're not all shiverers?!

Well, the club have launched their appeal against the points deduction today.
Now awaiting a hearing date

I guess we should really applaud that attitude [even if it's not reciprocated] and it does seem to chime with his stated honourable way of doing business - that said, if anyone were to think about 'unsettling' a player they wouldn't advertise the fact would they? I mean Wakey never made an announcement that they were going to 'unsettle' Sammut and Scruton, did they - they just got unsettled and finished up at Wakefield.

I don't think there is any realistic chance of promotion built into the new system.

The 4X4 league is four full time SL clubs honed by playing other SL clubs versus four with [largely] part-time players on a much lower cap and used to playing against lower standard opposition. It is possible, though it very rarely happens in modern RL, that a club in this position can raise their game for a one-off occasion in the cup - but they sure as hell ain't gonna do it four times in a league situation.

There is such an inevitability of the four SL clubs coming in at 1 to 4 in this mini league that you have to consider that this was the intention all along. The chance of 'promotion' is entirely an illusion, imo, and if we drop we'll be down until they change to straight P&R or bring back licensing at some unspecified time in the future.

To be quite honest although friday was a bit poor, i cant see a problem with us challenging Wigan and Wire over the coming weeks as their form seems to be up and down at the mo, that being said i can imagine them seeing us as an easy 2 points (which in all fairness they should) but i can sense an upset or two in the coming weeks

Its a long shot but its a shot. Plus youve got to remember you dont have to finish in position 1-4. The 4th and 5th placed teams at the end of the middle 8 play each other in a final one off decider, so you only have to be in the top 5 of the 8 team mini league to be, at worst, 80 minutes from SL, and then why couldnt we be the club that raises their game for a one-off occasion?

I know the situations are a little different between now and 2010, but it was often said that it was a big mistake to stick by McNamara while we were on that horrible run of 11 losses. (I know he left and St Hilaire took over for a few games)

But at the moment we're on 5 straight league defeats with no realistic/predictable win in perhaps the next 5 or 6 league games. Last season we had a run of 6 straight defeats which extended to 1 win in 10.

My point is, with a heavy heart, should the board take a serious look at replacing Cummins?

edit: the Wakefield message board are already getting very twitchy and want Agar out, but money seems to be the stumbling block for paying him off... for the time being at least anyway.

I'm not following this ... if the likelihood is we realistically will not win any of the next few games, what difference would replacing Cummins make, apart from we would lose the self-same games under a different coach?

Nobody knows for certain, all it could take is a fresh idea or two to tweak things, i.e. perhaps a subtle change to defensive patterns or a shift in balance in training between x and y, and then we could find our form. Of course it's only speculation, but further down the line it becomes hindsight.

Yes, we're low on numbers and Francis has dealt with shiite no other coach has but who's to say he's really the right man? At what point does it become too late to do anything?

There's too much at stake to leave it to "what if". Some may see it as knee-jerk, or changes for changes sake, and of course anyone is welcome to because it's a forum, but I really think drastic changes are needed. The minimum should be another assistant to shake up our defence. However, I'm beginning to think more changes are needed.

What do you think FA?