Love this, at the start of the season, everyone was tipping Salford to finish bottom, saying they hadn't recruited very well, inexperienced coach, marwan interfering etc... Now you're saying they should be doing better? They've pushed Wigan all the way in both games, lost in the last second against Warrington, were the only team to beat Widnes in the opening 8 games. The only games they've not really turned up in, were both Hulls away, Wakefield away and Catalans at home. Without the points deduction they'd be 7th. Even with the points deduction they could still very well make the top 8.

When you say "with the money they've spent", this year, they are operating on a much reduced salary cap due to the ongoing investigation, some saying they are up to £250k under the maximum cap for this year. And yes, Tim Sheens isn't Salford's head coach, never has been. It's Ian Watson, and he's doing a great job.

Laurent Frayssinous for me. Credit to Hull and Radford, but Catalans recruited well and look the real deal. They've been playing some great rugby this year, will be interesting to see how they finish the season off.

It won't be a popular view on here, but Shaun Wane deserves an honourable mention given what he's had to put up with injury wise. Wigan might not have played well at any point, but to be second in the league before yesterday is an achievement in itself and shows great resilience. I don't think any other team/coach would have held it together for so long with so many top players missing throughout the year.

We have youth coming through both your props for starters

As things stand, 3 clubs have improved their 2015 finishing position by 6 places, Hull Catalan and Trinity and 4 clubs have fallen places Leeds -11, Huddersfield -7, Saints -3 and Cas -2.
Wakefield have improved most in terms of points gained but, clearly, the top coach should go to either Radford or Laurent Frayssinous depending on whether Hull or Catalan can win the big prize.

Castleford have the worst defence in the league, if the "points against" column is accurate, which would suggest that Powell isn't doing that well.

Radford has to be the front runner on standings at this stage.

Chester is up for a shout but perhaps doesn't deserve it based on only half a season's work. His real ability will be whether he can go well next year, when he has been in charge all through the winter too, because he seemed to fall down at that point at Hull KR, when you consider how his team did last year to this.

National Express.