The top5 have all cemented their top8 spot.

Leigh & Widnes I think are already confined to bottom 4.

Wigan & Saints could potentially get dragged into the dog fight, but I think they should be ok with their current 3 & 4 point gap to 9th.


That leaves three sides battling for 8th:
Catalans have: Hudds (H), Wire (A), Leigh (H), Wigan (H), Saints (A), Cas (H).
Hudds: Catalans (A), Saints (H), Wigan (H), Salford (A), Widnes (H), Leigh (H), Hull (A).
Warrington: Cas (A), Catalans (H), Wakey (A), Leigh (H), Wigan (A), Widnes (H).

Really difficult one to call.

I think there may a couple of twists in the tail yet. I am always wary of Wigan, and as they get players back are very capable of going 5 plus games unbeaten. I wouldn't write them off making the 4 until it was mathematically impossible, and as there are 26 points still to play for I still see them as a threat to the current 4 (some might think I'm nuts for saying that, but we've seen it before with them). I can't see the bottom 5 changing though, its just a question of who manages to put a few wins together to scrape into the Super 8's. I have a feeling Warrington may just pull through leaving Catalans, Huddersfield, Leigh and Widnes as the bottom 4. As far as anybody losing their SL place/coming up from the Championship, I think it all depends on how the fixtures fall with regard to travelling away to Toulouse. Even though I don't think they have much chance of coming up, I do think that they could have a say in how it plays out depending on who has to travel to them. Realistically though, I think only Hull KR have a genuine chance of coming up, but still unlikely IMO. We are only just past the halfway mark in the season, a lot can happen yet.

As far as London's concerned, a problem could be the ground. Ealing Trailfinders were told that they couldn't be promoted to RU's top flight because the ground wasn't good enough and I suspect that we'd have the same trouble. Moving grounds AGAIN would be a very bad idea, if only because any prospective landlord would know that we were desperate and charge a probably unaffordable rent.

Don't think there'll be too many changes to the SL table in the regular rounds. At the bottom, I could see Hudds scraping into the super 8s at Wire's expense. Top 4 places are currently being contested by five sides. Dunno what the other clubs' fixtures are like but Leeds' remaining 6 are pretty tough so we might be the side slipping to fifth for the start of the 8s. Difficult to call beyond that, recent history suggests one or both cup finalists will hit a dip and there could well be more injury crises in store for some lucky side(s). Won't affect Wakey though, they're never injured

good summary, although hull have a tricky run in i think they'll probably win another couple which will be more than enough. the others below the current top 5 will of course all take points off each other and nobody is in form down there to suggest they will go on a run of victories, maybe with the exception of huddersfield. a few key players injured in any of these sides could spell trouble (wigan suffering at the moment of course). so its wigan, warrington, catalans, hudds and saints all in a battle for 3 places - a nice exciting finish in prospect, unless you support one of these teams. i agree with you that widnes and leigh have too much to do now.
overall this season has been probably the closest in terms of how any team can beat anyone else since the superleague began - you cannot really say any fixture is a foregone conclusion

What happens in the cup could have a massive bearing in the league and even cost a team a top 4 spot.

The top 5 are all still in the cup and two of them are guaranteed to go through and most likely 3 with Leeds playing Fev. Those who lose the Hull/Cas & Sal/Wakey games may well benefit with their league position. The ones in the semi final and potentially final could get distracted and drop league points. Any of them win then Leeds and Hull have shown in the last 2 years how tough it can be the following weeks to win league games.

Top 4
Castleford
Hull FC
Leeds
Salford

Bottom 4
Warrington
Catalans
Widnes
Leigh

All 4 to remain in SL following the middle 8s, Leigh to beat KR in the MPG.

Hull look like they are safely in there after tonight's result

26 points should be the qualifying total for the 8s after wigans' loss so another win for fc and we're there

Maths not your strong point then...?

At your best you beat anyone in the league.I personally think you'll be top 2.

I did say should be! Didn't say it will be!

I look forward to seeing our best, and our best 17. Defence good at times tonight, attack getting there.

26 points for the top 8?? Try 20 points pal.

Cas win on Sunday and we are 6 points clear with a far superior points difference too meaning teams will need 4 more wins than us to go above us. Very nice gap to have with what would be only 12 games of the 30 left.