No doubt this will be total sheet come end of the season but

1. Hull IF we can tighten our D which was awful at times last year I reckon we are in with shout.
2. Saints
3. Leeds
4. Wigan
5. Cas
6. Wakefield
7. Warrington
8. Catalans
9. Huddersfield
10. HKR
11. Widnes
12. Salford

St Helens ( if they get there half back paring sorted ASAP)
Wigan ( surely due some injury luck)
Hull ( great pack and HBs, Fonua is a miss)
Leeds ( will miss Burrow/McGuire still will challenge for both comps)
Warrington ( freshened up this year with good signings and new coach)
Cas ( I like a lot of there recruitment, Hardaker was a huge player last year for them. Dont think they’ll get the injury luck that they had last year)
Wakey ( played some good stuff last year)
Huddersfield

Who knows what the finals will be. A lot will determine on which side can keep key players fit.

Can’t wait though! We’re nearly there guys.

Delighted that everyone has Salford so far down. Same as always and am happy to go under the radar again. Recruitment has been good and have strengthened the pack considerably. Would like another speedster, but am happy for young Bibby to get more game time.
Can’t wait for the season now, off season seems to have dragged.
Good luck to u all

You may well confound the critics who know.

However let's be honest you may have recruited well within limitations but you look to me to be considerably weaker on paper than last year - sorry

1. Saints - Started to look like they were coming good late last year.
2. Hull - Should be up there but depends on how they cope without Ellis.
3. Leeds - Even without McGuire they know how to win.
4. Castleford - Hangover from last year and losing Hardaker will set them back.
5. Wakefield - Good squad depth will see them pick up points over smaller less experienced squads.
6. Wigan - Lost a few players and don't seem to have replaced them properly, looking stale.
7. Warrington - So much depends on new coach. Players tossed it off last year not a good sign.
8. Hudds - They should be capable of this if they keep key men injury free.
9. Catalans - Depends if McNamara can change the loose culture at the club, I'd guess not.
10. Salford - Still have some quality but not much depth - can see them in the bottom 2 if they get injuries.
11. Hull KR - Not much stronger than when they went down.
12. Widnes - Lacking quality and depending on the kids coming through.

On paper I would say KR are much weaker than when they went down. The side they got relegated with just shouldnt have ever gone down. The difference is they have a much better coach now.

Perhaps so. I don't see them doing better than 11th really either way. They'll be in the mix with Widnes and Salford in the bottom three.

I wonder how things are behind the scenes though. The reason I think Salford will be relegated (if relegation is still in place) is partly because the squad looks weaker, but more because I think the club may have to offer reduced contracts, not offer new contracts, sell players mid season etc to stay afloat, which may impact on field performance. I hope I'm wrong, but think Salford are in for a tough time.

So many unknowns for Salford at the moment around the off-field stuff. Nobody seems to know if the £8m debt has been written off, transferred to the new owners or what. It’s obvious the club loses money so who is covering losses going forward?

As a Bulls fan I’m very familiar with these issues. If they're not sorted it can go pear shaped very quickly.

On the field I think Salford have a decent enough starting 17 but things depend a lot on their new Aussie halfback and losing BMM takes away a lot of their impact. They will upset a few of the top sides while they stay fit but I think the season will take its toll on their meagre squad.

Hull fc will pick up key injuries this year and struggle,you heard it here first.

1. Saints
2. Cas
3. Warrington
4. Wakefield
5. Wigan
6. Leeds
7. Hull fc
8. Widnes
9. Huddersfield
10. Catalans
11. Hkr
12. Salford

I really think the Oz effect on Leeds, Wigan and Hull will be quite telling especially how its placed in the season.

Saints
Wire
Cas
Wigan
Hull
Leeds
Hudds
Catalan
HKR
Wakey
Widnes
Salford

2016 was incredible for low injury rates but the coach didn't take advantage of this and flogged the players without rotation thus we flagged extremely badly at the back end which cost us dearly.
2017 wasn't too bad either though the coach learn't from his previous blunder and got the youngsters in early doors.
I think we have a few reasonable back ups, there are some inexperienced youngsters in the forwards but Ellis isn't a big miss for me, his go forward waned long back though his tackling and on field presence were still top notch however we lost him for far too many games anyway and barely did half a season (18/35 in '17 and only 82 games in 5 seasons).
Every team has injuries in any case so it shouldn't ever be an excuse.

Aside from Shaun Wane and Wigan of course.

Be fair Wigan don't have injuries they have epidemics.