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.

1. St Helens
2. Castleford
3. Hull FC
4. Leeds
5. Warrington
6. Wakefield
7. Wigan
8. Catalan
9. Huddersfield
10. Widnes
11. Hull KR
12. Salford

It was so difficult to pick a table this season. I feel based on current squads Salford are in the most danger with Murdoch-Masila, T. Carney, Dobson, Walne Brothers and J. Carney departing and I'm sure if the replacements are of the same calibre. Plus as many have said I think they will have off field problems too.

I think Widnes have actually recruited decently with the acquisition of the Albert brothers, Wilde and Inu. Hence why I think they will finish above Hull KR and Salford. But not cause any major problems to the top 8.

Perhaps my most controversial and potentially silly prediction is Wigan in 7th. Based on their current squad I am struggling to see how they will replace McIllorum and Gelling. My guess is they will go out and recruit someone but if they get one or two injuries (especially to O'Loughlin) then I think they could struggle.

Catalan have recruited well. And I think Wakefield look good this season too despite losing Allgood and Sio. Hence their higher finish. Still won't do damage to the top 4 though. Warrington look stronger with a fresh coach and some very good players brought in.

Finally I think Castleford will finish 2nd because of Powell as their coach. They have lost a talisman in Hardaker, but also the leadership of Lynch, and some good backups in the likes of Crooks, Monaghan, Patrick and Larroyer. Mitch Clark could well be a good signing (we've seen him in 2016 at Bradford) and Lo, Clare and Wardle look good. However I am very unsure of Aston, Green and Ellis.

I am positive there will be a restructure for 2019 but for the sake of this thread:

Grand Final - Castleford (hopefully) but head says St Helens.
Challenge Cup - Leeds or Hull FC
£1 Million Match - Leigh vs. Salford with a win for Leigh.

Salford and Widnes to go down with Leigh coming up through £1M Match and Toronto through finishing top 3 in Middle 8's.

Both were fairly mediocre players who weren't first choice and took up quota spots. Squad is much better without them IMO.

Had a first look at Salford's new signings yesterday and pleasantly surprised.

Jack Littlejohn started at 7 and showed some nice touches and has a decent turn of foot for a half. He's a big lad as well and defensively looks pretty sound.

Levy Nzoungou ran the ball in hard and made good yards. He looks very promising for a 19yo and should be a good solid squad player.

Ben Nakubuwai is a big unit but doesn't look the most mobile. A few nice offloads tho and he could be a handful if he gets into decent shape. Not quite a like for like replacement for BMM but again he's young and there's potential there.

Derrell Olpherts - Strong and quick and looks like he could be a handful on the wing. At 25 he's not mega young but he's obviously done his time in the lower divisions and he looks like he could be a good solid SL player. I'd be more than happy if he turns out as good as Josh Griffin was for us.

Gavin Bennion - Likely to be a squad player at best with the forwards in front of him. Scored a good try tho and shouldn't be any worse than a couple of players that departed at the end of last season.

Losing the likes of Dobson & BMM were a big blow but everyone on here seems to think we've lost half our squad. I certainly don't expect us to be whipping boys like most forumites but I'm not expecting a top half finish either. We've got plenty of size in the pack so shouldn't be bullied by anyone but we do lack pace in the backs so will come up short against the best backlines in SL. Overall i think we've got a stronger squad than last season but the starting Xlll is probably a touch weaker.

Realistically we should finish above Widnes and KR and then it's a matter of picking up those extra couple of wins that sneaks us into a top 8 position.

I'm going to say we'll finish 9th and hopefully another decent cup run.

Top 4 for me will be Saints, Hull, Cas & Leeds with Wakey having another decent season and finishing top 6. W@nky can't be anywhere near as (rather enjoyably

) awful as last season and Hudds will need need their big 4/5 star players to stay fit or they'll be lurking around the bottom 4 again.

Fair enough. I can only go by what I have seen of them which admittedly isn't a lot haha so I'll take your word for it as you'll have seen them a lot more than I.

Can I ask why everyone thinks Widnes will struggle this year? What do supporters from other clubs see wrong with our squad. I know we haven't got the biggest squad and we finished 12th last season but we were decimated by injuries and the squads overall fitness was very poor. We have addressed the fitness issue by replacing our conditioner. We finished 2nd in the middle 8s and our youngsters are a year older now.

Well for me its quite simple, you have the weakest squad in the league in my opinion.

You were awful last season and you have lost 2 of your top players in Corey Thompson and Bridge and replaced them with a centre whilst has plenty of ability has shown he has 0 appetite to be playing RL.

If i were a Widnes fan i would have 0 confidence in Betts, but that`s just me.

or quite possible that 9 or 10 other teams are stronger, but we will see how that transforms onto the pitch, look at warrington last season, leeds before

widnes will trouble teams at home no doubt but not may away

easier to predict bottom 4 than the top 4/6 atm
salford, widnes, rovers and catalan (still dont look strong enough) for me

huge blow for hull kr losing addy, even if they bring in some fresh players it will take them a while to settle in