1. Hull - Radford'll finally get them consistent.
2. Saints - GF win
3. Wire - Good improvement readying for a big push next year. EDIT: guess I'm saying 2019 could be their year!
4. Leeds - CC win also looking good for 2019
5. Cas - loss of fear factor but still a decent side
6. Wigan - Seem a bit aimless, badly need Williams to rekindle his form and their pack to perform.
7. Wakey - Decent season again, might finish as high as 5th. Fast teams running an oversized pack ragged will give them a poor points diff though.
8. Hudds - Brough grabbing fewer and fewer games by the throat as he ages.
9. Catalans - Survive easily but too many imports coasting as usual.
10. Salford - Battlers in adversity
11. Widnes - Not enough depth, odd good win though.
12. HKR - McGuire to save his best til last and carry them through the MPG.

Hull FC
St. Helens
Castleford
Leeds
Wigan
Warrington
Wakefield
Widnes
Huddersfield
Salford
Catalans
HullKR

Wigan CC
St. Helens GF

can see hull finishing top with saints close second, Leeds close 3rd wire, cas 4-5th. Wigan will not win anything and will not make top 4
Leeds will win either CC OF Gf but not LL
Hull to win at east one trophy. saints to get to grand final but not win it.

Hull
saints
leeds
wire
cas
wakey
wigan
catalans
hull kr
hudderfield
salford
widnes.

For the people picking Hull to finish top. I would have put us there myself if not for what we are going to have to contest with in the first few weeks.

After Huddersfield at home we obviously fly out to Aus, play Wigan, always a tough game. Then whilst some other sides are getting a break we are playing St George. Then flying back to play Cas away, Wire home and Leeds away in the space of 13 days.

To win the LLS you really need to hit the ground running, but there is every chance we could have a losing record and a few bruised bodies after 5 rounds. I dont think the LLS is a real goal. It will all be about keeping key players fresh, safely making the 4 and trying to be at our best when the playoffs arrive.

Now that kind of post makes sense Zucchy.

can see top 3-4 being only 2-4 points maybe even down to points difference.

Very possible. The bookies certainly can't seperate the top few this year, although interestingly they have Wigan as their favourites, who alot of people are writing off.

Do you think that Leigh, Toronto and Toulouse will "win" promotion or be granted top flight status in some new shake up, designed to fulfil the RFL's dream scenario.

It's mickey poor that we are about to start the season and the top clubs in the Championship and those who may be most at risk from the current SL clubs dont know whats happening, never mind the paying public.

Wood's may have gone but the up in the brewery still cant be organised properly.

Maybe, just maybe," some people" want to see how certain clubs shape up before deciding what they want and yet again, when the new structure is revealed, there will be cries of favouritism.

If we were going into the new season knowing that it would definitely be a 14 club SL next season and how this was going to be achieved, either on field or, with off field criteria, perhaps clubs could plan accordingly.

They don't seem to be anymore although all still very tight, one bookies I've just looked at has Cas and Saints at 4/1, then Leeds and Wigan 5/1 and Hull and Wire at 6/1.

Can't recall it being that tight between so many clubs before. Really tough to call which two of that group will miss out on the four.

Out of those 6 teams, I think Wakey will disturb that group. I have Wakey to finish 6th, so dependent on injuries and their current form at that time,they could do well come the end of the season.

Could get top 6 if one of those contenders has a bad year as we've seen with Leeds '16 and Wire '17. Could well be Wigan because as someone said earlier they do seem a bit aimless at the moment compared to the others. Seem to need O'Loughlin out there or struggle and his fitness/amount of games played is questionable.

Hull FC
Leeds
Castleford
Warrington
St Helens
Wakefield
Wigan
Huddersfield
Catalans
Hull KR
Widnes
Salford

Head to head, Wakefield are already above Wigan. They've each won 3 from 6 but Wakefield have outscored them on average over the last two years and nilled them twice in the same period. The others are a bit different, they've sat behind the other teams for a while now, I think they'll push on and finish 5th again or 6th, but I wouldn't be surprised if they made the top 4. On the other hand, it's still Wakey, there's always the chance of the bottom 4

And in that period Wigan have won a GF, a WCC and reached a CC Final