One of the top stories on this site that I run and keep spamming these boards about in a vain bid to get interest

very similar to what it looked like in 2010.

I think that there will be 1 change in the 8 with Crusaders dropping out and Salford, Bradford or Castleford stepping up.

Bottom 3 are Wakey, Quins and Crusaders IMO......though in what order is hard to tell.

The suprise package will be one of Bradford or Salford.

Wigan to win the GF and hubcap.......St Helens or Leeds the CC.

Easter will see Widnes confirmed as the new SL club and as for the announcement on who drops down........there are already 5,673 threads on this subject and the truth is, nobody knows what will happen.

It's hard to tell. Warrington are banging their chests as if they are invincible again as they do as the actuality of the season descends into a hazy memory of their glorious cup win.

Injuries could have a major say as well. Warrington without Morley and Briers? Lambs to the slaughter.

Wigan without Tomkins and 11 other players the same. Less likely but it's happened to Hull and Saints and once it does it's impossible to resurrect your season even if they do return to fitness.

i'll go for bradford being in the top six,comfortably.
huddersfield and hkr for seven & eight,in any order.
cas,salford & wakey in that order.
the WC's,quins & catalan,in that order.

as for who goes up and who goes down, i think it all depends on the new TV deal.

1. leeds
2. wigan
3. st helens
4. warrington
5. hull kr
6. huddersfield
--------
7. hull fc
8. castleford
9. salford
10. bradford
--------
11. catalans
12. crusaders
13. wakefield
14. harlequins

backing the fax bid
backing the underdog

1- Saints
2- Wigan
3- Warrington
4- Giants
5- Leeds
6- Hull KR
7- Hull FC
8- Bulls
9- Salford
10- Castleford
11- Catalan Dragons
12- Wakefield
13- Crusaders
14- Quins

I say bring up Fax and Widnes get rid of the crusaders (won't happen) and Quins

Opinions are like 4rseholes....and leeds have the bigges "opinion" as head coach for the start of the 2011 season.......I doubt he will be by the end.
Seriously.....if you think Leeds will win SL this year with an unproven coach (in fact...it's been shown he can't coach) then you need your bumps looking at

Yea you can tell when there predicted to finish fourth and we've been predicted 7th I think you can lol considering we have strengthened alot to last season were still to finish below them hmmmmm.all though let them right us off at there peril we will finish top 6 minimum this year i think 3rd 4th would be about right

I'm not as confident to be honest, teams like Wigan, Saints, Leeds, Warrington and Huddersfield are all probably better than we are. Hull FC do actually have a good squad and have had on paper for the past few years, their problem comes when they cannot handle injuries and relying on injury prone and ageing half backs. If however Hull keep their squad fit they have the potential to be around the mix as do we but 6th and 7th are likely finishing positions for both clubs, in which order I do not know. Hopefully HKR will surprise me and perform way above last seasons standards.

I would say HKR have one of the best packs in the league (letting myself in for another Aussie debate here!) Vella, Fisher, Clinton, Mason, Newton, Galea, as starting choice while Lovegrove, Hodgson, Watts, Cook, Taylor, Murrell are the up and coming pack with Wheeldon, Netherton, Beaumont and Peterson to all come into contention too. The depth and quality this pack has with a good mix of ages I'd say could perform within the top 3 of the league, even more so if the hooking role had more quality to it. What I think brings us back into mid table is the backs, indevidually Briscoe, Fox, Webster, Welham and Colbon are high standard players, get the best out of all of them on a regular basis and it is a quality back line, the problem is they have never seemed capable of playing like the top 4 or 5 that I mentioned. Saints never say die attitude, Leeds bullying their way down the field before McGuire or Burrow turn on their blistering pace, Wigans flowing passing movements, Warringtons size out wide with speed to match and Huddersfields resolute defence and astute kicking game. These are the things HKR do at about 75% while these teams are around the 95% mark most weeks.

For me Salford will be the surprise package this year and are the one team I am not looking forward to playing. They have signed some good players with Patten being the pick of the bunch while it will take them around a third of the season to gel their back end to the year could see them fight for 8th spot and potentially throw up a surprise in the playoffs.

League Leaders and GF Winners I honestly think Wigan will do it, their three Melbourne stars coming in are improving on the dead wood that they got rid of (that most other SL teams would have in their 17 every week!) and although Finch is injured it will be a massive boost for the team when he comes in mid-season and what teams had been preparing for will completely change once he settles in.

Challenge Cup Winners I'm going to go for St Helens, not because I think they have the best squad anymore but because the players there know how to play in last chance saloon games. Eastmond will be a massive boost when he gets back from injury as will Pryce but while those two are out injured it could be a slow start so aiming for silverwear elsewhere is what I think they will do.

Wooden Spoon, It all depends if Wakefield can afford to pay their players through the season, if they cant and they start releasing their top earners then I'd say them, if they can keep afloat then Harlequins are probably my bet.

Wigan
Warrington
Saints
Huddersfield
Leeds
Hull FC
Hull KR
Salford
Bradford
Castleford
Catalans
Crusaders
Harlequins
Wakefield

1. wigan
2. st helens
3. warrington
4. leeds
5. hull fc
6. huddersfield
7. hull kr
8. castleford
--------------
9. salford
10. bradford
11. catalans
12. crusaders
13. harlequins
14. wakefield

If you swap Bradford and Salford around, that's exactly the same as what I think.