now the squad is complete , what is a realistic aim , squad looks great on paper , lama tasi looks great on youtube , watching junior sau trample all over cockayne on his way to his try against the knights gave us a glimpse of his talents , but theres still a fair few most of us know nothing about going into starting 13 , anywhere from 6th to 8th would be a great season for me , i think us both hull clubs and catalans will be fighting for those spots ,hull kr have recruited well i think and have depth in strength , surprisingly i think hull are the weakest of the 4 , can`t wait for february now , just hope the squad says fit and we can push on to the play offs , lets enjoy it

Top five will be Wire, Wigan, Saints, Leeds, and Hudds. Which order I don't know. With the exception of London all the other teams could be in any order below those five.

You'd probably say Hull will claim a sixth, seventh or eighth. Seventh and eighth could be any of Salford, Widnes, Wakey, HKR or Catalan. I think Cas could also challenge but will need some luck. I think Bradford and London's situations will do for them what happened to us this season gone.

I think a lot of how we go will depend on keeping key players fit, in my opinion we have taken a risk on 3/4 very injury prone player: Morley, Rapira, Gleeson and McPherson also H only played 14 games for Wigan last season and missed the World Cup through injury and Danny Williams always seems to pick up a few niggles. If we can keep them all fit for the majority of the season there is no reason why we can’t finish 6/7th as our pack on paper matches up with most in Super League. If as I suspect we don’t manage to keep them all fit then we may be looking at between 10th and 8th. I just hope the medical staff Nobby and the Doc have employed have done all the necessary checks before completing the signings (I’m sure they have by the way)

Anyway here’s to a cracking season and one that we can hopefully enjoy for the first time in a long time.

In all honesty I think next year will prove a closer SL then ever before. I think we are honestly capable of 6th or 7th, I am not being over confident here I am just looking at what we have and more importantly what cover we have. If nobby can get them to gel and more importantly keep them disciplined then why not?

I think we would have to be happy with 6th - 8th but would hope for higher and stranger things have happened (e.g. our last excursion into the play-offs), even if we finished 9th I wouldn't be too disappointed given what we had to endure last year but anything lower would be terribly disappointing. I just want to see some exciting games where we compete and play some attractive rugby to be honest.

No not at all, I'd be more than happy for the lads you have mentioned to be given a run, in fact I'd be disappointed if we didn't use them even without injuries as it's a long season and they're all more than capable of playing at the required level.

McPherson and Morley worry me the most (more so McPherson) they are two very strong front rowers who we need fit IMO. I don't know much about Rapira so it would be unfair to comment.

saw a clip on youtube from a maori news programme about Steve Rapira saying how close to retiring he was because of his knee , but he was making out this was his final throw of the dice and seems to be coming over motivated with a point to prove

rlBrian Noble dismisses claims his team is a bunch of mercenariesrl

Good piece here from Ex MEN Hack Trevor Baxter,



Realistic expectations ?
If some of the partnerships gel , then we could be in for some exceptional games.
We could just as likely see a few awful ones as passes go to ground players overrun or slicker opposition exploit the new team not playing ' as a unit '

I don't get where this lack of depth comes from?

Last season we blooded so many of the younger players and none of themlet anyone down, OK they were never going to be bolters for England but they did themselves no harm at all. The thing last season they were coming into a beaten team full of pretty much dead wood, this year if say the Walnes or a Ford came into the squad they will be surrounded by a much higher quality of player who can leak by example.

I personally think anyone who finished above Saints next season will be the winners as they have recruited extremely well and have some brilliant youngsters coming through, for me one of the big 4/5 will struggle and will only just make the 8.

For us I think 8th will be a fair result and a kind draw in the cup to further help spread the word of a resurgent Salford.

leak by example
great malaprop
I thought for a minute we'd re-signed Lee Gaskell

Hey if I don't know how to spell things how on earth is spell check.

Just a misprunt.

At Pendleton Gateway meet, Brian Noble said they had planned for a 35 game season. Seeing as the regular rounds come to 27, this means a further 8 games, play off's to the final and a Challenge cup final finish
I'll go with that

Our grand total of extra curricula games = 1playoff, spanked by Bradford & a semi final appearance I still have nightmares about.. Can someone remind Brian the title of the thread is realistic aims.

When you know your boss is ruthless for success, I think you aim high.