ok then if we had not won the challenge cup and finished 10th then thigns would of been said diffrent but when you look back at the hull kr game the old warrington would of given up all hope after going behind in the 2nd half where as now theres more reason to be optomistic with smith in charge and the right squad of players to choose from exiting times next year i think and a few more players to come maybe?

To be fair Sal, you did say something similar about Warrington for this season.

Apologies I must have erased the 2002 season from my mind.

However this isn't an argument about theoretical logic. If you want to be pedantic of course its not impossible for us to win Super League, just like its not impossible for Salford to win Super League.

Us finishing 10th in the league isn't an observation on the past, it's an observation on the present. We've added Myler, Atkins and Solomona to the squad, those look decent signings albeit with some question marks over all three. We're losing Rauhihi, possibly one or two others. So with the give or take of the squad changes this year I don't believe we have strengthened ourselves to a position where we are going to be the best, or the second best, team in SL next year, which is where we will need to be to win Super League.
We could win the Challenge Cup again, given another favourable draw, which would actually be a fantastic achievement, to defend that trophy. And I would hope we can make the playoffs and win at least one playoff game, make a bit of an impact. But I think we are still a bit off the pace when it comes to being strong enough to win the SL title - see Hull KR and Hudds this year, they've done well but they won't be lifting the trophy at Old Trafford.

I think you have to factor in that the youngsters will be a year older and wiser as well. Eventually they will be the key factor in getting us to a grand final.

So, who did Huddersfield bring in that magicly transformed them ? It was low key recruitment, Hodgson aside, in fact with the Carney affair, you could argue it was a period of instability that. They had the core ingrediants for rapid improvement there already, just as we have. They needed a coach to make this happen, we have the coach who can make this happen. They came a win away from finishing in the top two, which you reckon is the only way you can win it. So they went from 10th to 3rd, a cup final appearance & a win away from 2nd in 12 mths, so it's possible that any side can do it, especially a side that has spent the second half of a season putting the building blocks in place for the next one.

We've never been in a better position to seriously challenge to win SL.

To go on from JWP's observations, we are now also starting to get young players coming through for the first time in years. The Club is now in it's most healthy position all round since the Murphy era.