I’m not sure I’m convinced it’s any tougher than I’d expect from a random first 7 games from 11 other teams?

League finishing positions (Qualifiers classed as 9,10,11,12)

Leeds 2,
Hudds 9,
Widnes 10
Wigan 6
Hull 3,
Saints 4
Catalan 12

= 46/6 = 7.6666. Statistically a weaker than random set of opening games.

Hudds finished 8th. We finished 9th.

Noticed that within an hour of the fixtures being released, our game V Castleford was moved from Friday night to Saturday afternoon. That's got to be a record for a fixture being changed ?

Also, shouldn't it be divided by 7 if so the average is 6.43? Statistics are funny though as we still appear to be doing quite well with below average opponents. However, are Catalans away fairly ranked as a 12?

Anyone know why the Cas & Salford games easter week haven't been giving kick off times yet, can the dates still be changed or are they just waiting to hear on the KO time

Amended - League finishing positions (Qualifiers classed as 9,10,11,12)

Leeds 2,
Hudds 8,
Widnes 10
Wigan 6
Hull 3,
Saints 4
Catalan 12

6.4333.

Entire Season
(1+2+3+4+5+6+7+8+9+10+11+12)/12 6.5

Worst case fixtures
(1+2+3+4+5+6+7)/7 4

It's a fair opening sequence.

Always hard to judge difficulty of fixtures, based on finishing positions from the previous season. The teams playing Warrington early in 2017 probably didn’t expect such an easy ride.

Correct, the fans of those teams certainly didn't if you look at the Prediction Thread on the VT where we were consistently near to the top, generally in the top 4.