It was more of a brief summary for argument's sake. And to prompt a possible response.



I actually don't think there is a massive difference between Hull KR, Widnes, Salford and Leigh.

I would agree with that, which is why I expect those teams to be in Super League next season. I am looking forward to seeing how Leigh react to playing consecutive Super League teams in a league format, rather than the getting themselves pumped up for an 80 minute knock out game.

I hope Paul Rowley sticks by his word and continues to adopt the same attacking approach, as it will make for some great games.

They are the teams i predict to go into Superleague.

I think that says it all,as shown you can all compete against each other in the bottom of SL. Climbing to next level of SL as been the problem. The question? still remains what level you are actually at and are the Championship sides in the mid 8's at the same level.

The other big imponderable is the quality & style of the refereeing. SL speed ptb &offside? Championship speed?
Discipline is massively important. A 2 match ban picked up in the first game will mean that player misses 1/3 of the remaining games. No coach will be impressed by that!

Widnes
Hull KR
Salford
Leigh V Wakey in the million game
Bulls
Sheffield
Halifax

Hull KR pulled off some excellent results earlier in the season - think they beat Wigan and Saints at home - but are on a poor run at the moment. Campese is a big loss for them because he looked different class IMO. They have the most quality in their squad of all the Middle 8 teams I reckon.

Unfortunately for Leigh, they play Widnes away, which is a disadvantage, as Widnes are much stronger at home. At the LSV I think you'd have a decent chance but I think it'll be hard in Widnes' back yard.

I wouldn't rule out Wakefield either. They were beating Leigh comfortably in that cup game and threw the game away - a more confident side might've held on for the victory and they've improved a bit since Brian Smith came in.

As for Bradford - the bookies don't fancy us, probably given our recent run of results, but we've been missing key players for a while now that are all back in full training. I've seen enough this season to suggest we can hurt teams, but for us it's about doing it consistently over 7 games and putting in 80 minute performances, of which we haven't put in too many this season.

Hopefully Widnes will already be safe and they won't give stuff. Actually i hope we will be safe at that point

If Leigh play to the full potential for 80 minutes I think we'll surprise a few.
No such thing as a given as I also think Sheffield will shock a few given how they play when it comes to Play off RL.
Too difficult to call which is exactly what sport should be all about.

Agreed, I keep switching from feeling confident of us turning over Hull KR and Salford and making top 3 to being convinced we are going to blow it, lose to Fax/Sheffield and miss out on the million pound game.

Think the optimism of the last 2 years as a Leigh fan is battling against the many disappointments of the previous 22 years

1. Widnes
2. Hull KR
(I think Hull KR are probably the best team in it but Widnes have big home advantage, had Widnes only had 3 home games instead of 4 I'd swap those two around)
3. Leigh
(Play to our full potential for full 80 min every game & defend as well as we can instead of taking the "We'll just score more than you" attitude we seem to have had at times and I'm fairly confident of automatic promotion. Think it's a big advantage playing Bradford & Wakefield at LSV especially considering we haven't lost at home for 2 seasons now.)
4. Salford
5. Bradford
(Two odd ones, both been a bit inconsistent, Bradford play some very good attacking rugby though & will definitely be challenging. Depends on how Salford go with their off field issues, if Salford decide "Right this is it now, last chance shape up!" they should do well, if they struggle 1st few games though heads could just as easily go and they could collapse.)
6. Wakefield
(Been poor all season, not sure a brand new temporary team just for the Super 8s will really help. Yes they pushed us close in the Challenge cup but once we stopped handing them the ball at half way on the 3rd tackle every set we ran away with it in the 2nd half)
7. Sheffield
8. Halifax
(Both will play some good rugby and both will cause a few scares might even be the odd upset but think this is where full time V part time will show. Not sure being full time has given us a particularly big advantage up to now but it's definitely going to be essential to getting enough recovery when playing against full time teams every week)

Leigh don't know how to play any other way.

Even the likes of metre-monster props Moimoi and Emmit have learnt how to offload and pass too.