If your right, and I wouldn't argue with your logic - though I do wonder about Cas and the assumption they will be so much poorer in 2015. On the basis of your prediction top certainly looks better than 2nd!

I think its very tough to predict the bottom 4 in SL, id put money on wakey and widnes, and if I had to take a punt id probably put the two Hull clubs in there. Think Cas will do ok and surely Salford will make top 8?!

I think the Hulls have both recruited quite well this year.....Castleford punched well above their weight last year and I think they'll suffer this year and Salford........let's hope the Dr has plenty of blood pressute pills handy!!!

Could be any of seven really, but finishing top will prove pivotal I think.

Whilst the revolving door at my club has fallen off its hinges, both Cas and Salford have once again had a high turnover of players (roughly 10 each in both directions - ins/outs) which makes them susceptible for the bottom 4 in SL.

Its my view one of the Hull clubs will miss out on the play-offs, with either Cas/Salford making the 8 or the lower tier - I think most people are of the opinion Wakefield and Widnes will struggle this season.

TBH I hope Cas do make the 8. IMO they have made 2 very good signings in Gale and Roberts although the loss of Huby and Huaraki is immense. Meanwhile Koucash seems to have pinned his hopes on ex-Kr Dobson - the question is can he forge a partnership with Chase? If they click then they have the pack to get them into the play-offs.

As for the Hull clubs (and trying not to be too bias) apart from Minichello I don't think FCs recruitment is solid enough to make the 8, whereas KRs chances rest on a whole team coming together and doing a Cas - mind you Campese and Kelly do whet the appetite. Both Hull clubs have the packs to win the arm wrestle they just need their back lines to fire - IMO KRs looks the most potent and will scrape us into the 8.

On London's chances of finishing in the top 4, I am sorry to say I see you battling it out for 3rd/4th with Featherstone, Sheffield and maybe Halifax.

The Bulls and Leigh look the strongest squads and Fev have recruited well and are hardened battlers, not unlike Sheff. Going to places like Batley (the infamous slope) and Donny (the Fc link up) won't be easy and Hunslet's 'Rhinos' second string will cause a few upsets.

It will be a very interesting season, especially now my club have DR'd with Fax.

Campese really could go either way, and there's a fair chance he'll disappoint looking at age and form. Im a bit biased toward Cas as I like them as a club but they have a proven coach and seem to have a really good culture in the team of working for each other. Hull and KR are both strong enough to make the 8 and will pick up some good wins next year but I expect them to be inconsistent and lose a fair few too.

Not a big fan of Dobson, but they have a lot of strike at Salford now and will be able to get themselves out of some tricky positions with their pace as long as they're half-way competitive in the middle. There's still a big question mark of Iestyn though for me, knowledgeable and hard-working he may be but does he inspire his players?

Will be a very interesting season.

Good post

I agree about inconsistency but its also a lack of team spirit (culture) that has dogged both Hull clubs. For Rovers the high turnover of personnel (again) means the glue needs to be re-applied which is not conducive for consistency. Campese has been signed to bring consistency to Rovers play, if he disappoints then I fear we will end up in the middle-8.

I agree Paul, but, lets face it, it will be immense for one club to overpower a SL outfit, it would be near miraculous for two to do it, personally I think only Wakey and Widnes have anything to fear, whoever the other two clubs are, I expect them to be far too strong for even Bradford to overhaul.

The likelihood of a chump side doing it straight rather than through the 'million pence' game are slim. The guarantee is a chump side away from home at a SL side in that game. Hardly stacked in their favour. It'll be an interesting season.

The thing is completely loaded. "Every Minute Matters" - I don't think so

I think the games featuring the teams finishing 9th and 10th in SL playing 3rd and 4th in the Championship could be painful to watch....the SL sides will be wary of not getting dragged into the one off lottery game, so points difference will be important.....we will see some major hammerings.
Wakefield, Castleford, Salford and Widnes averaged 50 points a game against us last year......the gap is massive between the 2 competitions.

Yep, I can see some hammerings too, but I think a League with a miniscule outside chance of promotion is prefferable to a Franchise system that was frankly "Sheeite"!

Correct Pete.

Franchising failed for a number of reasons, most of them of the RFL's own making. All they did was grant licences and then not follow up when clubs failed in their delivery of promises......new stadiums in Wakey/Cas.....new fans and corporate common sense in London, financially viable business plans in Wales, Bradford and Wakefield......but nope, they simply sat back and let it unravel.
Franchising works in other sports......this 888 has been trialed and has failed already. The only way a champ team goes up is if a SL club goes tits up......kind of like how it was for the last 6 seasons really. Once the chairmen at the clubs who finish in positions 13-24 in this structure figure out that SL isn't attainable, they will lobby for yet another change and we'll have 1 up 1 down. It'll be like 2008 all over again........and clubs will go bust trying to stay up or trying to get up.

Do you believe that Fev getting hammered 90-nil at home by Salford in front of 1,500 fans is going to be "entertaining"? Do you think Fev v Castleford will make the british media sit up and pay heed?

Licencing needed 10 years or more to bed down and the likes of Bradford should have simply been cut loose......other sports let their so called big clubs fail, so why should we be different?