I'm fairly sure Bradford/London would have been happy to keep them so not sure where you get that they are rejects from

I think the standard this year has been so poor they are somewhat in a false position. I fully expect them to put a score on Widnes but to be honest I am not overly impressed with them. A few years ago the current Wire team would be in the mix but not being talked about as Champions.

The main issue with Wire however is I think they have hit the ground running whilst others hopefully have yet to find form. They are comfortably the best side in the comp this year but on the other hand I think there is plenty of improvement in others, including us, but I can't see much improvement in Wire.

If I am wrong and others don't improve Wire could well go on to be Champions in one of the lowest quality SL seasons ever, but that will not matter when they raise the trophy at Old Trafford.

If other teams do improve as I hope and expect they are still serious challengers and I guess injuries and how they deal with the inevitable dips in form will also highlight their credentials as champions.

Because the OP..

I accept your point that Bradford & London would have been happy to keep Bateman, Sarginson and Clubb but for various reasons, mainly salary cap and the players themselves wanting to play at a higher level, they couldn't. I'm equally sure that wigan would have liked to have kept Russell and Hughes but again for various reasons, mainly salary cap and the players wish to play every week, they couldn't.

Ex players are often referred to as a [name the team] reject whether they are or not, but to suggest that this negatively affects their mindset playing for their new club is plainly ridiculous.

there is plenty of improvement to be made with the Wires team..plenty. The 1st half against Cas was the attacking level we should be playing at consistently....prior to that its been VERY patchy.

Defensively we were very good against Leeds, awful against Salford, average in other games....so again...get up to a consistent level and maintain in.....thats were the improvement will come.

Other teams, from what I have seen, have PLENTY of room for improvement....should make for a good comp with some cracking games over the full season.

You'd have to put them as favourites as things stand but things change and quickly. You can boss a season in the weekly rounds but come totally unstuck in the play offs as both Wigan and Warrington have found out at points.

They've got a good set of players and are playing at their peak IMO. We'll stand a chance of getting over them at the end of the year but we're going to need our big players back and an upturn in form to achieve it.

We're playing nowhere near our peak at the moment, aside from first half against cas, we've been patchy and come from behind to win late against catalans and salford.

We've been getting victories without playing particularly well. plenty of scope for improvement.

From what I've seen I would put Wire as favourites this season. Gidley, Sandow, Currie, Clark, Russell, Hill and Sims would walk into our team at present. I was always sorry that we had to let Jack Hughes go as he's a real team player who does the tough stuff well and is very consistent. However his ball handling isn't as good as Joel, Faz or especially Bateman so I understand why he had to go.

I don't understand the criticism of Sandow at all. He is pure class. Players like that by their very nature tend to be inconsistent. You take the rough with the smooth - because there is plenty of smooth (just like with Sam). He is a match winner and there aren't many around.

There is no prop to touch Hill at the moment and Clark has settled down to the form we know he can produce.

However, it is very early days. I remember a few years back when Saints won all their games up until Easter and everyone was talking about them going through the season unbeaten, until we stuffed them on Good Friday at their place.

I expect Wire and Widnes to be close, and a slump in form is to be expected. It's a long season (cliché alert).

But yes. They are the real thing. Genuine favourites.

What he said

And to add, the decision to let Russell go was short sighted and wrong. Sam was in front of him but Russell is quite versatile. The Russell and Hampshire situations have a lot of similarities. Prop wise, Hill, as ABOP says is the best by a country mile and has been for ages and Dodds was looking good until the bad injury. Not so sure about the rest of the forwards however, Simms is easy to play against, you just need to get under his skin and he loses it. That is where i would pinpoint their weakness (if any) Gidley as already stated is clearly a natural leader in everything he does. Wingers are good going forward, possibly vulnerable defending though. Sandow has been immense. Currie is superb. If i had to choose a second row pairing between him, Bateman and Farrell i would go for Currie and Bateman. That shows how good Currie is because Farrell has been in the top 2 second rowers for a good few years and would take something pretty good to dislodge him in any team of mine. I think the youth that is emerging at Wire is encouraging too. I thought at the beginning of the season that the signings they made would flop and the youth would be thrown in too early but they have got the season down to a tee so far. Well done to them because i thought they were heading on a slippery slope. As much as i would have found it funny i find it much more enjoyable that we have 3 maybe 4 teams with potential of upsetting the top 4 and i said it a few weeks ago that this years Challenge Cup should throw up some fantastic ties. Whoever wins it this year will have done it on merit as opposed to the 'lucky draw' that folk like throwing around.

Heres to an entertaining season, and whilst the rugby may not be as expansive as we would all like at certain clubs, you can't deny that it's enthralling all the same.

It's weird, it would be great in theory if all the teams were poor and we walked it, turning up every week with a gimme and winning the GF at a canter.
but

I would love SL to be so competitive that a team that wins it one year could easily finish bottom the next year even at full strength.

I have always enjoyed the feeling beforehand and taken more pleasure after a win when i went to a game thinking "this is a toughie, could go either way".

The Wire/Wigan games a few seasons ago...i loved them, tit-for-tat results, good, hard fought, even and entertaining contests.

You need quality as well as competitiveness. The way it's going there will be 12 Wakefields taking to the field each week.

They're looking good at more or less full strength, but I don't think they have the depth that other top clubs do...I suspect they'd struggle just as much as we have with a similar injury list.

Yep your right, forget all his time in the NRL he has been consistent for a full month!

Well I for one am enjoying a bit of early season dominance from clubs this side of the Pennines and hope it can be sustained. The Warrington v Widnes game is a sell out on Friday which has only happened once before and it can only benefit teams in our area. Will be nice not to hear so much of the Yorkshire chants. Just need Leigh to get their act together now.

To be fair we have a few out: Dwyer, Dodds, Wheeler, Bailey, Laithwaite, Harrison, Ben Evans and Toby King injured at the moment. Plus Gidley, Westwood, Atkins, Ratchford and Clark all missing game time so far this year. The younger players who did a decent job last year, Johnson, Philbin & Patton are yet to get a look in. So I'm quite happy with our depth.

I'd agree we have been scratchy at times this year, certainly against Salford & Catalan. We haven't had that fluidity yet (Cas first half aside) and defence has been up and down.

I'd also agree we look like obvious front runners as thus far Saints, Leeds and Wigan look to have gone backwards. All 3 will obviously improve as the year goes on, especially when you get the Tomkins boys back.