Fair enough. Either you didn’t clarify that or I didn’t understand so in that respect I’ll agree.

It depends on numerous factors. Saints couldnt live with us in 2014 but they won the league and we didn't. If we somehow play our best 17 every week and they have 9 or 10 missing all season then who knows what might happen?

A good coach can get a little extra out of players that leads them to achieve things they should never achieve.

Shaun Wane managed a side that quality wise got worse season after season but he pulled that extra 20% out of them when it mattered. I'm not his biggest fan in terms of his playing style, but he would have taken this side further than Lam has and I would back him to take 17 blokes out the pub further than he should do as well.

Cheers. For clarity, my comments on this thread were about next season with the potential of SW being involved. There’s no doubting his credentials as others have said, but I did feel it was time for him to move on when he did. I just can’t imagine him playing anything like second fiddle to Matty Peet or anyone else though!

Didn't they finish top of the league and it was 1 win each in the regular season?

Did you think they would win the GF?

The point is that under the rules of the comp, you have to win enough games to make the playoffs and then it's all about who turns up on the day and bits of luck here and there. A guy like SW is perfect in that scenario regardless of the players he has. Not to mention that good coaches change structures and systems to suit who they have in their team. Would you have suggested our 2009 side would dominate as it did 12 months later?

We haven't even announced any signings yet or who the coach is and people have us down as struggling and someone even said finishing bottom 4. Baffling.

Me either. So he has to have had a huge shift on attitude towards being second fiddle to make it work. It can’t and won’t work otherwise. My fear is that he may say it has changed but when he gets back into the club and gets the cherry and white juices flowing again he won’t be able to stop it.

I’m half/half. Another part of me thinks we should go completely fresh and have a full 1st team coaching staff clear out and bring in new people with new ideas. I don’t think there is an easy answer here in all honesty. Each has potential significant draw backs and potential significant up lifts too.

wow

Who has said we will finish bottom 4 next year?
We don’t know our squad yet

Exactly. We were within a whisker of winning the GF last year and we’re 7 wins from 8 league games this season without playing well and with significant disruption in our squad due to injuries. We’re not far off at all and a few quality signings and the right coaching appointments for next season could put us in a really strong position for years to come. That’s why our recruitment and retention is so important now.

There have been a couple of posters who one said we would be bottom half, and another who said we'd be bottom 4

Exactly, and yet we have talk about Trent Robinson struggling to come in and do anything (with over excessive defence of Adrian Lam) cries that we have no ambition and panic on a Mr Mainwaring scale.

I’ve been as frustrated as anybody these past two and a half years and certainly this year the glaring gap in quality in the front row is really hurting us and even then we’ve finished 2nd, 1st and now sit 3rd with 7 wins from 8. We’ve done that with a coach who IMO is out of his depth. We lose some quality players for next season but even ‘if’ the recruitment ends up being uninspiring, as long as we get a half decent coach we’ll knock out a top 6 place in our sleep. The league is dreadful at the minute and it’s what makes these past few seasons extra frustrating.