I wonder id video refs take an age to make there minds e.g. did player A get a finger on the ball or was player A in offside position. The video ref took 5 mins and 25 seconds to work out Hull FC player got a finger tip against Wigan in the playoffs

Jesus wept. Haven't been on here for a couple of weeks. Pick a topic that I think will be an interesting read to find it being derailed by that attention seeking, long necked African thing from over the hill. The first couple of pages went well, then we had twenty three posts from him/her of nauseating boredom with an argumentative slant. A chimp would be a more fitting avatar.

When you say "over the hill" are you meaning over the Billinge Lump, or "over the hill as in past it.
I come from Atherton you see and tend to get easily confused if things are not clear.

Feeling very confident for the coming season... And, i'm also confident that as well as winning, we SHOULD expect some entertaining play..

Aww bless. Did the saints fan have an opinion you didn't like? How dare he.

What Saints fan? You were put on this Earth merely to start arguments, weren't you?

And don't claim you're a bloke coming out with opening gambits of 'Aww bless' whatever that means.

Yellow Giraffe, I think you should wind your neck in!

On a serious note, it's great to see all the old rivalries warming up for the season. It's been a long wait but I can't wait for Thursday and
the weekends games.

FWIW, Wigan are strong favourites for me for the big prize and a fully fit first 17 has to be the best side on paper.
Wire have a good forward pack but I worry about our attack in the 3/4.
Got to say that I think the problem we'll have in our 3/4 will be extended across the whole Saints line up (not complaining though!).
Looking forward to seeing Cas play with Chase, and to see what Leeds will do.

I'm personally hoping that the big four (Wigan, Leeds, Saints and Wire) all have strong seasons. Hopefully they will be the four contesting the CC semis and GF semis as well.

Games between any of these four are the sports big ticket, fanfare, shout from the roof tops about our great game type of match ups. The game needs these them to be on top form.

I was taking to a couple of mates in Wigan last night and said the same about Wire. A superb pack but the backline looks ordinary to me and there's a real lack of pace in the halfbacks. During the conversation I could see a blokes ears prick up at the side of us, he was a Wire fan and in fairness he pretty much agreed as well.

As I said to him the pack is that good and superleague is that poor that Wire still have every chance of winning the lot though. If Wire had a player like Williams alongside Brown/Gidley and a quality centre then I'd have you as favourites.

I think this could the year for Wire.
I really would like another team outside the usual suspects to breakthrough but just can't see it. Personally I'd love Wakefield to finish in the top 4 but think they will run out of gas.
Leyth will surprise a few and finish in the top 8.
Widnes to finish bottom.
Albeit they were only friendlies I think they showed we will play a different style this season and if TL and GW can keep free of injuries I'm looking forward to a much more expansive style and hopefully playing with a much more uptempo approach.

Predictions? No idea really. It will as ever be decided by the team that goes into the playoffs with the best combination of fitness and form. We got enough back last year (particularly Faz) and found enough form to surprise many including me.

On paper Wire have to be the strongest opposition. Great pack on paper and the old adage "Packs win matches, backs decide by how many" is still true but we also have a very strong pack. Looking to be an exciting season. I am sure Leeds can't be as bad as last year. No idea about Saints.

We certainly need to be more entertaining this year and I think the early signs are promising. The amount of attacking players we have means we need to allow them to express themselves. They did that through the super 8's and we saw a real change in style that needs to continue.