Was wondering where this squad is really at in relation to the rest of superleague.
I think it’s safe to say last season was a bit of an anomaly and didn’t truly reflect where certain clubs were ourselves included.
It was refreshing to witness exciting skilful rugby from our guys, something that’s not been too common at belle vue certainly over the last 20 years or so I’ve been watching.
This season has the all too familiar feeling that I’m turning up because I’m a fan as opposed to being entertained.
I do think recruitment has been poor Pauli and horo have offered nothing more than what we already had, this combined with teams/coaches being more mindful of us appears to have taken away the brief gust of wind we had in our sails.
Whenever in post match interviews we start mentioning the effort and commitment of the players it’s never a good sign and the good old look how far we have come to a few years ago, as if that’s supposed to console us as we stand there watching professionals repeating the same basic mistakes over and over.
It’s just frustrating watching poor unattractive low skilled rugby, the players themselves felt confident of a top four finish would be interesting to see where they feel they are at now.

I think we are about spot on in the table if you compare our squad on paper to all the others. I think all the teams above us are better on paper and all the teams below us are worse than us on paper but as we well know the game isn't played on paper......

7th

Disagree with OP on the entertainment front.
Just because we don't win the game doesn't mean we are not playing entertaining rugby.

Clearly execution at Salford and we have missed some opportunities in other games but we are on the whole still playing good rugby.
Other teams are not taking us for granted and Warrington/Sts and Wigan have all stepped up slightly on last year.

There is still a long way to go. If we finish 7th and are still competitive in the 8s I'd say that is a successful second season.
It's quite possible we will push on through the summer with the games we have coming up but that remains to be seen.

I agree with this. 7th would be okay maybe a semi-final in CC. But Chester needs to know who he wants as his 1,6 and 7 next season because that isn't helping. Unfortunately, Horo and Pauli Pauli haven't pulled up many trees but I expect Pauli to get better as he goes on. He's already shown signs of improvement as this season has gone on.

The cash we spent on Pauli and Horo should have been spent on a good scrum half.Do not mind Rocky or Jowitt but coach seems to like two 34 year olds instead

Easier said than done.
If we give Jowitt and Hampshire a long run in the side and lose some of the "must win" fixtures, Chester would be crucified.
He has to balance bringing the younger players on, whilst still getting results.
The default position for all of our "important" games will be to go with experience.
The only way this will change is when the younger players do get a chance, they need to shine.

Mind you Hampshire had a great game in the halves, only to get dropped a few weeks ago.

However, unless you are Wigan or Leeds and can afford to lose a few games and still make the top 4, every club has the same problem.

My main concern for Tinity is that we havent improved at all since the start of the season and the lack of cohesion with ball in hand must be worrying all of the coaching staff.
Penalties, errors and lack of structure near the opposition line are alarming.

I agree with most of what you say. I have been slightly disappointed by what I have seen so far, I did expect a bit more, but having said that, we could easily be where Hull are right now, so i'd have settled for that at this stage. I'm really not sure what to make of Pauli, I wasn't really sure what to expect after being out for so long, I think if he doesn't improve in the next couple of months, with better weather/pitches, then I doubt he'll be here next year. Horo has been a bit hit and miss, he definitely has something, just needs more consistency maybe. I think 6th is still a realistic target, the next 6 games or so will probably determine if we can finish there. No excuses from Sunday, we just have to start playing better and give ourselves a chance in games, hopefully big Dave can give everybody a lift.

I don't think we have been anywhere near as entertaining as the last 2 seasons, i'm not sure it's all about poor execution, i'm not sure we are trying as much stuff as previously. We have the worst attack bar the bottom 2 teams.

Don’t think we’re as fluid in attack as we were last year , I was hoping we would sort of carry on from where we left off , but we seem to get bogged down in games more. We seem to be going over the same basic mistakes game after game instead of kicking on .
On their day when it all clicks into place They can give the best teams a run for
their money , but where just not consitant enough . I think we have a terrific blend of players we just need them singing from the same hymn sheet

Spot on, 7th is a good place to be for a team yet to find it’s form - some people need to get a grip the season is only half way through and nothing is yet decided!

I wrote a paragraph of rubbish to post in this thread but I'm just gonna cut to the bottom line.
I don't think what everyone else is doing is that significant.
I just don't think we're playing as well as last season, and that's that.

There's time to turn it around but we're not building a season, we're still in planning and its probably too late to emulate 2017.
But, ya never know, the big build might start Sunday...

7th to 8th is good and beat we can hope for just a dissappoitment from last year but been in top 8 is the main thing.as for comments of have we been as good as last year no we haven't no where near but how are we to many unforced changes esp 1.6.7.maybe one good thing may come for season to come chester may learn from mistakes

At the start of the season, I predicted for us to finish between 5th and 7th, and at the moment, I am sticking with that, but I feel we need to improve on our last couple of performances. If we can do that and start picking up wins again, we could really give ourselves some breathing space.

I do though, to a degree, agree with Alegend, regarding the half back comment. I do like Hampshire, Miller and Finn, but I do think Finn is running out of gas. Ackroyd is said to be an organiser, but just think now is too soon for him.

One thing for sure though, the regular chopping and changing of the half back pairings is not helping either the individual players and the teams overall attacking play.

Last week against Cas, yes Gale went off injured, but we came up against another half back that we were linked to at the end of last year, but was deemed by some on here as not good enough