Anyone else think that this year and next year are pretty pivotal to us? I know we have some decent youth coming through and time will tell how they will go, but end of next year we will lose Ellis, Minni and Pritchard. Add into that Washy, Yeamo and whomever else either wants to leave or we naturally get rid of........Houghton will be 31/32
I just feel with the way things are with some clubs on a lower ebb, we really need to kick on now whilst we have genuine great players playing to a higher standard than we are used to. We have a chance, we really have a chance.

I cannot believe how excited I am for wire next week. Been a long while since I felt like this.

Completely agree that it's our best chance of some silver wear in a long time, with Leeds and Huddersfield having nightmares, Saints being mediocre and even Wigan have been more efficient than spectacular so far. There's a great chance for us, Catalan and Warrington to shake things up.

How we cope with a defeat could be key, there's lots of high profile games coming up. Such as 1st v 2nd next week, Catalan in the cup, Another Derby, Leeds at home, all mini cup finals and it's unlikely we'll win them all, but if the team can rebound from a setback and not slip back in to old habits we'll know we're on to a winner.

Said at the beginning of the year that if we don't do the business this year then Pearson will be up creek, expectation from fans is massive right now and the pressure to perform for all people at the club is building as that expectation rises as shown by the posts/threads. IF, IF we fall away that could really do the club a lot of harm even though beginning of the season most had us 5/6/7th and right now we are way ahead of our wildest dreams.
If we don't win anything how will fans feel given were we stand right now, given the lower expectation the last time we got to a final on the back of an injury ravaged season and no superstars(Briscoe was our best player granted)

The downside of signing players from outside the club as a fix to the ailing support and lack of success means that it has stunted somewhat the development of the upcoming players. We've had plenty of debutants but only Green/Bowden/Hadley have cemented any type of regular game time since their debuts in 2012/13, Adbul got a bit of a go last season, some down to injuries but is behind others for the forseeable future, Logan seems to be further back in the queue now also, Fash and Downs have had very limited chances, Lancaster isn't further up the pecking order, sure we have kids signed up but realistically how much game time are they going to get in the next 2 years with who we have signed up already unless we have severe injuries?
That leaves us with signing more experienced players, it's a catch 22 situation.

Still, we could win the treble this year and slaughter the Australian's in the WCC

And Jamie Shaul

Utter rubbish.It what way would it cause "a lot of harm"? As ever you are building the club up for a fall.

If people like you turn away from the club then that's a silver lining to a potential cloud.

Well exactly. How harmful can it be to have gone in our best run for a decade rather than bumble about in mid table for the umpteenth year? Regardless of what comes next the first part of the year has been exceptional for many reasons. The quality of the players taking the field, the team spirit, the attacking cohesion, the go-forward of the pack. If for personal reasons folk choose to spend this time dwelling on doomsday scenarios that's up to them but personally I'm loving it. 6th was the target for me, we're in the 8 with 6 matches to spare. As was mentioned on the radio last night, all teams have a lot more bad times than good with just 2 trophies on offer. Not going to waste our moment in the sun by going inside and waiting for Ceefax to tell me it'll rain next week.

I think the OP is right though and think we will struggle to replace Mini and Ellis in particular like for like, so this is as good a chance as we'll have. Catalans, Wigan and Warrington will be in exactly the same mindset. Regardless, if it's not us I hope Catalans or Wire win it, would be great to have a new name on the trophy.

At the moment there are only 3 decent teams you cats and wire wigan seem average to me saints are awful so the grand final is a real possibility

Houghton won't be 31 for another 4 years yet.

I think Wire have the edge simply because they've been in far more play-off football than us in recent years. Be unimaginable IMO for a team that finished 8th after 30 games last year to suddenly perform well all year and win play-off games.

I said on the Rovers forum, we need to win something this season or next or it will be a real disapointment.

For me this is the best SQUAD we have had since we got into SL, and won't get a better chance than this year.

Looking dead set for the top 4, good chance of a CC semi, will we get a better chance, if we can do OK for injuries we have a really good chance this year.

Wigan will be there, after we beat them they have loads of tough games away from the DW and I though they might struggle, they have won the last 3 including 2 tough away games at Cas and Salford.

Oops my bad, good news though - Sorry Danny

Maybe the Leicester of super league