Great piece and yes
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Bit too soon to compare us with our early 1980's vintage.

It's starting to feel more like the new dawn that came with the Smith/Cleal era. Then we continued to improve, won some great games and headed the league for weeks before dipping down to third, but secured the Premiership.

This team is now really growing, as is Radford and the spirit and confidence is there for all to see. If we keep this up, we will definaty be competing at the end of the season. It's a very open competition and we are now capable of beating anyone on our day.

It's exciting times ahead for us I feel and the stability we have now laid down for next season means this could become another special time for the club.

Add in a quality 6 and 2017 could be a very good year for us

After seasons of false dawns, yes I do.

I'm getting there for sure. Players seem to have that confidence and confidence is an amazing thing in a dressing room.
We've been on the wrong end of confidence for a few years.

Tidy up Defence as we are 5th best D and 2nd best attack. I like 2nd best D and 5th best attack. That's usually how you win Championships. Adam Pearson was kind enough to email a few weeks back and said Defence was their number one priority.

Canberra Raiders have scored more points than Melbourne Storm but Raiders are 9th and Storm top. However Storm concede only 12 points a game and Broncos only 11 points a game. This is RL at the highest level and only 11 points a game conceded.

For the first 7 games of the season Wayne Bennett hasn't coached attack in training. Only Defence and Broncos are joint top.

Placed bets on CCup at 21/1 and Minor premiers at 20/1 and GF e/way at 11/1

Placed more money last night at 10/1 for minor Prems as can reallly see us having a shot.

Tighten up the D and I firmly believe we can do a Treble

Great post.

One of the biggest positives for me is the number of leaders we have on the field at the moment, players looking to lead from the front. Obviously Ellis is pivotal in this, but we also have Houghton in arguably career best form, Sneyd stepping up and running the plays, and Taylor whose attitude is one of refusing to be dominated. I think the combination of these with Talanoa and Fonua causing problems out the back and a very good blend in the pack means that the group's confidence, individually and collectively, is justifiably high ATM. The whole thing could go to carp at any point of course, but I think fans' confidence is that we've got a strong, fit squad, and are playing cohesively and consistently, not depending on the biggest individuals in the club to create something from nothing like we used to do with Willie Manu, for example. Definitely feels like a more enjoyable season than the last few, so far.

Ah Wembley 1983, the scars still run deep. I was a fresh faced 17 year old and the bitter disappointment of that day on those terraces probably prepared me for many more to come. I don't think though anything will ever match that defeat, odd's on favourites, playing rank outsiders and just won the league. It really shouldn't have happened.

You had to go and mention that ... and the thread was going so well.
I had erased 83 from my memory in a kind of Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind scenario

I was 15 and remember those feelings as well. I was in tears in 1980 and absolutely incandescent with rage in 1983. I did enjoy 1986 though!

All our other Wembley defeats were in matches which could have gone either way.

The 1983 match was one were expected to win and should have won. We cam out all guns blazing in the second half and got into a lead before being pegged back by a dogged and more enthusiastic Featherstone team.

In the end, Featherstone deserved to win and I never had a problem with that at all.

I still think our total no show versus Wigan in 2013 was the hardest defeat to stomach.

It was and as I said earlier I'm sure that should we make a final this year or next we will be mentally as well as physically tougher.

I've been one of the clubs biggest critics for the last few years, but I BELIEVE! Been a long time since we've seen an FC side play with so much passion, team spirit and organisation. Several players have lifted their games (most Notably Sneyd) to levels I couldn't have imagined just a few months ago.

We are still probably a centre and stand-off short of being on full-power, but in a year when many teams are inconsistent and Leeds out of the running, why can't it be our year?

This is the best set of players across the park that we've had for years and it appears to be competitive with all other teams in the league. We have a really good chance to advance in both comps. As stated fitness of key plays will be crucial.

Unfortunately, being of an age, I can vividly recall crying in 1959 and 1960 when we were demolished by Wigan and then Wakey. As a 17/18 year old it was pretty hard to take and subsequent defeats at Wembley have done nothing to take the pain away. Thank God for Cardiff, at least I was there to see us lift the cup.

Could have been very different if Charnley hadnt run down Jamie Shaul