Depends on what impact Cartwright can have on the squad, Holbrook transformed saints with roughly the same squad left from cunningham and most of that was due to the systems put in place by the coach. FWIW I reckon around 8th for us next year can be seen as acceptable progress.

Agree, top 5 is well ahead, but don't see much in the rest to say we could finish above them, probably unlikely to get 6th.

Last 2 quota spots are really key, pretty happy with the pack, but backs look weak.

Gotta love the blind optimism of some of our fan base

There is no reason we can’t finish 4th-6th
That’s if JC is the correct coach
There’s a few recent examples of teams doing well under new coaches such as Leigh and scumbags.
If we beat dobbins in their GF on July 14th then it just shows how quick things can turn around
If the Coach is right then I’m always optimistic

“welease Wohan”

Seems nice for a change rather than outright pessimism from others

Realism v delusionism

You say realism but you can’t deny the impact 1 or 2 top quota spots can have on a side.

Should Asiata be fit for the whole season, we replace Pele (and Okunbor) with class imports and Rimbu ends up going well. 6-8 is easily achievable.

A lot of if’s but you can’t say it won’t happen. Cartwright had been around a fair while and has an in-depth knowledge of the NRL player pool.

Only issue is NRL vs SL needs an entirely different style of player

Yippee said around 8th.

I’d hardly call that delusional

If all of the stars align and we have a perfect season we may get 6th, but it won't and we won't

You can’t comment on that yet. Cartwright could be an unbelievable appointment but could equally be a flop. Right now it is literally Optimism vs Pessimism.

Leigh have a rebuild
Salford will have a rebuild (as always)
Wakey will have a rebuild (they’ll be unbalanced)
Cas have a rebuild
Catalan have a rebuild (but they’ll get it right)
Leeds have a rebuild
We have a rebuild

Literally half the league are rebuilding for next year. Some will flop and some will surprise everyone. We could be either

Well let's get the signing of Balmforth done this week. Looks like he's ready to have some first team from his last two performances.

Reckon we should give Balmforth what he wants and make him captain too.
Wonder if he might make Wane’s international squad.

We already look more solid. You’d think the likes of Asiata, Holmes and Jed Cartwright might help with that too. The coach isn’t a miracle worker but he seems to have a good reputation for fitness and defence so hopefully that alongside the solid journeymen we’ve brought in will put an end to the blowouts and have us competitive in games.

The investment happening and getting sorted will be key. If it’s still on track for the back end of the year like AP said then we could still do something. We are still 2-3 match winners away from most of our potential rivals. A ball running 6 or fullback and couple of backs with a bit of strike. Decent quality NRL players still become available late on in the year as the salary cap squeeze hits and clubs finalise business. If we are in a position to offer more money then our rivals by then and get some real quality in then we can be competitive. That’s the key though everyone wants these type of players, we have to compete financially or the likes of Huddersfield will just continue blow us out the water for players, never mind the real big spenders in the league.