cas achieved a high finish a couple of seasons ago when nobody really expected it before the season started

Higher League position than last year and a Cup run to at least the semi-finals.

Expectations and where we should finish with the quality of squad we have amassed seem to have a huge disparity.
If Radford can't reach top 4 and secure a play off with this squad (the best we have assembled in years) he should be shot. Anything less (barring a CC win) frankly should be considered another failure, I can't believe people are saying 6th is considered a success, how quickly we forget!

Expect top 6, wouldn't be surprised if we win it.

Would you allow him to be blindfolded first or just have him bound, on his knees and give him one in the back of his head with your petition stuffed in his mouth?

We have strengthened but so have Warrington and Catalans IMO never mind Wigan. As for the Challenge Cup, it's the luck of the draw by definition. As fun as Sunday was it's no indicator that we can suddenly be confident of reeling in the lines of Saints, Warrington, Huddersfield. 6th would be an improvement and a cup run would be great. That said, there are a few in our squad approaching the end of their careers - Ellis, Pryce, Mini etc - so there'll be extra appetite to do something in the cup IMO, draw permitting.

I just hope we see Jamie Shaul play at least one game.

I expect us to play entertaining exciting rugby, not to fussed about where we finish in the 8 as long as we are competitive and in touch with the 4 , think the top 8 will be a lot closer this year. What I don't want is to sit through the dog rugby of the last few seasons and scrape into the 8 with no chance of competing

4th.

We should be challenging IMO.

A top 4 or 5 slot and a good run in the Challenge Cup will be a significant improvement. Lets get Radders and the boys.......... In Radders we believe

A typical post full of sensationalism, unrealistic expectations and a negative mention of Radford. The more you post, the more I think you're a troll.

I've not seen anyone who has classed a 6th place finish in itself as success, a better measure would be how we compete with the big teams and how close we are to the 4. 6th could be 1 point behind 4th place, or it could be 8 points behind. If it's the former, that should signify an improvement on last year by anyone's measure. A failure, would be no improvement on last year, with 7 Super 8 dead rubbers.

Top 4 would be my hope of course, but 6th is a lot more realistic playing decent rugby. Catalans & Warrington have recruited very well like us, and last seasons top4 remain strong.

A couple have remarked on the obstacle to a top 6 finish posed by Cas and Hudds. I'm guessing there won't be much separating the three of you but see no real reason why you shouldn't finish above one or maybe both of them. I'll say 5th or 6th with a handful of genuinely impressive wins against the (likely) big 4 thrown in.

It could be argued, in a rather obscure way perhaps, that a stronger Warrington and Catalans will help our cause as the top 4 teams are more likely to lose more games than they did last year.

At the split, we finished 7th and 6 points off 4th, so we should be to improve on that and I see no real reason why this can't happen.

Pack is no problem, it will depend on how our halfs go and if Carlos and Fonua do better than expected we could surprise a few.

Certainly the best squad we have had since 2005/06,

So instead of engaging in meaningful discussion/debate you revert back to form...congratulations.

We massively underperformed in 2014 and the season was an unmitigated disaster, 2015 we underperformed yet again in reaching 8th with proper Jekyll & Hyde rugby, luckily for us we had a period of some really good rugby but too much of the drab clueless stuff was on display and the two KR matches epitomised our season to an extent.

So now with the best squad and set of forwards we've had for many a year, Radford with 2 seasons under his belt and all we can say is 5th or 6th is where we should be and it's an 'improvement..it clearly isn't, it's just putting us back on a par where we were 3 years ago, something that led to our then coach getting turfed out for having the temerity of reaching 5th, winning a play off game after reaching the CC final with a squad inferior to what we have this season.

if we don't reach 4th or win the CC/come within a hairs breadth of winning then it's another failed season in my eyes.