OK it may be that we don't have much choice in the way we go about our recruitment, in that we don't have the cash to bring in half a dozen stars each season. However I sense that is not what Denis would want to do anyway, preferring to keep a strong core of the squad together with a good team ethic, adding a few extra quality players here and there that address identified weaknesses.

Our first batch of recruitment was on a "beggars can't be choosers" basis as a new SL Club, so it wasn't surprising that a few players with less than perfect attitudes slipped through the net and were ultimately weeded out.

Our more targeted approach to bring in the likes of Brown and Tickle, has really paid dividends, as has a rare overseas signing in Galea (by that I mean a player who hadn't played in SL). We have also found the scope to bring in Phil Joseph and give him his chance.

Now we have addressed a size issue in our pack with the arrival of Manuokafoa and Dudson, a lack of zip at dummy half with the arrival of Heremaia and some extra flair in the second row with the arrival of Clarkson. OK it is debatable whether the Dave Allen who finished the season well, should have been released, but clearly the judgement was made.

What we haven't seen is a move for an outside back, which maybe due to Denis concentrating limited resources on stiffening up the pack, maybe lack of availability or may simply be that Denis is confident that we will get a better season out of Phelps, Marsh and Ah Van and or that the likes of Declan Hulme and maybe even Ryan Ince will kick on and force their way into contention for some game time.

What has been particularly pleasing is that established squad players have in the main continued their own development under Denis' guidance and improved their game year on year. Hopefully more improvement will be seen from the backline with Brett Hodgson's increased contribution too.

This approach has got to give us an advantage over sides that year on year make wholesale changes to their squad, in the search for the right blend and quality.

In theory we should be able to use our continuity to kick start the season, whilst other squads are getting up to speed.

Sadly the only thing that has been absent following this approach has been the extra fans needed for us to kick on further. Lets hope we can have another good season and tempt a few more to come along!

Problem is that they have just cut down to 12 teams so we can hardly say that any of the 12 are in the comfort zone. If karl Kirkpatrick was still around and did a couple of our middle 8 games (If we end up there) we would have been really struggling.

I think Wire, Wigan, Saints and Leeds are definitely in the comfort zone with Huddersfield not far behind and Salford could well be up there to this time.

I think one area Widnes are strong in is team morale, most of the squad have been together a number of years now and we have no big egos, while this won't neccessarly win you a match it helps when times are tough. I think we'll be as usual pretty tough to beat at home and once again much will depend on how we travel. Should we finish in the bottom 4 which is a high possibility then i won't be panicking, i think we have enough about us to bounce straight back from the split.

I think the home wins v Warrington,Saints and Wigan helped give a false impression.There were those 'silly' home defeats to Cas,Wakefield and that almighty spanking from Hull.Can't afford daft home losses this year.

We should have an advantage in terms of cohesiveness in the early games, but they are a tough set of fixtures, so we need to find a few wins early on. Wigan tend to be slowish starters, so there may be a chance in our opening game. We need to break our duck against Wakey too. Hard to see us winning at Leeds or Hudds, based on past performances, depends if we get a roll on. Maybe both Wigan and Saints will have a weather eye on the World Club Challenge series of games, lets hope so!