Quote: Dave K. "Stanley, Simms, Lussick, Mccrone, O Brien and Russel are all very good players, all of those have had very good careers in either SL or the NRL, are most are at a good age and would look good in SL.
I think they are a big threat to any SL clubs who are in the middle 8's.
I think you will be OK, as I think Widnes are the ones who will drop out, Salford might also join them, but they have some good players if they start to play, just in poor form at the moment, still looked strong in spellls against us.
Think Rovers will be Ok if they get Mcguire and Lunt playing.
Tompkins is Ok, nothing special any more and I'd be more worried about his playing ability than off field matters, but he has to be an improvement on Chris Clarkson.'"
The thing with the 8s is that they’re so brief that one slightly surprising result has a potentially massive impact on your chances. They’re very tough to predict across the crucial positions in mid-table. At least they offer some excitement after what’ll effectively have been a sixth month pre-season. As was last year in fairness, but the psychology of a promotion push is different to a relegation battle.
I feel a bit for Clarkson because he’s not a bad player at all. He’s just deeply unspectacular, and we’ve got about seven of him. Mind you, without so much middling depth, we’d have struggled to field a 17 some weeks this year.