"]Going to a tight race for the 8, I can only see Rovers out of the bottom 4 challenging the 8 though.'"

gotta agree with this, I felt our weakness was up front and I dont see what we have done to improve it, centres look better to me tho Dave and Dixon could still become a class act. Finally..... the peacock effect. colour nailing 8th and cup final return.'"

He's too short for a winger.

We need to spend and hopefully he's doing this already, all of our time putting bombs up into a swirling wind.

Then, after that, he needs to massively improve his passing game, particularly from left to right.

His elusive running game his is strength, and in broken field this is best utilised from full back.

I won't even go into last line of defence as I've done this many times before.

He reads offensive plays pretty well, but he doesn't call the defensive plays with enough author, I don't think he understands that aspect of the game at this level.

It's just not a question of telling your team to jam left or right from the play the ball, a full back has to have done his homework and be able to read the oppositions plays and make an educated decision about what they're going to do and then neutralise that.

For me, there's not been an all round complete full back since Lockyer was playing there, and the game has changed since then.

I agree Dave, Sio at fullback and dixon on the wing for me. You can still utilise his blistering pace but feel safer with Sio at fullback defensively but still brings great attacking quality. Makes more tackle busts n all and gets your set starting quicker.

Dixon in open space is brilliant, so if you could play him outside thornley who can potentially slip him a few passes, he could be lethal. Remember his try at leigh in round 1 of the middle 8's, got slipped by his centre and nobody even tried to catch him.

Chris Chester needs to make a decision early doors and ensure he starts to build some partnerships with wing, centre and fullback. No point continually experimenting for me.

Forwards, i think you will see a completely different tilse and allgood this year, and with green coming on think we will be alright. We always made yards, it's defensive technique we need to work on in our middle. Too easy to make yards and quick play the balls.

This is bye no way any sort of excuse because the club knew this would happen but we went through a huge bedding in period last season and by the time things where looking up then the skip got injured it sort of drained the club, this season there won't be any sort of bedding in all our imports are here early and know what they will be up against after a year of being here.

Regarding the centres Salter played almost the full season after gouldings injury (which was a disaster in its self because he was a very good player) but that leaves thornley (who Wigan wanted to keep) and minns (2nd in the championship young POTY awards) to replace welham

Full back will be Ken sio so no worries in the slightest on that 1, Dixon Charlie or Shaw will play on the wing.

And i can see your point regarding the pack but if we can keep campo and Kelly fit then we can keep Blair in the back row with Clarkson and a new signing and upfront we did it really tough last year and looked pathetic at times so allgood coming back will be a huge boost and 3/4 into the season we had ruined Adam walker so hopefully a preseason under his belt we can get the 1st half of the season walker back 1 or 2 more props to come into add to tilse and the impressive green i hope we will be ok

Add to that a new more professional backroom staff all hand picked by our new football manager things will improve next season I have no doubts at all and all this is coming from 1 of the most pessimistic kr fans about

On our 2016 squad thread, I have just posted a summary of Neil Hudgell's comments on RH Sportstalk tonight about our intention to sign another couple of forwards for 2016. As this is likely to happen, given the source, allied to other improvements and settled squad factors for now, I think Oafy's and others predictions of a better and more successful 2016 is a good bet. Time will tell, but reasons to be cheerful, 123.
BTW - I agree that Minns and Thornley are good upgrades at centre over Welham and Salter.

The problem with the forwards was not only the lack of metres made but more worrying was the amount of easy ground given up.

This season we consistently allowed teams to take more than ten metres from every play the ball with one out rugby.

Hodgson used to shut that down, we desperately need to be more efficient around the ruck.

Once teams get a roll on us we hugely struggle, and then our awful goal line defence engages and we all know what happens after that.

Agree 100%. That's because we lost the arm wrestle in the collisions, resulting in quick ptb's. That meant we never got our markers set. We need to watch the video of Leeds v Wigan in this year's GF again and again to learn how it should be done.

I think that the chairman said that we are looking at 1 or 2 new forwards. One prop and one backrower. Targets have been identified and the deals will be done if we can agree terms.

That's how i heard it and he said we still lack a bit of punch in the forwards

Think I'm the only one who would rather have Sio on the wing and Dixon at FB. As the goose says the days of an alround fullback are long gone, Hardaker is close but still has defensive lapses. Dixon's dropping of the ball was over emphasised as apart from Wembley he didn't drop any more than any other FB we had. Sio on the wing offers us an added attack threat with cross field kicks.
Dixon will be targetted on the wing by any big winger, at FB this is a lot harder to do.

I'm certain it wil be Sio at FB and he did ok in the small stint he did (against championship opposition) but I do wonder what he'll be like there against top quality opposition.

Dixon failed massively at full back he made his name on the wing at London then looked really good on the wing for us, Ken sio is head and shoulders above KD in both positions the guy is pure class

Did he? Pretty sure the guy managed to get a number of MoM performances and was in the top 5 SL try scorers. I saw massive improvement in him at FB (Wembley aside) week on week. I think we're far too quick to give up on a player because the fans spot a weakness and can't see past it. Hardaker would look poor in our defensive line, its been said before a FB is no longer the last line of defence.

I agree on the wing Sio is head and shoulders above him both physically and defensively but has he really proved himself at FB?. He looked shakey in the first game he played there and dropped a lot of ball under no real pressure. The rest were in games against poor opposition that we struggled against. I think we lose too much out wide by moving Sio, just rewatch the magic weekend to see how much.

You're right. Dixon was more than OK at FB last year, his 1st season in this role, despite a Wembley Horror Show and a couple other below par games in the position. He was excellent on the wing too.

Sio was good on the wing and post Wembley at FB, but like Dixon he had the odd sub par and costly game, most notably on the wing in the home Hull derby.

Both are excellent players with flair and strike and need to be in our starting 13, interchangeable as required depending on the opposition.

For me, Sio's physical strength and Jarryd Hayne style running lines make him more of a threat at FB from deep and when joining the line than Dixon. He is a better passer and tackler too. He could be a Dream Team contender in this position next year. That said Ryan Shaw also offers us further credible depth and flair at FB and wing and Charlie is non too shabby either.

If Thornley starts at right centre as is likely, he is tall, strong and physical and will compete for the high balls better and will score more tries as a result. If my memory serves me correctly, like Goulding before him he used to be a provider of tries for Charnley at Wigan and can set up good try scoring opportunities for his winger from this position than Salter can. Whoever is on the wing outside him, say Dixon to begin with, would also be a major beneficiary of any extra space and ball supply.

At the begining of this thread I was looking forward to next season My 53rd season since I first went to the old craven park as an 11 year old. But having studied the fixture list I have taken the decision not to bother with a season pass & I doubt i will get to any games. Only 4 home games on a Sunday, I just wont go to night games as I dont get home untill after midnight & having to hang around the station for well over an hour is just what I dont want on an evening. I was looking forward to taking my grand daughter but no way can I take her on thursday or friday nights. I have written to the club but I doubt it will do any good? for me it as been awfull to realise that I wont be going anymore & any claims to be a family club are now gone it is a club for anyone but families. It is one of the sadest days of my life & feels like a bereavment.