I expect rotation in forwards with Thommo, Richards, Greenwood with already established players, Hewitt, Charnock Foz and more edged in this year- don't forget that having Walsh and JLo plus Wilkin back is just look adding to the squad off season, Vea to join in and further depth with Lance, Savelio, Walker and Dawson to spell some players when needed- if the squad were told they could remake history again by rotating when required and spelling players correctly........who knows????
I have it on exceedingly good authority that Lomax is fit and raring to go.It will be up to the coach to decide when he comes back.
Learned comment from The Don
Straight fight between us and Wigan I think this season. Obviously the cup can be a lottery should someone get a favourable draw but generally, I'd still make us and Wigan favourites.
For the first time in years, I'm writing Leeds off. Ageing, weak up front and far too reliant on Peacock.
Warrington will be strong in the pack but don't think much of their halves.
Catalans will be supremely strong in France. Until they prove they can consistently win in England though, they won't be contenders.
Everyone else is fodder.
I think this season we will have the most competitive league for years,Saints,Leeds,Wigan and Warrington will again be fighting for top spot but Catalans will be there or thereabouts,Castleford will be contenders again under Daryl Powell, Salford should make the eight along with Huddersfield in my opinion.
Hull,Wakefield,Widnes and Hull KR will have to fight it out with the championship teams and I can see at least one team from the lower league coming up,hopefully Leigh.
2015 could and should be a very good season for the game. The reduction in the play off spots from 8 to 4 will instantly make every week more competitive and will instantly make wins and losses feel more important. Which is how it should be.
I think we have to be supremely confident of making the 4 and probably should be aiming to finish Top 2 if we come anywhere near our potential, but it's no guarantee that things will be that easy. For the first season in a while teams like Wire and Leeds will not be able to stroll along and take a 5th or 6th place finish, so it will be interesting to see how these kinds of teams react to having to finish Top 4. Also, Catalans will be much improved and if they can win a few away games they could challenge for 4th spot. For them this new system may be a beneficial one as it would mean they'd only need to win one big away game to get to the GF as opposed to multiple journeys under the old system. So, I don't rule them out of the argument.
Ideally we end up with a really good season with Saints, Wigan, Wire, Leeds, Hudds, Cat and Cas all looking strong and all looking like contenders, and thus pushing up the quality and competitiveness at the top of the league. But, of course the major difference this season will be that lots of those teams will miss out unlike under the Top 8 system, which will raise the intensity of weekly rounds, increase the fear factor of losing games and hopefully make the whole thing a lot more fun.
The "Grand Final" playoffs will still feature 8 teams in 2015 but with each team playing the other rather than there being a seeded knock-out system. The primary difference will be the fact that regular seasons points won are carried through to the playoffs so each game in the first 27 rounds has a greater significance than hitherto.
I think winning away from home at rival grounds will be very tough this year. Over the last five years, finishing top requires an average of 42 points. Winning your 12 home games immediately provides 24 points, so I think we'll see a real emphasis on home form. I wouldn't at all be surprised to see the likes of Catalans go unbeaten at home for instance. I'd hope our home ground can start to develop into the kind of place that KR was, where most sides were beaten before they took to the field. Leeds, for instance, have allowed far too many rival sides to win at Headingley over the last few years, so I'd expect that to improve.
Having said all this, I'd still almost guarantee a top four of Wigan, Saints, Warrington and Leeds. I'd hope Catalans can push Leeds but I doubt it. The rest of the clubs are still pretty much fodder and it'll be increasingly difficult for the lesser sides to beat the more established. I don't see it making that huge a difference; if anything, it'll be harder for the lower clubs with the better teams under more pressure to win games.
That's not correct though. The 'Super 8's' are not play offs, they are an extra 7 weeks of the regular season with the league reduced to 8 teams. At the end of the 30 rounds (23 plus extra 7) the Top 4 will play off in two semi finals to make the Grand Final. Whilst finishing 5th, 6th, 7th or 8th after the original 23 rounds does indeed let you continue for the final 7 weeks the only way to make the Grand Final is to finish in the Top 4 after the 30 games are up.
In 2014, Warrington and Leeds were 5th and 6th respectively after the regular season but only 1 and 4 points behind Castleford in 4th. If those positions were replicated in 2015, it would be a brave person who wrote off Wire and the Rhinos before the "Super 8s" commenced.
I wouldn't write them off, but they'd still need to finish Top 4 after 30 games. If after 27 games next season they are both out of the 4 then they'll be in trouble with only 3 to play.
But we're crossing wires here. To win a Grand Final a team needs to finish Top 4 at the end of the 30 weekly rounds. The last 7 rounds after the split are not play offs, they are 7 more weekly rounds. A win in Round 1 is as important as one in Round 30. The last 7 rounds are not play offs, they are weekly rounds with no more or less importance to a teams final points tally than the pre split rounds. Hypothetically a team could win the first 23 games, find themselves 15 pts above the team in 5th and so therefore already be in the Semi Finals before the spilt happens. They could then lose every one of the Super 8 games and coast into the semi's.
But getting back to the original point, when I say a side will have to take a more serious attitude to the weekly rounds I mean just that, because at the end of the weekly rounds its Top 4 or go home. Where a side is sat after 23 rounds is not what matters, it's where they are after 30 that counts. And some big sides will miss out. If Saints, Wigan, Leeds, Wire or Hudds finish 5th this season they'll have failed in their objective, which is to finish in the Top 4 and try to get to the Grand Final. And of course at least one of then will. That's what makes it hopefully more exciting.