i'm sorry to dissapoint you cas fans,
but i think that although you will turn over some of the big boys early doors that you will just miss out on the top 8

1- warrington
2- saints
3- rhinos
4- wigan
5- giants
6- catalan
7- hull kr
8- hull fc
9- castleford
10- bradford
11- salford
12- wakefield
13- broncos
14- widnes

No worries, Jonesy. That's a pretty accurate assessment of our position and I think most Cas fans are being realistic in the fact that our expected position is around 8th or just below. Anything above that would be a bonus, I think.

+1

Castleford 6-8 and Challenge Cup finalists..

Cas 9th or 10th

Castleford will IMO finish out of the play off positions mainly due to the back up strength of their squad

Probably 9th would be my bet, But i think that Cas will play a very entertaining and expansive style of rugby under Basil

I am looking forward to watching Daryl Clarke this season as this kid's gonna rip defenses to bits, he will be a strong candidate for young player of the year in 2012

As usual, I can see little middle ground. I can conceive a 1999 style run where Basil pushes all the buttons, injuries are kind and we genuinely make 6th.

Similarly, I can see a poor start, with quality missing from the first few weeks and us then rushing players back, ultimately damaging them further and our support goes feral and we have a stinker.

I would love the former, dread the latter, I do worry about our fans sometimes, we got away with it last season becuase the start was so good, but I have seen a lot of times that if the gravy isnt flowing early season, corwd gets a neg on, Basil will be crap, Squad will be poor, usual set of moans and doesnt help anyone.

My only hope is that we get a home atmoshere, win or lose and people go away from our ground thinking that our supporters rock and whatever happens we are loyal to our team.

We will not rush players back mdean. We could have done that already but we haven't. We are getting injuries right for the benefit of the long term, hence why so many have been having surgery done etc.

Yeah, I agree right now we are not - but I can foresee thin patience from the watching masses if a couple of things go against us early doors.

I hope we do the right things for the long term.

Wire to be minor premiers.
Leeds, Saints, Wigan to make up the top 4.
Hull, Catalans, Huddersfield to make the play offs.
Cas, Hull KR, London, Bradford to contest 8th spot.
Wakefield, then Salford.
Widnes bottom.

Agree with your top 4 Stu - no argument.

I dont fancy London, or oddly Catalan this year to be honest. Widnes are likely to struggle, nothing personal, I like going there so it is not with glee I say that, even though they had plenty time to plan.

Salford, Wakey, Hull KR, Bradford, Hull, Us - all have the potnential to make something happen or massively under achieve.

If Salford get something going at their new stadium - they could be in a position lots of people dont expect. Similarly other effect could happen - bad start and the same crowds as the old stadium in the new and that won't be great watching.

Whatever happens, I just cant wait for some actual competition to start!

Was just trawling your forum to see what other sthought of Salford.

Not too many changes to our squad, but if Moon can provide some spark from the centre channel, he's got to be a better defender than Ratchford, so there's an improvement. Jordan James is a better defender than Cashmere, but I don't see him making as many yards. Then there's all the younger forwards, who need to start producing a good match more than once or twice a season. Jewitt and Sidlow have something special, but they need to add some consistency and hardwork. Finally we have Feka and Vinnie Anderson, two players that can really make a team spark, but were well off the pace most of last season.

I think you're right about the group that has the potential to go either way! Knowing Salford we'll be the team that doesn't produce.