Re: League Predictions : Thu Dec 31, 2015 2:14 pm  

I can see Leigh going the whole season unbeaten and that includes the challenge cup

[Bullseye]

Re: League Predictions : Thu Dec 31, 2015 2:19 pm  

Has Tipsy Ste hacked your account Roger?

Re: League Predictions : Thu Dec 31, 2015 2:55 pm  

roger daly wrote:

I can see Leigh going the whole season unbeaten and that includes the challenge cup

Fookmee Rog can i have some of whatever it is you're smoking?

Re: League Predictions : Thu Dec 31, 2015 3:19 pm  

I'd suspect it's going to be pretty much as you were regards to top 2 of Leigh and Bradford.
Bradford are, in the majority, still the same team that made the MPG. Leigh have recruited hard, however I still feel that the players they've brought in have question marks over them in terms of attitude as well as the effect they'll have on a settled and established side.

Re: League Predictions : Thu Dec 31, 2015 4:25 pm  

roofaldo2 wrote:

I'd suspect it's going to be pretty much as you were regards to top 2 of Leigh and Bradford.
Bradford are, in the majority, still the same team that made the MPG. Leigh have recruited hard, however I still feel that the players they've brought in have question marks over them in terms of attitude as well as the effect they'll have on a settled and established side.

Very good post roofy. I really do hope Paul Rowley can keep them settled with a good attitude, He really has a tough job on his hands.

Re: League Predictions : Thu Dec 31, 2015 5:05 pm  

Bullseye wrote:

Leigh’s only real tough league games look to be versus us and Fax. Fev look weaker and Sheffield don’t look much stronger on paper at least.

And that for me is the biggest problem facing promotion hopefuls such as Leigh and Bradford. Games against each other and Fax will always be tough. Games against Dews/Fev/Sheffield/London sometimes throw up tough games but other times end in a one sided affair.

It is not ideal preparation for the intensity of the Middle 8's when you can win most matches playing at 75% of your best. The SL teams in the 8's will have been playing SL quality teams in SL paced games every week all season. They will be ready for a battle and used to fighting for every point.

I think Leigh last season just mentally were not prepared for that sort of adversity. We had gone through the season having (almost) everything our own way and then when we got hit with 3 back to back defeats in the 8's (The Hull KR come back and the Wakey 1pt loss particularly hurt!) I think it just took the wind out of our sails and all the bumps and bruises and injuries that you can ignore when you are winning just caught up with us and we collapsed badly.

Unfortunately the only way to catch SL clubs is to strengthen your side but this could make the problem of coasting through the season even worse leaving us more under cooked and less mentally toughened when the Middle 8's come around!

Hopefully last season taught us some serious lessons and we go into the 8's with a different attitude and ready for a real tough battle week in week out.

Re: League Predictions : Thu Dec 31, 2015 5:12 pm  

roger daly wrote:

I can see Leigh going the whole season unbeaten and that includes the challenge cup

Somebody said that about us one year and we crashed and burned

Re: League Predictions : Thu Dec 31, 2015 5:33 pm  

Nozzy wrote:

And that for me is the biggest problem facing promotion hopefuls such as Leigh and Bradford. Games against each other and Fax will always be tough. Games against Dews/Fev/Sheffield/London sometimes throw up tough games but other times end in a one sided affair.

It is not ideal preparation for the intensity of the Middle 8's when you can win most matches playing at 75% of your best. The SL teams in the 8's will have been playing SL quality teams in SL paced games every week all season. They will be ready for a battle and used to fighting for every point.

I think Leigh last season just mentally were not prepared for that sort of adversity. We had gone through the season having (almost) everything our own way and then when we got hit with 3 back to back defeats in the 8's (The Hull KR come back and the Wakey 1pt loss particularly hurt!) I think it just took the wind out of our sails and all the bumps and bruises and injuries that you can ignore when you are winning just caught up with us and we collapsed badly.

Unfortunately the only way to catch SL clubs is to strengthen your side but this could make the problem of coasting through the season even worse leaving us more under cooked and less mentally toughened when the Middle 8's come around!

Hopefully last season taught us some serious lessons and we go into the 8's with a different attitude and ready for a real tough battle week in week out.

That's true. There were plenty of games last year were Bradford only turned up for 20 minutes of the game, but still came away with the win at the end of the day

Re: League Predictions : Fri Jan 01, 2016 9:35 am  

As we saw last year, the regular season is largely irrelevant as long as you finish in the top 4. For what it is worth I expect Leigh to finish top given the current squads.

I would also expect Bradford to have made a few more signings before the middle 8's so our squad could look quite a lot different by then. I guess it's a strategy with some risk but it seems we intend to spend our cap money closer to the business end of the season. If we play to our potential then a top 2 finish should be achievable.

Fax have enough about them to beat any side, so I wouldn't write them off but I don't think they'll manage enough consistency to finish in the top 2.

[Bulliac]

Re: League Predictions : Fri Jan 01, 2016 10:48 am  

Nozzy wrote:

And that for me is the biggest problem facing promotion hopefuls such as Leigh and Bradford. Games against each other and Fax will always be tough. Games against Dews/Fev/Sheffield/London sometimes throw up tough games but other times end in a one sided affair.

It is not ideal preparation for the intensity of the Middle 8's when you can win most matches playing at 75% of your best. The SL teams in the 8's will have been playing SL quality teams in SL paced games every week all season. They will be ready for a battle and used to fighting for every point.

I think Leigh last season just mentally were not prepared for that sort of adversity. We had gone through the season having (almost) everything our own way and then when we got hit with 3 back to back defeats in the 8's (The Hull KR come back and the Wakey 1pt loss particularly hurt!) I think it just took the wind out of our sails and all the bumps and bruises and injuries that you can ignore when you are winning just caught up with us and we collapsed badly.

Unfortunately the only way to catch SL clubs is to strengthen your side but this could make the problem of coasting through the season even worse leaving us more under cooked and less mentally toughened when the Middle 8's come around!

Hopefully last season taught us some serious lessons and we go into the 8's with a different attitude and ready for a real tough battle week in week out.

The biggest problem is the wide ability differential between many clubs in early part of the season. With many of the games, and let's not beat about the bush with this, being more like, 'opposed training sessions', than matches, the biggest difficulty is keeping our teams fully concentrating until the eights start and then being able to step up to a 'proper' set of high intensity games. In the great scheme of things, though there is a small advantage in being top, second - even third or fourth in the pre-amble won't materially affect the challenge of either club. I think it's intriguing that Leigh have brought in a host of big names before the season starts and that Bradford are, 'keeping their powder dry', until later. It will be interesting to see how the different tactics work out on the field.