Re: Leeds away first up. : Wed Nov 20, 2024 8:18 pm  

BarnsleyTrinity wrote:

I don't think many of us really know to be honest , if you force my arm I reckon we might be a bit of a surprise package and could be in with a shout for 6th .

I think that a top 6 finish for Wakey is being optimistic for their first season back in SL tbh.
But I do think that the club is now in far better hands financially and that in 3 years time that the club could be a top 6 side

Re: Leeds away first up. : Wed Nov 20, 2024 8:49 pm  

The Biffs Back wrote:

I think that a top 6 finish for Wakey is being optimistic for their first season back in SL tbh.
But I do think that the club is now in far better hands financially and that in 3 years time that the club could be a top 6 side

I’d be disappointed if it took 3 seasons to reach the playoffs spending close or to the cap.

I’m being ambitious in my outlook and I think anywhere between 6-9th this season would be acceptable. I think I’d be dissapointed if we fell below that.

Let’s not forget that last seasons recruitment was also in part preperation for this SL season. We aren’t starting from scratch.

Re: Leeds away first up. : Wed Nov 20, 2024 9:26 pm  

Have to agree with Trojan. 6th would be a dream season, but if we finish 9th, play good rugby, and beat the teams around us I’ll be happy enough. Anything below that I’ll be disappointed.

Biffs Back - glad to hear you’re looking forward to watching us. Not sure how much you’ve kept up with us but we’ve got some top class players in our squad - Ky Rodwell who’ll be among the top props in SL next year, along with some young lads like Oliver Pratt and Isaiah Vagana who are going to do great things. We probably still have a few too many solid-not-special players you’ve seen before but they’re all on one year contracts.

[PopTart]

Re: Leeds away first up. : Wed Nov 20, 2024 9:36 pm  

When you say ......
Because we are spending close to the cap.......so are most other teams now.
That isn't a guarantee of anything.

It gives us a good chance but there's a lot of other things that will get us the 6-9th place.
Luck with injuries, player ability to transition from Championdhip, player and coach ability to deal with adversity.....etc.

I do think we will be competitive but it's not going to be easy.

Re: Leeds away first up. : Wed Nov 20, 2024 11:16 pm  

PopTart wrote:

When you say ......
Because we are spending close to the cap.......so are most other teams now.
That isn't a guarantee of anything.

It gives us a good chance but there's a lot of other things that will get us the 6-9th place.
Luck with injuries, player ability to transition from Championdhip, player and coach ability to deal with adversity.....etc.

I do think we will be competitive but it's not going to be easy.

Well, all that doesn’t just apply to us but the other 11 teams too naturally.

We have made a huge investment into player care and back room with chefs, physio to an England international standard, recovery rooms.

We appear to be giving ourselves a better chance than ever.

Nobody said it will be easy and it looks a competitive Superleague with likely a good 6 or so teams all capable of finishing anywhere between 6-12th.

I have a lot of confidence in the players to step up to SL level on what I’ve seen. The forwards especially. All bar 2 backs are SL rested too and the pivots. I feel we are in a good position assuming we get the pre season right and the players reach that level of fitness we ended last season on and improve even further.

I’m feeling more confident for 2025 that we will be fighting for something come the end. We may not reach the playoffs offs but it will be nice of we are talking about them a few games to go rather than looking at other teams fight it out.

I can’t wait for 2025.

Re: Leeds away first up. : Wed Nov 20, 2024 11:31 pm  

My concern for 2025 is the quality of our spine and the ability of our relatively inexperienced centres.

Our spine in particular has questions marks across every position. Lino has struggled in SL, Russell has generally been back up. Trueman is quality but injuries have stunted his development.

Max has been outstanding this year but I do worry about his pace and he has been prone to defensive lapses however I hopeful a year out on SL has given him time to develop.

9 is my biggest concern, I think this is maybe our weakest position across the squad.

If I’m honest I’m thinking 10th in 2025 however I’m hopeful we can get into the top 8 in which case it will be an excellent return.

Our props/middles are undoubtedly our strength and hopefully those boys can lay a platform most weeks to get our spine playing on the front foot.

Re: Leeds away first up. : Thu Nov 21, 2024 3:31 am  

some really interesting viewpoints here... personally I don't have any expectations of next year other than we play to the best of our ability, each and every time we pull on the jersey.

sure we have some inexperience (and I include our middles who are, for the most part, unproven at super league level)... but I love that we have gone for younger players... and I can't wait to see their development.