Dave Woods Predicts Championship Finish

[Matt J]

1. Halifax

2. Barrow

3. Widnes

4. Sheffield

5. Batley

6. Leigh

=============

7. Featherstone

8. Whitehaven

9. Dewsbury

10 Toulouse

11. Keighley

Does he know something we don't? I would have thought we'd finish above Batley, Leigh and Sheffield.

[FEV-KT87]

since when has dave woods known ANYTHING about ANYTHING to do with rugby league

[Chris Taylor]

which Dave Woods?

[Bob Crowther]

which Dave Woods?

Dave Woods?. Which constituency does he represent?.

[DMS]

Isn't he a rugby league commentator for the BBC and a Wigan fan. I've met him a few times and he's a good bloke. Think he's got this well wrong though.

[Mick H]

I love it when people underestimate our ability. I just hope thats not a guideline for the Ref's to follow.

[lingard]

I guess he has been to all the games then!

Ar%e hole

[TUUUUUUUUUUTA]

Powell should post that on the dressing room wall.

Team talk done!!!!

[HARTY]

dave woods knows a much about rugby as tiger woods knows about being discreet

[Robin Evans]

I've met Dave Woods a couple of times. If it's the same Dave Woods he know a great deal about the game and I always found him to be ok.

This is just a bit of fun, nowt else. He's called it differently to how we see it. So what??? We've all got ideas of how the final table will look and most of us have speculated about it on here! It means nowt.

The only table that does mean owt is the one at the end of August!!!!

[Birchy]

We wernt far off this last season with harris in the team...

[snake1985]

I reckon he reads the batley forum as he calls them dark horses for the title as they recruited well (all before fev match lol) yet fev have good signings that might need time to gel? Like someone said post it on changing room wall

[Phil Loxton]

I've met Dave Woods a couple of times. If it's the same Dave Woods he know a great deal about the game and I always found him to be ok.

This is just a bit of fun, nowt else. He's called it differently to how we see it. So what??? We've all got ideas of how the final table will look and most of us have speculated about it on here! It means nowt.

The only table that does mean owt is the one at the end of August!!!!

In the last few weeks of last season we looked on to finish top but a couple of slip ups and we finished sixth so who knows in this league but if we can carry on with our present consistency the world is our oyster. But after our heavy defeat at Leigh earlier I bet a lot on here had us marked down for lower than seventh. Its a roller coaster and I love it.

[Matt J]

TBF he has Batley up there and Leigh, so he must have gone off NRC form.

[sidnee]

Like someone said post it on changing room wall

Hang it on the back of the bog door ya mean

[Vic Johnson]

In the last few weeks of last season we looked on to finish top but a couple of slip ups and we finished sixth so who knows in this league but if we can carry on with our present consistency the world is our oyster. But after our heavy defeat at Leigh earlier I bet a lot on here had us marked down for lower than seventh. Its a roller coaster and I love it.

I think our attitude is very different this year. Talking to the players they are all one mind, TO WIN! Last year one or two players, who were hot and cold had a big influence on the rest of the team. I think DP could see this and got rid of them. Where will we finish? I don't know, but if the team continue to have the positive attitude they have now I think we will be very close to the top

[Griff]

which Dave Woods?

I think it's the ex-Gateshead coach desperately trying to make a few bob.

[jamescolin]

Isn't he a rugby league commentator for the BBC and a Wigan fan. I've met him a few times and he's a good bloke. Think he's got this well wrong though.

Good bloke. His prediction might have been misundersood in translation.

[George Zip]

I don't think seventh is a bad call. Bearing in mind that we are very much an unknown quantity, you can't predict how we'll go on based on the fact we have been running points in for fun against vastly inferior teams from a different division.

Against 3 teams which we will face this season, we've won one convincingly, lost one convincingly and drawn the other; it's impossible to gauge anything from that.

My nagging worry is that we'll struggle against teams who get in our faces and knock us out of shape. For example, Liam Finn has been running the show so far behind a dominant pack, but will he be as effective when the Barrow/Fax forwards get on top of us and don't give him space to move? Another worry is that we're prone to penalties; we leave our hands in the tackle for too long, something which a canny coach will pick up on and exploit via wriggling/diving forward, etc... (Like Batley did in the second half). I still don't think we use an overlap particularly effectively. Again, a clever coach will pick up on this and wedge the defence when we're attacking, leaving no gaps in the way Rochdale/Hunslet/Worky did.

BTW, none of the above is a criticism, merely an observation. I've been enjoying our recent points spree as much as anyone, I'm just not basing the season's predictions on it.

It'll be fascinating to see how we go on at Dewsbury.

[Paul Gibbins]

I don't think seventh is a bad call. Bearing in mind that we are very much an unknown quantity, you can't predict how we'll go on based on the fact we have been running points in for fun against vastly inferior teams from a different division.

Against 3 teams which we will face this season, we've won one convincingly, lost one convincingly and drawn the other; it's impossible to gauge anything from that.

My nagging worry is that we'll struggle against teams who get in our faces and knock us out of shape. For example, Liam Finn has been running the show so far behind a dominant pack, but will he be as effective when the Barrow/Fax forwards get on top of us and don't give him space to move? Another worry is that we're prone to penalties; we leave our hands in the tackle for too long, something which a canny coach will pick up on and exploit via wriggling/diving forward, etc... (Like Batley did in the second half). I still don't think we use an overlap particularly effectively. Again, a clever coach will pick up on this and wedge the defence when we're attacking, leaving no gaps in the way Rochdale/Hunslet/Worky did.

BTW, none of the above is a criticism, merely an observation. I've been enjoying our recent points spree as much as anyone, I'm just not basing the season's predictions on it.

sorry GZ have to disagree with you on this one, the pack this season is I think better than any other pack in this division, Fax's isn't big it's fat Barrow's are about same as us and Widnes made a mistake letting most of their pack go, we are big mobile hungry and very ugly... just what we've all wanted for years and nobody will steam roller us like in the past

[DMS]

Good bloke. His prediction might have been misundersood in translation.

Don't mate, that sodding word gives me heart palpitations.

[Steve Slater]

We wernt far off this last season with harris in the team...

I think he's taken the Harris factor far too much into consideration. We that saw him all know that, taking the play-offs as a seperate issue, we did just as well in the League games without him, apart from the shocker against Toulouse after he went off injured. No, the player we missed most of all was Jamie Field, who was on the losing side only twice in the league:- Halifax at home and Barrow away. He didn't play either in the shock defeats at home to Dewsbury (NRC) and Whitehaven, which I believe was a major factor. He also didn't play in the defeat at Leigh the other week. Jamie and Matty Dale are the backbone of our pack and we rarely lose with them both in the side.

The return from injury of Jamie Field is better than any major signing, but Dave Woods won't know that!