Bottom four 2016

[Viking Warrior]

So you put out all your PR stuff but fall short of backing them for seventh?

 

 

i'll go for 6th

[chuffer]

Lol

[chrisl1]

Chris, I looked it up and Widnes finished in eigth 2014 by four points from HKR who they managed to beat and gain a rare away win with a five point margin at New Craven Park.

 

Had Rovers scored a late converted try Rovers would have had eighth it was as close as that.

 

In one way coming from the Championship Widnes did very well to get eigth. However HKR got it in 2013, and Wakefield got it in 2012 Hull got it in 2011 and Crusaders 2010.

 

None of these clubs have hardly been setting Superleague alight have they so it wasn't as if eigth was the sign of going places.

 

You also have to remember that 2014 was the year London and Bradford fell apart and Wakey were on their way, well done indeed Widnes but you were hardly mixing it with the big boys.

 

I can change it to "Widnes hung onto eigth place thanks to the collapse of London, Wakefield and Bradford" if you would like??

Still trying to dig your way out of the hole but not doing a very good job of it.  Could do with a bigger shovel.

[The Parksider]

Still trying to dig your way out of the hole but not doing a very good job of it.  Could do with a bigger shovel.

 

You could do with accepting the facts Chris

 

Anyway facts time for you.............

 

2014 Widnes won 9 and drew one of their games against current SL clubs

2015 Widnes won 9 and drew one of their games against current SL clubs

 

One season your your eighth the next your ninth on no better results - fact

 

Where exactly you finish is part down to you BUT part down to other results at other clubs.

 

Either side of the 8th/9th line can be borderline some seasons you are just outside it other seasons on the same results you can just sneak into it without having to do any better results wise .

 

So I'm going back to "sneaked in" thanks to you asking me to check the facts.

[The Parksider]

i'll go for 6th

 

 

Your a brave man VW

 

Still trying to dig your way out......

 

Not about me, you brave enough to predict your finishing spot Chris??

[Spidey]

Clubs final league position is down to their own making. You can spin other teams results having fan influence however ultimately each club is responsible for their own fate

Widnes won enough games to finish 8th in 2014

They didn't win enough games in 2015 so finished 9th

They're the facts. "Sneaked" "made it" or whatever are subjective terms and don't really matter.

All that matters is the final league position, there's hundreds of twists and turns over the season can influence it.

[The Parksider]

They're the facts. "Sneaked" "made it" or whatever are subjective terms and don't really matter.

 

 

 

Egg zactely....

 

Hence taking exception to "sneaked" and droning on about it whilst failing to engage in the post is a bit off.

 

What exact position for Widnes are you going for??

 

I'm going for ninth again.

[Saint Toppy]

 

 

What exact position for Widnes are you going for??

 

I'm going for ninth again.

Unless they make a couple more signings of real quality I can see them finishing lower than 9th to be honest. None of their signings so far are really good enough to see them go further up the table from last year, while 2 of the other bottom 4 (Wakey & Salford) have strenghened significantly and look far better balanced teams than in 2015. Like Widnes, HKR really appear to have remained fairly static with no significant strengthening.

[RabbitRhinoovOZ]

Warrington

Hull FC

Widnes

Wakefield

 

Sandow & Bailey could have Warrington in the top 4 but there both loose cannons and I fear they could implode & divide hence my prediction there bound for the bottom 8.

[westhuller]

I would be very disappointed if we didn't make the 6 this year our pack is second to none in the league our 6 and 7 still leave unanswered questions though.

[Roy Boy]

I would be very disappointed if we didn't make the 6 this year our pack is second to none in the league our 6 and 7 still leave unanswered questions though.

Strengthened by the removal of Westerman!

[The Parksider]

HKR really appear to have remained fairly static with no significant strengthening.

 

I'm not sure what's going on there, Hudgell pays to full cap.

 

Is the ambition to tread water or did they think the squad was good enough but the loss of Campese lost them a top eight finish? 

[Spidey]

I'm not sure what's going on there, Hudgell pays to full cap.

Could be a case that they are overspending (like Salford) on mediocre players. Their finishing position isn't a decent enough return for spending full cap

[Saint Toppy]

Could be a case that they are overspending (like Salford) on mediocre players. Their finishing position isn't a decent enough return for spending full cap

I think HKR have possibly got their recruitment tactics all wrong. They spent big on 2 star players (Campese & Kelly) and packed the rest of the team with fairly medoicre players. Unfortunately for them 2 things happened last year that really screwed things up for them. They lost Campese and then Kelly to injury (so that was all their class gone) and they got seriously distracted by the CC Final (a nice distraction for the club financially and for the fans though but is damaged their league placing).

They have the potential to get into the top 8 but there's quite a few things need to go their way. They must keep Campese fit, which is a really tall order given his injury record, They need to get Kelly playing more consistently near his best (on form he's fantastic but he had some really erratic performances last year), the rest of the team need to lift themselves and play to a higher level every week.

 

Personally I can't see HKR making the top 8 next year but during the course of the year things will inevitably fall into place at certain times and they'll no doubt pull off some really impressive wins against the big teams, but consistency and injury will let them down.

[Viking Warrior]

Unless they make a couple more signings of real quality I can see them finishing lower than 9th to be honest. None of their signings so far are really good enough to see them go further up the table from last year, while 2 of the other bottom 4 (Wakey & Salford) have strenghened significantly and look far better balanced teams than in 2015. Like Widnes, HKR really appear to have remained fairly static with no significant strengthening.

 

 

so you are an expert on pir new signings ??? runciman scored 7 in 5 at the end of the season for us and corey thompson was a first 17 regular for the bulldogs scoring 25 tries in 42 games yes the sound thats a poor return in your eyes, enlighten us on the major signings that stains have made !!!!!!!

[Saint Toppy]

so you are an expert on pir new signings ??? runciman scored 7 in 5 at the end of the season for us and corey thompson was a first 17 regular for the bulldogs scoring 25 tries in 42 games yes the sound thats a poor return in your eyes, enlighten us on the major signings that stains have made !!!!!!!

If your pinning your Top 8 hopes on Runciman and Thompson then your going to be very disappointed.

 

Unlike Widnes Saints didn't need to go out and significantly strengthen with any big name signings. They had a lot of injuries but were still only a whisker away from appearing in both finals in 2015.

Tasi is an improvement on Masoe, Getting Lomax back is a significant improvement on Quinlan, Fages will provide the back-up for Roby that we didn't have in 2015 (and back-up in the halves so we dont have to switch Turner or Wilkin there), Owens will provide much better back-up in the backs than donkey Dawson does. The only unknown is whether Peyroux will provide the same back-up at centre that Josh Jones did. Overall a team that is already near the top has strengthened from 2015. The only other player who's left is Flanagan and you'll be hard pressed to find many Saints fans who consider him to be much of a loss at all.