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Stronger or weaker?

thehullram

By thehullram
in The General Rugby League Forum

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thehullram

thehullram

Posted
Posted

I'd be interested to see what teams you think are stronger or weaker compared to last year:-

Leeds - weaker

Wigan - stronger

St Helens - stronger

Warrington - stronger

Hull FC - stronger

Wakefield - stronger

Salford - stronger

Hull KR - same

Cas - same

Catalans - same

Widnes - same

Huddersfield - weaker

If I'm anywhere near it should make the competition more competitive next year.

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GIANTSTRIDES

GIANTSTRIDES

Posted
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I'd be interested to see what teams you think are stronger or weaker compared to last year:-

Leeds - weaker

Wigan - stronger

St Helens - stronger

Warrington - stronger

Hull FC - stronger

Wakefield - stronger

Salford - stronger

Hull KR - same

Cas - same

Catalans - same

Widnes - same

Huddersfield - weaker

If I'm anywhere near it should make the competition more competitive next year.

I would be interested to hear why you think the Giants will be weaker this season.

I'm not saying you are wrong, I just think on balance we are slightly better. Ferris was pretty much a passenger last season for one reason or another so I don't think we will miss him that much.

The two signings we have made, I feel are good, Hinchcliffe particularly should be the best signing since Hodgson in my opinion. I admit we could do with a fullback and a Half, but we needed those last year.

Dont expect anything from a pig but a grunt

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Southstander13

Southstander13

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Hard to disagree with the OP other than the two already mentioned, Giants to be about the same as last year and Catalans possibly stronger. 

 

Looking forward to seeing Dave Taylor at Catalans, very much a rocks or diamonds kind of player but always entertaining and has the potential to be explosive this year if he can be a bit more consistent. But the biggest thing this year for Catalans, and would make them massively stronger, is to have a fully fit Todd Carney for the full season. He was in and out the team so much last year that he never properly got going, and only showed glimpses of what he can do, but if he can stay fit for the year then they could challenge this year given their squad on paper. Away form as always the key too.

 

Also, don't really know what to expect from Leeds this year. Given the players we've lost then id expect it to be a transitional year, hopefully Sutcliffe can kick on a bit, get Jordan Lilley a bit more game time at 7 and build for the future. I don't expect us to do too much to be honest, maybe aim at the cup which is probably a more realistic goal than the Grand Final. But they've surprised me so often over the last 10 years that who knows!

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John Fisher

John Fisher

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Leeds fan getting excuses in before a ball is kicked, pass completed or tackle made?

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thehullram

thehullram

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I think Huddersfield might struggle this year without Ferres, and with their senior players one year older. Catalans are a tough one, every year they seem to recruit well, but can't play away from France. Whitehead will be a big loss for them and Myler may not fit in straight away. If you think both these are steonger than last year it shows how far the bar has been raised throughout the league

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Bulliac

Bulliac

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Don't know who they've brought in to be honest, but whoever it is it will depend on how the pack gets up to speed and gels as a unit. Replacing Sinfield and Peacock will take a while; you can't just 'parachute in' replacements and expect them to produce that sort of quality and understanding overnight. If asked to guess though, I'd say that come the end of the season it will still be all on track and Leeds will the there, or thereabouts.

No team is an island.........................................

http://www.flickr.com/photos/31337109@N03/

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redjonn

redjonn

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Actually I think Leeds player wise are probably stronger.    Never-the-less they are weaker on the mentality & leadership side.   That is the loss of JP and Sinfields remarkable winning mentality in the major and normally close games.

 

I don't know enough about the players brought in to judge whether they bring mentality and leadership to substitute for the loss.

 

They have a stronger collective set of forwards but seem weaker at hooker. That is JP is a big loss but age will have caught up at some point and Kylie only lasted a few minutes anyway.  They have brought in bigger forwards, last years forward signing will have a season under their belt and should be more settled and the younger forwards (e.g. Singleton) have extra experience.

 

The same backs but with another year of experience built in.   Liam Sutcliffe was starting to be chosen ahead of Sinfield until his injury but given his youth will at times be inconsistent and they don't have much experienced cover for the key 6 & 7 positions so injuries will be critical.

 

I think Leeds will have more ball with the forwards and with same backs and limited injury at 6 & 7 could be stronger.

 

The risk to me is not signing another experienced 6 or 7 for cover.

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Viking Warrior

Viking Warrior

Posted
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widnes will definitely be stronger denis has bolstered the threequarters wth three quality signings in bridge, thompson and runciman plus promoting ryan ince from the academy

"Why is Napoleon crying ?" said one sailor to the other, "poor ###### thinks he's being exiled to st helens" came the reply.

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Viking Warrior

Viking Warrior

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Gary Schofield says bottom.

 

Care to predict your finishing place??

 

schofield is a ##### i say we will finish 6th

"Why is Napoleon crying ?" said one sailor to the other, "poor ###### thinks he's being exiled to st helens" came the reply.

https://scontent-a-lhr.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn2/1455957_262746450543197_276002364_n.jpg

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9' oller

9' oller

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Not bothered either way as long as eddie and his wife are shelved. Or my subscription is shelved

'Shaw cross juniors, Birkenshaw, Mirfield, Heckmondwike Panthers, Stainland Stags and then the Heavy woolen donkeys... WARDY, STOZZA, GT, KARL OR KEAR MUST OF DROPPED A DIGIT FROM MY MOBILE NUMBER! :clapping:

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GIANTSTRIDES

GIANTSTRIDES

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Every year everyone predicts that the Giants will slip back, but they defy expectations. Give it a few weeks and Ant will be telling us that Ferres was a waste of space...

 

Ferris has obvious qualities in his game as we saw in the Tests, Everyone seems to be judging him on those performances which is fair enough. Not many Giants will be distraught at his departure, Last season he was not exactly a waste of space, nor was he a great asset, he missed too much of the season to be that.  Season before he was good , If he can play like that this season he will be a good player for some team.

Dont expect anything from a pig but a grunt

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012chris

012chris

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Hull KR

 

Last season was a huge rebuilding excersise for us, the best thing so far is we have a settled squad going into the season.

I honestly think our first team, injury free, is good enough to do very well......

The worry is when we lose key players again, as allways happens at some point, we may lack depth.

This is 10 years back in top flight for us, at an average finish of 8th.....im hoping we can kick on a little bit now

Hope....top 6

Expect...top 8

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Gates1

Gates1

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I think Castleford are a lot stronger and they're building a squad with plenty of depth, Ryan Hampshire could be the buy of the year and I expect Ben Crooks to kick on. 

 

You may be right.

 

I wasn't enthused by our recruitment this year particurlarly what looked like a loan deal with lop sided terms for Hampshire and the loss of one of our highest paid players been replaced by an aging Monaghan.  The loan deal makes more sense to me now with young Tom Holmes and Ash Robson been highly rates by Powell and seen as potential future halfs - Holmes especially, Robson is more a full back. 

 

However, I think DP's plan is starting to take shape and notably he is stating we shout be in with a shout of winning something this year. He is very happy with how pre-season is going.

 

In terms of the squad:

 

Pack

Largly the same as last year in terms of names.  But we lost Mariano and Jewitt for most of the season last year (Mariano been a big blow for me).  They are both going to be back.  We also have a few young players a year older (Mcmeekan, Springer) and Will Maher coming through and impressing during pre season training.  Also with more cover in the back line Webster may move into the forwards and Mcmeeken shouldnt end up covering in the centres and can concentrate on the back row.

 

Halfs

Finn out, Hampshire in.  Hopefully Roberts settled for start of season.  Finn and Hampshire are differant types of players and although I rate what Finn does the potentail combiantions this year could be extremely hard to defend against.

 

Backs

I agree think Crooks will go very well in deed.  Dorn, Solomona, Shenton and Crooks give us an extremely quick and evasive back line. 

 

Carney is the loss and his replacement could be more different in terms of styles.  Carney brings alot to the table but is also one of the most error prone wingers in the league, Monaghan is Mr Consistant IMO and could actually bring more balance to the squad (providing he is still physically up to it). 

 

My only concern regards our backline, with Carneys loss and Webster possibly not playing in the back line is we lack the backs to make hard yards and take big carries to clear our lines early in the tackle count which could see us pinned back/add pressure to our forwards).

 

Considering our squad I think our defense will have a few questions to answer but our attack looks like it could be a bit special.

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