Now for the league season.

[graham fisher]

Now we've got our two pre season games out of the way,we now turn to the league season. After seeing majority of the squad what's your thoughts? We look a lot stronger than we have done for a few seasons, plenty of competition for places.

 

[Blind side johnny]

If any supporter can't be optimistic at the beginning of a season then that means his/her club has recruited poorly. Most fans of most clubs believe that their own club has recruited well and will do better than the previous season. A quick maths lesson proves that this cannot be the case for all.

I believe that we have recruited well and have been reasonably impressed by our performances against SL sides. The proof of the pudding is in the eating, however, and we need to perform well against Championship sides right from the off. As we have seen before, winning or losing can become habit-forming and a decent start in a competitive division is important. We have a challenging few games to begin with and need to get some points out of these, otherwise we will start sweating again.

The key, as always, is how the halves gell and create. This will normally be dependent upon how the forwards perform; I think we have recruited well here but the 80 minute performance is critical. I do hope that we give the half back recruits the chance to succeed and don't start chopping and changing straight away.

Overall I am confident of a better season than last, but how much better I don't know. A few clubs have recruited very aggressively, one ridiculously in my view (£1M+ wage bill) and they are likely to be out of the reach of the rest of the league. Whilst we don't have a French expedition to look forward to this year we do have three distant trips to clubs that are usually strong at home. Add to that Sheffield's strangely structured fixture list and I reckon top 8 would be an achievement, 9th or 10th would be par, and below would be squeaky bum time.

(I also predict that a few fans will start queueing up to criticise the management, coach, beer and other aspects before February is out.  )

[graham fisher]

7 minutes ago, Blind side johnny said:

If any supporter can't be optimistic at the beginning of a season then that means his/her club has recruited poorly. Most fans of most clubs believe that their own club has recruited well and will do better than the previous season. A quick maths lesson proves that this cannot be the case for all.

I believe that we have recruited well and have been reasonably impressed by our performances against SL sides. The proof of the pudding is in the eating, however, and we need to perform well against Championship sides right from the off. As we have seen before, winning or losing can become habit-forming and a decent start in a competitive division is important. We have a challenging few games to begin with and need to get some points out of these, otherwise we will start sweating again.

The key, as always, is how the halves gell and create. This will normally be dependent upon how the forwards perform; I think we have recruited well here but the 80 minute performance is critical. I do hope that we give the half back recruits the chance to succeed and don't start chopping and changing straight away.

Overall I am confident of a better season than last, but how much better I don't know. A few clubs have recruited very aggressively, one ridiculously in my view (£1M+ wage bill) and they are likely to be out of the reach of the rest of the league. Whilst we don't have a French expedition to look forward to this year we do have three distant trips to clubs that are usually strong at home. Add to that Sheffield's strangely structured fixture list and I reckon top 8 would be an achievement, 9th or 10th would be par, and below would be squeaky bum time.

(I also predict that a few fans will start queueing up to criticise the management, coach, beer and other aspects before February is out.  )

I agree with forwards,we look hell of a lot stronger in that department. Like you I’d give our new half back a fair crack,for me I’d go with Alex Smith and Matty Beharrell with Sweeting at fullback if Calum Turner isn’t fit enough,if he is I’d put Sweeting in the centres.

[creditwhereitsdews]

There are definite positives from the pre-season games. We have signed two mobile halfbacks who look like they can kick 40-20s and Mr Peltier looks like he has an offload game. Those are two attacking modes we didn't appear to have last year. Dale Ferguson had a couple of awesome runs and even Hull KR had trouble holding him. Those fans put off by last season's "one-up" style of rugby should give us another chance.