8th is the best we're capable of managing I reckon.

Tend to agree with squad as it stands. But big unknown is injuries both to us and the teams around us. As we know to our cost injuries to a couple of key players can have a big impact on a season. Plus we've got a decent number of players who are young and still improving.

I think we will finish 5th next season.

There you are - I am am always accused of being negative.

A pint of what you're on please.

For me there are 3 legs to the season (apologies for the Phil Clarke-esque analysis):



1. Pre-Easter - when games are on the whole low-scoring, and many of the 'lesser' teams are able to maintain positions towards the top of the table.



2. Post-Easter - for some reason, be it injuries or the weather being more suitable to attacking RL, this is when the likes of Warrington and Wigan really begin to separate themselves from say Bradford and Cas. We start to see blow-out scorelines and the final league table takes shape.



3. The play-offs. Often follow patterns of phase 2 but this doesn't have to be the case, as proven this year.



Bradford have often fallen away in phase 2 due to a lack of good defence and flair players capable of scoring back-to-back tries as the top teams have. Other teams like Warrington seem to do very well in phase 2 but have lacked the experience, mental toughness or killer instinct to do much in phase 3, whereas teams making up the numbers in 5-8 often get spanked at this stage.



If Bradford are to go one better than the 'Orford season' they need to mix it with the top teams after Easter as well as starting reasonably well. Perhaps this is why Potter has brought in two experienced NRL backs, Gale and Sammut?

A new halfback combo (again) was certainly needed and our edge defence and attack has been crap for a few years so Potter had to remedy that. The forwards did get us into attacking positions but we weren't good enough to exploit them.



I think it's phase 2 where the quality and depth of squads starts to tell. We've bit more quality in the backs and halfbacks but not greatly. In the pack we've lost our best forward so I guess we're pretty static in terms of ins and outs.



A lot depends on whether Potter can instil some confidence and enthusiasm so we don't start to give up when the going gets tough like has been the case in recent seasons.

Phil Clarke would never do an analysis without using 'intensity' at least once. Pronounced in-ten-setter, Edder.

Of course I'm looking forward to it. Always got some kind of hope that we'll do well... Plus, surely things can only get better!

Who knows?



I can't seriously imagine being in the top four but it's all up for grabs otherwise. We definitely need a bit more luck than we've had over the last few years though, that is for sure. I guess reality will bite at some stage, like we'll probably lose three halves and a hooker before the start of March and have no props left by the end of April, but heigh ho, at this stage I'll be as confident as I like.........

I personally see Huddersfield dropping down in the league table this coming season.

I think the top 5 of Wire, Wigan, Saints, Leeds and Huds will be hard to break into but I think 6th, 7th or 8th are definitely achievable and missing the play offs again would have to be seen as a failure

Think that's pretty fair comment.