Here goes:



1. Saints. No surprise there.

2. Leeds. Why not? Quality gradually improving. The intent's obvious and now's the time we ought to start showing our colours.

3. Wigan. Never easy to beat especially when out to prove a point. And with Wane back they'll be looking to do exactly that.

4. Catalans. Been good recently but not sure they can back it up. In the past they've tended not to.

5. Wire. Undergunned in pack possibly?

6. Hull KR. Good recruitment and a good coach, should make the six.

7. Hull FC. Solid. Maybe lack a bit of beef up front and a bit of strike.

8. Cas. First season under Radders, I don't see an immediate transformation.

9. Wakey. Could go higher, should be a bit of a feelgood factor of their ground starts to take shape.

10. Hudds. Quietish close season, if the aim is to go under the radar they've certainly gone under mine.

11. Salford. Better, if they can all stay fit and COVID free. Which might be a long shot.

12. As nailed on for bottom as saints are top.



CC - Leeds

GF - saints

Promoted - Fev

Not a bad call that one.

Not seen the Leeds match but Wigan looked very good against Warrington.

They will be pushing hard.

1. St Helens

2. Leeds Rhinos

3. Catalan Dragons

4. Wigan Warriors

5. Warrington Wolves

6. Hull KR

7. Hull FC

8. Castleford Tigers

9. Huddersfield Giants

10. Salford Red Devils

11. Wakefield Trinity

12. Toulouse



CC - Leeds Rhinos

GF - Leeds Rhinos v St. Helens - St. Helens

Promoted - Featherstone Rovers

Wow - some serious optimism.

Not sure I'm that optimistic but an improvement on last season.



1. Saints

2. Wigan

3. Cats

4. Leeds

5. Warrington

6. Hull

7. HKR

8. Cas

9. Hudds

10. Salford

11. Wakefield

12. Toulouse



Wigan were as bad as I've ever seen them last season, but expect them to be back up there this season.

Got a sneaky feeling for Wire for the CC but to struggle in the league.



GF - Saints

CC - Warrington



Promoted - Fev

I know it's hard to judge from pre-season but having watched Fev play both Leeds and Wakefield, I really thought Trinity didn't look much better than a Championship team. Fev had a dig against Leeds but were clearly second best against the starters and only marginally on top against the fringe players in the 2nd half, whereas I thought Fev looked the better team for most of the game against Wakefield and they only had a couple of likely starters missing.



It's a shame for Toulouse about the vaccine issues as they were a better team last year than most gave them credit for - in my opinion, better than any of the other teams that came up from the Championship in recent years - as I would have quite strongly fancied them to stay up otherwise, they are well coached and well organised.

Lots of reasons to be hopeful this year for Leeds. We posess a genuine threat in the backs and our recruitment has been really good signing players that get in the 13 ratther than identikit squad fillers.Should be a good watch this year and a step up from last year. Saints still well ahead of the rest with Leeds in there With Wigan Warrington and Catalan. We need a bit of luck with injuries in the halves and the front row. If sezer in particular can stay fit and we can get over the gainline consistently then we will play some good stuff

1. St Helens

2. Wigan

3. Leeds

4. Catalan

5. Warrington

6. Hull KR

7. Hull FC

8. Castleford

9. Huddersfield

10. Salford

11. Wakefield

12. Toulouse



CC - Wigan

GF - Leeds Rhinos v St. Helens - Can't call it

Promoted - Featherstone Rovers



Leeds may go one better and get top 2 but i think Wigan and Saints have a bit better squads but we're closing the gap. If we'd got one more good prop i'd have us top 2.



I'd like to see Toulouse stay in SL to be honest, it's good for the game. I don't like relegation as it's proven to be fatal for many a club, personally i'd bring the promoted team up and expand the league with less repeat fixtures (but this is a whole new topic).

Last 2 years we’ve finished 5th behind saints, Wigan , wire and Catalans.



We could go up the ladder this season, I think Sezer and Bentley will be good if stay fit. To me the key is What we get from Austin.



Like many fillies I’ve supported over the years I’ve got him under a banner of “flatters to deceive” at present. Hope he proves me wrong. Getting banned is a poor start.



The next 3 games are very important if we have any hopes of getting above those 3.



I won’t hazard a guess at where all 12 will end up but we still look short of real quality IMHO.

1- Wigan

2- Leeds

3- Warrington

4- St Helens

5- Catalans

6 - Hull KR

7 - Castleford

8 - Huddersfield

9 - Hull FC

10 - Wakefield

11- Salford

12 - Toulouse

1. Saints

2. Leeds

3. Wigan

4. Catalans

5. Warrington

6. Huddersfield

7. HKR

8. Castleford

9. Hull FC

10. Salford

11. Toulouse

12. Wakefield



GF- Leeds

CC- (Anyone depending on draw, hopefully Leeds)



Hopefully we are there or there abouts when silverware is being handed out. I think we'll play some top draw Rugby if we can keep a healthy squad.

I think people get too fixated on league table positions as the measure of success and progress. Every team is changing all the time so it's basically a moving target. i.e. your team might be better this year than it was last year, but still finish lower on the table because your competitors have improved more...



I am really confident Leeds is moving in the right direction overall and getting better each year as a team. Agree Austin has a part to play this season, and that he has something to prove actually. It's sport isn't it so if you finish top-4 and you're healthy/in good form at the business end, you can still take the title out. I expect us to be competitive this season, but better again next. We will soon see!

I take your point about teams changing, however if others are improving faster than us that spells failure to me. Given it’s a 12 team competition with a salary cap, and 4/5 teams really struggle financially and have much lower crowds, levels of sponsorship, facilities and weak academies, then 5th to me is around a minimum level of expected achievement. When you add in how far we are behind team 1 we need to see continued big strides in next 2 years.