: Mon Apr 20, 2009 9:18 pm  

I would push for 3 wins, not easy and you need some luck but the squads getting bigger and players coming back can step in and do a job.


Just out of interest would a top 5 finish and a play off win be better for the club than another semi, from the point of attracting new/more fans. I know both may be asking too much

: Mon Apr 20, 2009 9:31 pm  

BIGAL1 wrote:

Just out of interest would a top 5 finish and a play off win be better for the club than another semi, from the point of attracting new/more fans. I know both may be asking too much

Look at this season and you could have your answer. A well contested top 5 spot and a playoff win will certainly keep the interest alive over the regular season and beyond, and may just make people realise what they've been missing out on, whereas a semi final (defeat) may seem just a bit of hot air. A semi final win, on the other hand, with any team other than Saints to play in the final might be just the ticket.

: Mon Apr 20, 2009 9:35 pm  

When you consider that our success this season has thus far been based on 2 factors

a) our ability to play a disciplined and relatively error free brand of rugby, build pressure and score from attacking kicks and
b) having the good fortune that many of our opponants have been in poor form

I think it is most unlikely that we will sustain these over long periods. A few dropped balls, penalties conceded in many of our fixtures could and may easily have reversed the results. We have not demonstrated the type of rugby that suggests we will go on very lengthy winning runs (allbeit 7 from 10 is great).

Hope I'm wrong but I think we are in a slightly false position.

: Mon Apr 20, 2009 11:13 pm  

owiepob wrote:

When you consider that our success this season has thus far been based on 2 factors

a) our ability to play a disciplined and relatively error free brand of rugby, build pressure and score from attacking kicks and
b) having the good fortune that many of our opponants have been in poor form

I think it is most unlikely that we will sustain these over long periods. A few dropped balls, penalties conceded in many of our fixtures could and may easily have reversed the results. We have not demonstrated the type of rugby that suggests we will go on very lengthy winning runs (allbeit 7 from 10 is great).

Hope I'm wrong but I think we are in a slightly false position.

I don't think we are in a false position,
the only side that we fail to score a try against was leeds, the other two losses we managed three tries in each and the lowest win was against wigan scoring two, that in its self say we have an attacking side, defensively we have only once allowed more than 22 against us and that was after the trauma of losing Leon Walker, by far this must be the best team effort ever,
going on preseason predictions by the cynical pundits we might of well shut up shop.
as for getting the run of the luck, I believe you make your own luck through pure graft

: Mon Apr 20, 2009 11:30 pm  

on reflection snowie I agree with you, we are not in a false position - we have earned our position. I guess I simply feel that the formular for our success is a fragile one with a small margin of error. One or 2 penalties or dropped balls and it can all go wrong.

As such I don't think we will maintain the 70% success rate that we have enjoyed in the first third of the season.

: Mon Apr 20, 2009 11:36 pm  

owiepob wrote:

on reflection snowie I agree with you, we are not in a false position - we have earned our position. I guess I simply feel that the formular for our success is a fragile one with a small margin of error. One or 2 penalties or dropped balls and it can all go wrong.

As such I don't think we will maintain the 70% success rate that we have enjoyed in the first third of the season.

but we have some talented players coming back as other teams are now suffering what we had lack of players, next three games wigan x 2, and bradford in another year would be daunting, not now bring them on

: Mon Apr 20, 2009 11:43 pm  

your right of course and I'm leaning towards your optimism. This is the first real occasion in 30 years that I go to games and both my heart and my head tell me we have a great chance of winning.

: Tue Apr 21, 2009 6:19 am  

i think we have a great chance of winning all 3 games but i think we will lose one of them.

I personally would love a longer challenge cup run again so would take losing to the pie eaters in the league, if we then took them in the cup.

But wakey have suprised me all season now so i dont see why we cant win them all.

: Tue Apr 21, 2009 6:32 am  

Slugger McBatt wrote:

Problem with the Wigan games is that I don't think we will win both. So would I prefer to maintain our league position or stay in the cup? If someone could despatch Saints for us, we would have a decent shout for the old tin pot.

dont you think we should let the guys play on game at a time.

: Tue Apr 21, 2009 6:45 am  

owiepob wrote:

When you consider that our success this season has thus far been based on 2 factors

a) our ability to play a disciplined and relatively error free brand of rugby, build pressure and score from attacking kicks and
b) having the good fortune that many of our opponants have been in poor form

I think it is most unlikely that we will sustain these over long periods. A few dropped balls, penalties conceded in many of our fixtures could and may easily have reversed the results. We have not demonstrated the type of rugby that suggests we will go on very lengthy winning runs (allbeit 7 from 10 is great).

Hope I'm wrong but I think we are in a slightly false position.

Always the case and we could quite easily suffer at some point but confidence is up and the lady luck is staying with us for now.

I don't think many will get carried away, we've all been around too long for that