Avoiding relegation

Re: Avoiding relegation : Mon Mar 10, 2014 7:50 pm

markrammond wrote:

It looks like a 4 way battle to avoid relegation between Bradford, Catalans, Wakefield and London.

Having seen Bradford play I cannot see them getting past zero points in the near future with their next 9 matches including home and away games with Huddersfield whilst they also have Salford, Leeds, Warrington & Saints amogst their next 5 home games whilst they are also playing Hull KR, Widnes, Wigan all away. I'd be genuinely surprised if they get past zero prior to the end of May.

I would suggest that Catalans have an easier run of fixtures coming up with plenty of home games, however they have a lot of older imports in their 30s and a fair number of injuries to key players and I do not see them winning too many games; once their players return they will be facing harder opponents. Their home games will be key as always.

With Wakefield they are a gritty side with a bit of quality and I would expect them to pull clear of Bradford and Catalans in the coming weeks.

It looks like our three matches against Catalans, the home game v Bradford and the two matches against Wakefield are all 4-pointers.

Where I do have some hope is that we will improve, it looks like we'll have Vea next week and the top brass at the club have assured me that we are still in the market for front rowers and perhaps a halfback, though it will probably be 4 or 5 weeks into the NRL season before we'd have a good chance to make signings. I can't see us being too far adrift that is for sure.

I'm really thinking that we can stay up, perhaps I am on my own in this.

Well Mark I agree Bradford have a lot of tough fixtures coming up but they have some very experienced quality players despite having lost a few very good ones. On paper i'd still say they have a better team than us. They can also get better 'loan' players than us and the big clubs want them to stay up remember so will be happy to help them. They will win a few of those 9 games as one or two will have an offday against them and they are strong enough to take advantage. If a new owner comes in and they are allowed to sign players they will get some quality in that we cant attract and get a big edge over us. Our next 9 fixture include Wakey and Catalans twice. If we can win 2 of those and Bradford don't win a game then fair enough with a 6 point cushion we may stay in front of them assuming our injured players are fit and going strong then, as its keyplayers we are losing. However we seem to have a fitness problem on our hands and i don't know what the coaches can doto cerrect it. We seem to be a long way behind our oponents for somereason. Wakey have nicked some quality off Bradford (especially Summat a gamewinner) and are able to get quality loan players from their neighbours so i cant see us catching them though hoping for an upset this week. Catalans are vulnerable at the moment so if we can get ourselves fit and take 4 points off them we might have a chance but their home advantage in that heat IMO means they are bound to get a few wins over the season. For us to get the necessary wins we need our best players on the park and must get them fit. ATM Im not sure that we can get them fit. I think with Vea playing as well the quality is there though so im thinking 13th place above Bradford ATM sadly.