The whole course of the league and season changed in those last 2 minutes against Saints. Instead of us dumping them out, they've now cemented a place in the semis and I wouldn't put it past them making (and winning) the Grand Final. I just can't help but thinking that could have been us. The challenge for next season is to convert the games we've lost by 1, 2 and 4 points into games we win by 1, 2 and 4 points.
Up to now, 2004 was the best season I've witnessed, but after that fantastic win at the KC and clapping the team off at Wigan thinking we were robbed!, it was only 2 seasons later that we were in a last game dog fight with Cas to avoid relegation. However, the stability at the club immediately after the 2004 season wasn't great. There were rumours abound about Ted Richardson, we lost Gareth Ellis, we lost further players and gained others not quite up to the same standard, we sacked a couple of coaches and the ground issue was still very much a seemingly unsolvable problem. Since then there have been a few ups and some spectacular downs.
Fast forward to 2017 and in Michael Carter we have a steady head who won't do anything rash if it means a worse outcome for the club, in Chris Chester we have a coach who is a local lad done good and along with John Kear they are creating a team who attack with flair and defend with dogged determination. The team itself seems pretty settled. We don't appear to be losing anyone, we're making good signings and the team spirit speaks for itself - to quote Tinirau Arona "this isn't a team, it's a family". The long running ground saga appears to be finally getting somewhere and I'm sure season ticket sales for next year will be healthy on the back of all this.
We've all been here before but the future genuinely does look a lot brighter than it has done in previous seasons.
