I've resisted raising to the bait of this thread but Oh come on guys!! of course the season is over. because if by some miracle we get into the 6 (and its getting to Miracle status now) does anyone really think this team will get past the first round away from home in a high pressure play off game? The thing though all is not lost because for some of us its job done.
When you look at the state we were in at the end of last season and the fact that we had signed up all but one of the last crop of incoming players when Tony Smith, arrived should have meant that our only expectation for this season, so critical as it has now become, was to survive relegation, be in the mix for 2024 and hope that Smith could start a process of rebuilding the club up to the state we were in in say 2017. The 'run his course and become stale' demise of Radford, Andy Lasts treading water rein and the abject inability to get players up for games/ simple baffling recruitment of Hodgson, has seen the club sink to as low a point as we have seen in all our years in Super league.
All I wanted was to survive and at last we had a coach that could, given time, possibly take us the other way. After 7 defeats on the trot I wondered if it was just another false dawn with a coach who had maybe gone a step too far even for him as he took on a shambles of a squad. However since then we have seen him get players who were amazingly good at not giving a toss, up for games, see ones that many on here thought were on the scrap heap and past it get a new lease of life and made some 'under weight' forwards perform about our and even perhaps their, expectations. We have seen some good scraping performances and a lot of spirit and heart, on the way to getting the points we needed to survive. That had to be our main aim and simply imperative, for, as the unheard of glut of signings going late in the season to Cas and Wakey has proved, it essential this year that we are in the 11 that survive.
I'm not at all comfortable with our signings coming in but having seen what he has done so far, I'm willing to wait and see a) what the finished squad is and b) how they perform next season. But from what we know so far it's hardly inspiring is it? One things for certain Smith's a great man manager totally fair to everyone and becoming a bit of a 'Bringer of Hope' for the fans, but he tough as well and if you cause disruption as Griffin undoubtably did then you're out on your ear.
For me yes the season is over but I'm really enjoying the remainder of it and hope that we give some of our young hopefuls a run out to see how they go on in the big boys league because on that score at this point we have nothing at all to lose. I'm just enjoying the ride now!