Re: Current position / fixtures / play off chances : Sat Aug 04, 2018 5:44 pm  

Bulls 46 Haven 0. West Wales 6 Hunslet 86 today's results, poor old West Wales only had one named sub.


No messing about at Coventry please Dons.

Re: Current position / fixtures / play off chances : Mon Aug 06, 2018 9:00 am  

Update Monday 6th August:

Team & Pts........Diff & Rank.....Round 21..........Round 22...............Round 23.................Round 24................Round 25.............Round 26.............Final Points & Rank
Bradford 36...........+666 (1).......N Wales (H).......Workington (H).........Keighley (H)...........W Wales (A).........Oldham (A)..........Hemel (H)..............48 (1)
York 36.................+574 (2).......W Wales (A).....Hunslet (H)..............Workington (A).......Oldham (H)............Hemel (A)...........Whitehaven (H).......48 (2)
Workington 28 ......+298 (5).......Coventry (H).......Bradford (A).............York (H).................Newcastle (A)........London (H)..........Dons (A)................34 (4)
Oldham 26.............+475 (3)......Whitehaven (H)....Newcastle (A).........Coventry (H)...........York (A).................Bradford (H)........London (A).............34 (6)
Dons 26.................+323 (4)......London (H).........Whitehaven (A)........Newcastle (H)........Keighley (A)...........N Wales (A).......Workington (H).......36 (3)
Hunslet 26..............+179 (6).......Hemel (H)..........York (A)..................London (H).............Whitehaven (A).......Newcastle (H).....Coventry (A)..........34 (7)
Whitehaven 26......+149 (7).......Oldham (A)..........Dons (H)..................Hemel (A)..............Hunslet (H)...........Coventry (A)........York ((A)................34 (5)

I've changed the colour coding for today's update. The fixtures in Blue are the expected losers. For example, Workington are expected to lose at Bradford in Round 22, lose at home to York in Round 23, and lose away at the Dons in Round 26.

Nothing much changed after Round 20 with all results going as expected. Round 21 sees one vital game: Oldham v Whitehaven. As 36 points seems the critical number to reach third place, we don't want Whitehaven to win this game or else 36 points becomes more likely for them. Oldham winning isn't a problem as they would have to beat either Bradford or York to get to 36 points.

Points difference could still be critical. We're presently 4th best on points difference with Oldham the only side in a better place. It's hard to see Hunslet getting ahead of us on points difference by the end of the season although they could improve things at home to Hemel next weekend.

Round 22 sees three very important games. Bradford v Workington and York v Hunslet. Worky and Hunslet MUST lose these games or else they will get within the 36 point range. I've got the Dons down to lose at Whitehaven. If we win it would be a huge bonus and see 38 points as a possibility for us. Get all your mates signed up for the bus and lets see if we can win this game!

If we do win at Whitehaven, we could be assured of a promotion play-off place regardless of what happens in the last match at home to Workington. That would take the pressure off somewhat. It's not the end of the world if we lose at Whitehaven, it just gives less scope for any slip ups in the rest of the run in. We'd still be on target for third spot. The points difference between us and Worky needs to be kept tabs on too. We need to keep ahead of them in that race.

Bradford and York must keep winning or else it'll change the picture completely but as they've got each other to worry about for the automatic promotion spot, they should both be fully motivated to win all of their remaining games by good margins as points difference could be critical to them too.

Re: Current position / fixtures / play off chances : Mon Aug 06, 2018 9:19 am  

Yes ... York beating Bradford was a huge bonus and will keep both sides honest right until the last game.
The trouble is coming into that game York might need too many points to pip Bradford and rest a few players to the advantage of Whitehaven whom York play.

Oldham v Bradford and Workington v York are problematic too.

Re: Current position / fixtures / play off chances : Mon Aug 06, 2018 9:39 am  

Stand-Offish wrote:

Yes ... York beating Bradford was a huge bonus and will keep both sides honest right until the last game.
The trouble is coming into that game York might need too many points to pip Bradford and rest a few players to the advantage of Whitehaven whom York play.

Oldham v Bradford and Workington v York are problematic too.

That's a fair point about York, but Bradford play Hemel in the last round so the points difference between York and Bradford might look quite close on paper before that game. I'm trying to find a good reason for York not to take their foot off the gas!

[Wanderer]

Re: Current position / fixtures / play off chances : Tue Aug 07, 2018 8:18 am  

York ought to close the points difference next weekend as they play West Wales whilst Bradford play Crusaders.

Re: Current position / fixtures / play off chances : Tue Aug 07, 2018 8:43 am  

Wanderer wrote:

York ought to close the points difference next weekend as they play West Wales whilst Bradford play Crusaders.

But Bradford play them too in a few weeks ... both away.
So not much change over all.

[Wanderer]

Re: Current position / fixtures / play off chances : Tue Aug 07, 2018 9:23 am  

Should keep it interesting over the next few weeks.

Re: Current position / fixtures / play off chances : Tue Aug 07, 2018 9:50 am  

How does everyone feel about the current structure? It certainly keeps everything interesting right up until the end of the season but Bradford and York have clearly been the best sides in the league this season. Would it be unfair if they both didn't go up?

Re: Current position / fixtures / play off chances : Tue Aug 07, 2018 10:58 am  

Double Movement wrote:

How does everyone feel about the current structure? It certainly keeps everything interesting right up until the end of the season but Bradford and York have clearly been the best sides in the league this season. Would it be unfair if they both didn't go up?

Yes ... but extremely funny!

[Wanderer]

Re: Current position / fixtures / play off chances : Tue Aug 07, 2018 11:06 am  

Double Movement wrote:

How does everyone feel about the current structure? It certainly keeps everything interesting right up until the end of the season but Bradford and York have clearly been the best sides in the league this season. Would it be unfair if they both didn't go up?

Yes. Clearly, I'd prefer we went up but if it's those two it's arguably the right result.