I see last night Oldham beat Batley 20 - 14 with goal kicks being the difference between the 2 sides, to put things into perspective lets look at last years league table play off positions.
1. York - now in SL
2. Toulouse - now in SL
3. Bradford - now in SL
4. Oldham - Cut back on budget with Geyer joining Huddersfield, Dixon going to Salford and Dean/Ormonroyd now at Bradford. Currently in 3rd place with a game in hand so will go 2nd.
5. Halifax - liquidated, re-formed with the loss of about 8 players and a points deduction.
6. Featherstone - in admin with a £3m debt, denied entry and hoping to re-join in 2027.
Then just missing out on the play offs, Widnes in 7th place.
Current Widnes league position is 6th place. Thats with the above plus 10 League 1 teams joining the division. We have been overtaken by London, Newcastle, Barrow and Doncaster in addition to Oldham still being ahead of us.
London have had massive investment and Newcastle have the link up with York but I would say Barrow and Doncaster are of a similar standard to 2025.
My conclusion given the top sides are now in SL (we missed the boat on that one) is that we have gone backwards. We should be in the top 4. Thoughts?
I am with you the board have no ambition and turn down 50k a year from Andy Horabin. Is this Australuan going to invest to improve the squad and is this Middle East person coming on board? We need investment now otherwise stay stagnate and not progress. Fans will leave so will mean less money. Now is the time to aim to be the best in the league and more will join WVIPs and see ambition.
Couldn’t agree more with the above posts. Wouldn’t be so bad if we was further up the league, I remember people saying it was okay we had a weaker squad because the league would be weaker. Again we haven’t improved and have lost a major part of what has been good this season in Tim.
For the board to turn down money but also refuse to put money in isn’t look very good now is it.
Last season 2025 Widnes were 7th. out of the play offs
Above them were York Tolouse Bradford Oldham Halifax and Featherstone in play offs
Only Oldham remain and London joined after relegation from SL......
So to equal last season 3 rd is required.
Looking at the Table as of now I would think 5 th would be the best and 7 th the worse from the present 6 th position.......getting to 4 th would take some doing
looking at 2024
Above Widnes were Wakefield York Tolouse Bradford
all are now not there but London are so 2 nd to be equal to 2024
Conclusion
All in all this season is nothing like as good as previous 2.
Doncaster have spent a small fortune this year apparently, so third is probably unrealistic in my view. On a fair playing field I would expect fourth, but Newcastle have advantages in the fixtures and loans from York.
Looking at the remaining fixtures, I think we could finish 5th if we beat barrow in a fortnight, on points difference from them, or 6th if we lose
@farnworth-viking you're getting way too carried away with beating a team that shouldn't be in this league or even a league below if it existed.
Crusaders next week will be 100 - nil. You cant go up if you win the league and a full time team are playing in a part time league putting at least 40 points on everyone.
Its gets to the stage you start asking whats the point. The RFL have made a massive mess of the Championship, it used to be a decent competition.