Think most of us are happy with three wins out of four in a tough opening month. Now the question is whether we can capitalise and consolidate a spot near the top of the table.
Sheffield (A)
Toulouse (H)
Newcastle (H)
Swinton (A)
Barrow (H)
I would be looking for a minimum of 4 wins out of 5 as I expect us to win the last three. Sheffield hasn't been a happy hunting ground for us in recent years and they are playing well. We know Toulouse are strong as this level but Bradford managed to beat them recently and with home advantage we should have every chance if we can play somewhere near the level we were at on Monday. What do you reckon folks?
Matt I think win 4 out of 5 but in this league you can't underestimate any side. Sheffield and Toulouse is the tricky ones and results can also depend on injuries and squad strength. The club are on the look out after losing players and hopefully a centre/utility player then a half back. Hopefully JJ and Farnworth are back soon too.
👍🥖🥖🥖
Toulouse could be an interesting one. Do they still only have a small squad? 19 were announced at the end of January if I remember rightly. I also read of some money issues. I have tried to look on their homepage but my French is non existent so couldn’t find an up to date roster
Are they already struggling for bodies and is that why they fell short at Bradford?
if so the top 2 in this league may not be as cut and dry as some think
Toulouse could be an interesting one. Do they still only have a small squad? 19 were announced at the end of January if I remember rightly. I also read of some money issues. I have tried to look on their homepage but my French is non existent so couldn’t find an up to date roster
Are they already struggling for bodies and is that why they fell short at Bradford?
if so the top 2 in this league may not be as cut and dry as some think
TO are dual-reg with Catalan Dragons, but I don't know how this translates to bringing in Cats players at short notice for away games. I'd like to think we should win our home games, and anything away is a bonus. Sheffield do tend to be our 'bogey team', but we travel to S. Yorkshire with confidence high after Monday night.
Up The Chemics!
Paulie xx
5 out of the 5 is not impossible. Playing to the level we are capable of, with maybe Farnworth back, we can do it.
Got to say I'm more of "take each game as it comes", type, rather than perm 4 from 5 etc. But the Sheffield game could be telling, another winning performance and we could be on for a bit of a run, having had the kick up the backside for letting the Bradford game slip from our grasp! If we can win that one whose to say we couldn't win the remaining 4, injuries permitting!
Toulouse could be an interesting one. Do they still only have a small squad? 19 were announced at the end of January if I remember rightly. I also read of some money issues. I have tried to look on their homepage but my French is non existent so couldn’t find an up to date roster
Are they already struggling for bodies and is that why they fell short at Bradford?
if so the top 2 in this league may not be as cut and dry as some think
The main issue at Toulouse is not so much struggling for bodies, as they have a reserve team that plays in Elite 1 and they can promote players from that squad. The issue is that there's a big drop-off in quality after their top 19 players or so.
They can cope with the odd injury here and there but for the Bradford game they suddenly found themselves without three of their regular middles - Harrisen Hansen, Siti Aukoala and Greg Richards. Losing one of those would be a blow, they are all big solid forwards, but all three missing out after playing the previous games must have had a massive impact.
They're still a very good team especially when they don't have many out injured, they are still full time and their defensive line speed from what I've seen is probably some way ahead of any other Championship team's. They did lose the plot at Bradford in terms of discpline and let some of the Bradford players get under their skin (think Flanagan, Patten, Lilley etc).
But they are definitely beatable especially on their travels because they don't have either the star quality or depth they had in 2021.
@vikingkev They have a dual registration deal with Catalans so they are probably ok.
We have a dr with Rochdale so no problem
@geoffw I was aware of that pal. I suspect that’s not going to help in the long term as like found to our expense these players come and go in a moment. We shall see how things pan out when they get a few key players injured