A disappointing season tbh yes I know we have had injuries but you'd think with the likes Kearney, Sammut, Gale, Scruton, Le Strange, Bateman Lulia and Foster I thought we would have made at least 7th or 8th, the amount of times we let leads go against Wigan, Widnes (twice), London and Catalans were infuriating it was like Steve McNamara was coaching us again. Hopefully FC will sort the defence and we will be more creative in attack and also hope that George, Carvell and Ferguson will be add a lot to the squad next season, my expectation next season will be at least the play offs.

I tipped us for the bottom 4 mainly due to the pack, which I thought was thin. I expected Scrutes to play less than 10 games and Sidlow to be below average. Both have had good seasons and losing Sidlow was a significant blow. Danny Addy has had another excellent season. Didn't see the logic of losing Joseph and Pryce for Evans and Foster and probably still don't, although I expect a much better, fitter, stronger Evans next year.



Disappointments - Gale and Bateman for different reasons and obviously Whitehead.



Recruitment is early and good quality so far. A prop and a centre plus a little bit of luck and we'll push on with the young players we have.

Only disappointment was the fact that our our early third position gave false [and to be honest, unrealistic expectations, which with hindsight it shouldn't have done. though I confess to being on the optimistic side when looking forward, I think, given the pre season shenanigans, realistically we finished about where we should have done - mid table.



I'm now looking forward to kicking on, all be it on half money, and I hope not [itoo[/i optimistically, to making the bottom end of the play-offs next year - though to be perfectly frank, I'll be happy if we don't get into the relegation spots and remain in the top division and then back on full funding the following year.



Reading back through the last paragraph it sounds a bit downbeat, which to be fair I don't totally feel, but for me getting back on that same financial level as the other clubs and still here in SL is the main objective, with one season down and one to go..

Totally agree with your last paragraph. Avoiding the two relegation spots has to be the priority, anything else is a big bonus.

Just a little more to add to this post. Shows signs of improvement, which considering how late the squad was put together is amazing:



Points Scored: 640. Best since 2009



Points against: 658. Best since 2008



Points diff: -18. Best since 2009



Average for: 23 Best since 2009



Average against: 24 Best since 2008.

I think everybody probably feels a bit deflated after our good start. This was better than expected and at the back of your mind was the fact that we were doing it without a recognised scrum half. Unfortunately when we did get him back instead of kicking on we seemed to fall away. Not blaming anyone just stating a fact.

To be honest after we were effectively kept out of the transfer market last year, and given little time to assemble a squad we actually did better than I expected. We played some good football especially in the opening third of the season, and a with bit more composure closing games out we could have been in the eight.

It looks like there could still be some additions to the squad - so I would like to think we aim for playoffs next year. It would be wrong to just aim to avoid being relegated we need to be more positive. FC has a three year plan and I give him 8/10 for the first of those years.

Overall it was a respectable season given the loss of the telly money and the thinness of the squad.



I thought we benefited at the start of the season from a continuation of last season's backs to the wall spirit. Not surprisingly that ebbed away. Also not surprising that injuries eventually took their toll on the squad.



Have to admit I'm very pessimistic about next year. Losing the telly money for one season was bad enough, two could be terminal. And the way the season fizzled out will not have done much for season ticket renewals.



If we're playing SL in 2015 it will be a case of job done for next season.

Interesting stuff. I'd like to see the stat for metres made by opposing teams. At times our scramble was pretty good but in the second half of the season we routinely conceded huge amounts of ground. It's hard to score when you have to make 80 metres in a set.

:2coaxltx



When I was at school, I had a teacher who said, "[i:2coaxltxalways aim for the sky, if you aim to hit the sky you may just hit the roof, but if you only aim to hit the roof you'll probably just fall on your backside[/i few things I remember from school...