In the NRL a small winger like Grace would get smashed to bits running the ball back. Before anyone mentions Addo-Carr, he's 2 stone heavier and still one of the lighter NRL wingers (he's almost exactly the same build as Makinson but quicker). If your kick chase is decent you ought to be able to drive Grace back every time he returns the ball, and there's no way he'd get frequent quick PTBs.

Hope springs eternal eh? I'm just not sure our pie is baked enough for 2022 and we are coming into the season with a lot of risk factors IMO.

I do think we will be challenging though, and we're not a million miles off. Be a good journey for some of the young lads this year.

2022 may liken to 2003, the difference is we are not coming off the back of a 30 year drought and only 1 challenge cup.
Reckon believe culture off success is there to push us over the line if we get close this year.
Not saying we will win anything this year, but believe the club and team believe they can. Easily the strongest we have looked for 5 years possibly since 2015.

Come on Jimbo you was tipping us to win it last yr and were a better now why so negative?

I agree tho i think we are a few years away yet if im honest.

Yeah I reckon saints are a good bit better than maybe four evenly matched chasing sides. That said, they won't win the comp if they get stuffed by injuries in the way we did last year. Basically, we have a chance but we'll need to put in everything and maybe get some luck too.

Fair comment. Weve got depth in most positions just halves and prop we look short in.

Walters is never a prop hes not physical enough for it. Losing Tommy the Tank for 10-12 weeks is a big blow.

In some ways don't think we are as far off as when we won it in 2017, but admittedly highly unlikely that Saints would pull such an epic choke as Cas did. Agree with you with in regard to depth in both halves and prop however I think the 1st choice quality in both positions is excellent. Going to have to be fortunate with fitness over the course of the year. Hopefully Hunswick will make a big difference.

Agree re Walters and the same with Donaldson who has more bottle.
Muiz is probably a better option along with Thompson both not ideal.
Another injury/suspension from the props and our pack struggles again.

Case didn’t choke . They lost their best player in week build up, and we played a perfect game plan……

We’d are no where near where we were 2017. We still had a team of serial winners and big game players back then…..
Will take few years yet to get where we were I think……

Beg to differ. 2017 we were lucky, but still good enough to take the chance when it arose. The horrific seasons of 2016 and 2018 really do cast doubt on the serial winners theory. A lot of our biggest hitters had departed by 2016 and the one's who remained were past their peaks.

Clueso I almost always agree with you 100%.

I am quite up for this season, silverware or not I think we can finally expect Leeds to be tough to beat and if someone doesn't turn up against us we can dish out a hiding I think.

It also feels like the first proper season since COVID, let's keep everything crossed we can come out of the cave and have a good year - us and the whole game.

Yep, not really that fussed if we win anything this year because I can see that will come in time. Just want to see us play some great rugby in front of some big crowds again. Seems like that's been missing for a long time now.

The biggest test will be when we play Sts with a full strength side. We last beat them 3 years ago, and in most games they've beaten us really easily starting with being rolled down the middle with very little resistance. If we want to be serious contenders we can't - and shouldn't - rely on Sts or anyone else getting injuries to give us a chance. The minimum I want to see from the games against Sts this year is that we look like we're genuinely competing with them for 80 minutes. If we're not getting closer this year tinkering with the team may not be enough next year.

Edit - we last beat Sts 4 years ago. March 2018.