Some more thoughts from the 'Pros'

[PaulP]

Because of Eddie's influence, no one in the media will ever stick the knives into the Pies as they repeatedly do to us....

Hawks get extra points because of their recent premiership history, not their current list.

Saints, well meh.

All three of those teams OUGHT to finish above us. Saints have a more mature list, in development for longer. Also looks like McCartin might play. Pies - well who knows ? The list is unbalanced IMO, but they have enough talent and experience to justify the higher rating compared to us. And the Hawks have Clarkson plus (more importantly) Ratts, plus runs on the board, so once again, maybe not finals, but they won't bottom out IMO.

I wouldn't worry about predictions. The real world has a way of making them seem gossamer and irrelevant. Some teams will perform as expected, some will disappear up their own ar$e$, and some will come from nowhere and surprise everyone.