Honestly ... until it's mathematically impossible. There's no point in worrying. A rugby league season is a journey. A thrill-ride if you will. Not a succession of ticked boxes and delivered expectations.
Expectation, leads to disappointment : And with the frame of mind of our esteemed OP, you run the risk of a psychological level burn-out. In that world, everything needs to be just so, in order for one to go away 'satisfied'. And if it's not ladder position, the 'for-and-against', the penalties given away, the completion rates, the use of interchanges, the percentage of tries scored down a left flank, the number of tries scored outside the 20m zone ... it'll inevitably be some other facet that STILL displeases you.
If you're so reliant on a "W" (or more) at the end of a game in order to judge the merits of how our team (and/or club as a whole) performs, you're f*cking doing it wrong !
Let our rich history be a guide ... we are built on resilience, strength, unswerving tenacity in the face of adversity.
Sure, we started the year bad. If you stop for one freekin' minute and I don't know ... maybe smell what the Rock is cookin', you'd know that "this was expected". Graham was out for 12 weeks. Kasiano, Pritchard BOTH injured and coming back from surgery. Payne gone to greener pastures.
If that isn't enough to derail our best intentions for off-season preparation, I'm pretty sure the fact our CEO imposed a 'football ban' on our biggest attacking weapon in the interests of his long-term sanity ALL resulted in us starting the season many, many weeks behind the 8-ball. Whereas, other teams had "months" to prepare, and map out plans to rise to the challenge we level that "WE" set last year.
So here's what you do ... you take all of that into account, and throw idiotic ideas like "minor premierships" out the window, in place of a more attainable and realistic goal of "making the finals 1st of all". After all, this is what our 'boys' are striving for. To be part of the end-of-year action, and be in with a 'chance for glory'.
So take yer expectations, and stick 'em in yer clacka !!!
You gotta win 12 games to make finals.
I'm cheering the boys toward THAT goal.
After that ... it all boils down to who wants it more on the day.
If you want in on this ride, better get on now. Like a roller-coaster, we're almost at the top, and ready to free-fall at 150kph towards September.