Phil Clarke looks at the four-way Championship battle for the Qualifiers and picks his early contenders for Man of Steel.
Congratulations to the Leigh Centurions for finishing top of the Kingstone Press Championship for the third consecutive year.
Their attacking game has been impressive again this season and they have averaged almost 40 points a game. I can't wait to see them playing the Middle 8s in a few weeks.
Will Leigh be good enough to beat the Big Boys this time? They will be joined by the London Broncos who have almost kept pace with the Centurions and should give the teams dropping down from the Super League a run for their money. The Broncos will probably be the underdogs in every game they play but that won't worry them.
The Leeds Rhinos began this year with a game against the Cowboys, and few expected them to finish with a match against the Broncos, certainly not the ones from London anyway! But it is in third, fourth, fifth and sixth places that the greatest interest lies in the Championship.
Just one point separates Halifax, Batley, Bradford and Featherstone Rovers with two games left to play, and just two places left in the Middle 8s against the likes of Leeds, Huddersfield, Salford and most likely Hull KR.
The last two rounds of fixtures have set up a fantastic finale to the first phase of the season for the Championship teams. Featherstone, currently sitting in sixth, play both Halifax and Bradford. It couldn't be any closer, tighter or more intense and is the perfect preparation for whichever teams make it. Good luck to them all.
Man of Steel contenders
As the first chapter of the season comes to a close, people start to talk about possible Man of Steel contenders. Most people I bump into throw out names like Todd Carney, Luke Gale, Rhys Hanbury and Chris Sandow.
A recently-retired coach told me that Jacob Miller at Wakefield would be a worthy winner for the effect he has had on the Wildcats this year. However, if I had a vote today, I'd have a dilemma. I have two names in my head and can't decide which one deserves it the most.
One is the current top tryscorer in Super League, Denny Solomona, arguably the most exciting player in the country. He has scored 24 tries in 19 games for the Tigers in 2016, which is pretty impressive for a team that currently sits sixth in the table.
More though than the quantity, it's the quality that's most impressive. I firmly believe that Solomona has scored tries which no other player in the league could manage to do, which makes him very special in my eyes.
The other name may come as a surprise to many. I never imagined when he began his career at Salford back in 2010 that I'd ever see him as the most influential player in the league. Marc Sneyd then went on to play at Castleford before be began work at the KCOM Stadium for Lee Radford.
Sneyd made his 50th appearance for the Black and Whites last Friday and although his team lost, you could clearly see the effect that he has.
I've spent time looking at Sneyd's stats and there hasn't really been a big difference to previous seasons. He runs, passes and tackles pretty much the same as last season and the one before, but his kicking game seems more dangerous and effective. This aspect of his play could well be the single biggest contributory factor to Hull FC's success
The most memorable moments and matches of the season are still to come and people's perceptions are formed in the later stages of the season, but if Hull maintain their form and lift some silverware I think we will be hearing that familiar chant of Sneyd's name when the goals go over and a pretty similar sound on Hessle Road when the awards are read out in October.