I'm not so sure about that, just based on his home / away split. 7.33 (8.86) vs 3.35 (3.91).

Not a massive risk due to the play-offs. As long as any new riders learn their way round by mid-season. Mind you depending how the track is altered, home advantage would be lessened anyway.

As Edinburgh don't often make too many changes & I think Wolbert would be a great signing, came up with this team. Edinburgh     Kye Thomson    8.23 Justin Sedgmen    6.84 Paco Castagna    5.88 Jonatan Grahn    5.63 Kevin Wolbert    5.00 Lasse Fredriksen    4.71 Jordy Loftus    3.67 Total    39.96

Obviously it's all opinions at this stage, but I think quite a few of the Poole riders are being under rated by many. Lightcap averaged 4.83, but remains on 4.00 as he didn't ride enough matches. Considering he started half way through the year on tracks all new to him, I think that's decent & can see him at least putting a point on his (4.83) average. Cairns stepped up from the easier no 7 position & scored well at number 6, then carried on his form when he moved into the top 5. So if have no qualms about him riding at 5 & would expect his average to go up. You could also say he's on a slightly "false" average as his 2026 ave was 6.94 from 18 matches, counting the last 2 from 2025 drops his rolling ave to 6.61 (6.44 with reduction). I see no reason why Rushen's 2nd season won't be similar to Cairns' so expect maybe 2 points on his average. Then Kennett has shown what he can do when guesting. The more I think about it, can see them romping away with the league.

Anything more on this yet?

If we're expecting surprises, how about this team? Using Newman, left room for a stronger 2nd heat leader, Sedgmen was the highest available that fits in! Poole     Richard Lawson    8.15 Justin Sedgmen    6.84 Will Cairns    6.44 Cooper Rushen    5.01 Kyle Newman    4.92 Edward Kennett    4.62 Slater Lightcap    4.00 Total    39.98