The likely Welsh rugby headlines you'll be reading this season

Predictions are things often best left well alone, especially about the future.

Of course, in Welsh rugby, you can usually have a solid idea of what’s going to happen - even if there’ll be something totally left-field that catches you off-guard.

The other things with predictions is that less is rarely more. Sometimes, it’s better to offer more, disregard the ones that go awry and let people marvel at the ones that come off.

So with that in mind, let’s have a look at what could be some of the headlines in the coming season.

Pressure to build on Warren Gatland

Let’s start with the obvious one.

Wales are currently one defeat away from matching their longest stretch of defeats at the Test level. Nine consecutive defeats is a pretty stark statistic, with the fortunes of the national team having slumped massively in the last 12 months.

Five defeats from five in the Six Nations brought a wooden spoon, while the summer tour of Australia only served to keep the losing run going as they fell out of the top 10 in the world.

The fixtures don’t get any easier. There’s just three in the autumn, so at least there’s no out-of-window Test to deal with, but Fiji, Australia and South Africa could feasibly see Wales end 2024 without a Test win.

Still, we’ll always have Brisbane and the Queensland Reds. At least, those of us who actually managed to watch it without TV feeds being down.

Moving into next year’s Six Nations, an away trip to Paris isn’t the ideal start. A week later, a clash with an improved Italy in Rome already feels like a must-win.

After that, Ireland at home, Scotland away and then England in Cardiff to finish. It’s the sort of fixture list that could quickly pile the pressure on if wins are still hard to come by.

With the age of the squad having dropped considerably, Wales are in a strange place right now. You can’t conclusively say Wales are trending in the right direction, but then you also can’t rule out that they will come good a year or two down the line.

Some of the optics - such as naming Cory Hill captain for the Reds match or the manner in which Sam Parry dropped out of the squad for Australia - don’t help matters.

Welsh bosses remain adamant Warren Gatland is the right man for the job. But if results carry on, that’s going to be an increasingly lonely stance to take.