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Ssssshhhh... |
You could be forgiven for having missed this, but - and don't tell anyone we told you - Super League kicks off tonight. We know you don't believe us, but we swear it's true. We've even seen a trailer for the league on Sky, a mere four hours before the season kicks off, so it must be true.
In keeping with the official line from RFL headquarters, we're leaving it to the last minute to tell anyone about the launch of the new season. |
The staggered start to the league season now seems a feature we're stuck with. For many years, the Challenge Cup began before the league season and that gave it a disjointed feel which disappeared when the decision to move the Cup final to a more sensible slot was taken. Great, we all thought. And now this situation where the reigning champions kick off a week before everyone else in order to squeeze in the afterthought that is the World Club Challenge. Rubbish. Utter rubbish. The sang-et-or.net remedy for this farcical situation isn't revolutionary. Everyone kicks off on the same weekend, giving us a single launch date for the league, and leave the rest of the World Club Challenge weekend blank so that that game gets the coverage and focus it deserves.
That's gripe number one out of the way.
Kicking off the same day as the European quinziste love-in... Whose idea was that? Any other weekend in February would have been fine, even taking an early finish to the season with the World Cup looming on the horizon (a World Cup that's had about as much publicity as Super League XIII, incidentally, which is bugger all). If you're going to do the bare minimum re publicising the kick-off of a new season, give yourself a chance and don't hide it away when all the major news outlets are only concentrating on one oval ball tournament.
That's gripe number two. Now, to business.
Anyway, enough of our grumbling. It's here. The best and closest season ever is in prospect, we are no doubt to be told by Sky TV's cheerleaders tonight, and, with automatic promotion and relegation scrapped as of now, they could be about right.
The usual runners and riders look most likely to be in the mix for honours again. Neither St Helens nor Leeds have changed their playing staff, though Leeds do have a new boss. That continuity is unusual, but the two sides were easily the class of 2007 and the old adage says that if it ain't broke, then don't try fixing it. Leeds are subject to the early start and they need to learn lessons of Saints' 2007 where it just tailed away a little at the end. Retaining the title in the summer era has proved difficult, but Leeds look well equipped to do that, though we're tipping St Helens to take this year's Grand Final showdown.
Warrington have spent a lot of money along with Hull FC who lead the way in terms of new signings. Matt King should be among the front runners in the early Man of Steel running, but this is Warrington we're talking about. It'll all go wrong somewhere and, if you can undo his mixed metaphors and invented vocabulary, Paul Cullen will be able to explain how. Shaun Berrigan is Hull's biggest new name and it was around dummy half they struggled last season with Richard Swain struggling with injury then retiring. They'll need a better start if they're to repeat their 2006 Grand Final appearance, but look a good bet for the Cup.
More changes too at Bradford, with the most impressive one being the capture of Ben Jeffries. For too long, the Bulls have been cursed by a lack of pace at half-back and Jeffries addresses that. For all there are a number of new faces at the club, none of them are the really, really big names we may once have been used to joining them, which perhaps gives the feeling that this is another consolidation year. Anything that can be done to erase the memory of that humiliating play-off exit to Wigan will be a bonus. Speaking of whom, their recruitment has been similarly underwhelming. Andy Coley won't let them down and is an effective replacement for Bryan Fletcher, but Karl Pryce isn't going to strike fear into anyone for longer than 10 minutes - the average length of time he goes without pulling up injured.
Still relying on imports rather than home-grown players, Huddersfield look good to reprise their play-off contenders role. If it is a policy, it's fine so far as it goes, but the time must come where more Academy produced players need to come through at the club. We can only surmise that this is stage one of a grand master plan, but what sang-et-or.net saw and heard about Academy rugby at Huddersfield was, frankly, appalling. Paul Whatuira is a great signing and links up with about three dozen former Wests Tigers team-mates, though Brad Drew was so important to them. While George Gatis comes in, the wily old veteran is tough to replace. Drew's new club Wakefield have been busy in the transfer market, but some of it looks to be a case of trading down rather than up. Sideways at best. Is Paul Reilly any better than Peter Fox? Damien Blanch or Semi Tadulala? Jason Demetriou is set for a move to the back of the scrum which gets him more involved but former PSG man John Kear's skills at getting this rag-tag bunch of misfits and cast-offs looks set for yet another test.
Also busy, Hull KR did pretty well last season. Consolidation, however, doesn't appear to be in Justin Morgan's vocabulary. Mick Vella has been handed the captaincy while players such as Shaun Briscoe, Clint Newton, Jake Webster and Chev Walker all add class to what was a pretty thin squad last time around. We don't think they'll make the play-offs, but they should be much closer. While Rovers have recruited well, our hated local rivals haven't done so well out of the winter. Like Wakefield, the trades Harlequins have made look down. Tyrone Smith for Dwayne Barker, for instance. It was the pack that needed most attention and while Danny Ward for David Mills looks a swap heavily in their favour, the rest looks poor. Lee Hopkins' retirement will hurt while any pack built on Michael Worrincy and Karl 'two-yard' Temata will struggle. If Daniel Heckenberg stays fit, they've got a good one, but much will again rely on the mercurial skills of Scott Hill, Mark McLinden and Henry Paul.
Castleford have come up after another gap year and have already been rocked by the enforced retirement of Mark Edmondson. Awen Guttenbeil won't let anyone down, but the rest of the squad looks thin. There are good players - Ryan McGoldrick, Brent Sherwin - and some solid Super League pros - Michael Korkidas, Luke Dorn (if he can be bothered) - and some talented youngsters - Joe Westerman, the on-loan Scott Moore - but that doesn't make a team that will do anything other than struggle.
So what about us? Every preview yet written has mentioned how 'Stacey Jones will be difficult to replace'. Well bugger that. Hindsight it may be, but by not trying to replace him - as if it were possible to replace a bona fide legend - we think we've done the right thing. We've entrusted a young French player with a massively responsible role. Casey McGuire steps up to skipper the side and when he's fit, we've all seen what he can do. New signings are thin on the ground, but Olivier Elima and Dane Carlaw add to an already solid pack. Most exciting are the number of young backs added to the squad. It may be too early for the likes of Sébastien Payan, Jean-Phillipe Baile and Vincent Pagès, but if one of those gets the opportunity in the way Vincent Duport did last year, it stands club and country in good stead. Play-offs look a distant possibility again, but building on last season, making the Gilbert Brutus a fortress and picking up a few more points away from home will represent progress and, for a club in only it's third year, that's probably all you could realistically ask for.
Keep it sang-et-or.net for everything Catalan throughout 2008. Allez!
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