Super League 2020 Preview - Toronto Wolfpack

Three years on from their first competitive game Marmite’s Toronto Wolfpack have made it into Super League. There are two clearly defined camps on the matter of the Canadian side’s arrival in the top division. There are those who think it will be great for the game, bringing in more fans, more sponsors, more media interest and therefore more money. Then there are those who scoff at these claims, who believe that the presence of the Wolfpack is a gimmick which will not popularise the game in Canada. All these people can see is the slow erosion of the domestic game in the UK as the likes of New York, Boston and Ottawa watch on, hatching their own plans to get in on the act. The inclusion of the Wolfpack is a divisive issue. It’s the Brexit of rugby league.

What we can say is that, however it has been received and from wherever their funding has materialised, the Wolfpack are here on sporting merit. The calls to exclude them would have grown louder had they not dominated last season’s Championship. A 24-6 Grand Final defeat of Featherstone Rovers capped a year in which Brian McDermott’s side lost only one game. That came at an early stage of the season in Toulouse, but was followed by a run of 23 straight wins including three whacking great dollops of revenge on the French side along the way.

Of course, McDermott knows that life is going to be somewhat more difficult in Super League. That’s why he has spent the days leading up to his side’s big league debut arguing for special dispensation from the salary cap. The Wolfpack have spent a reported £3million on bringing in dual-code superstar Sonny Bill Williams but it is clear that McDermott wants to be able to spend even more to enable his side to really compete at the top. That this is still being considered just four days before the season opener doesn’t just border on farcical, it crosses the border straight into Farcical and continues rolling into Absolute Debacle.

Aside from Williams there hasn’t been a huge amount of investment in the squad since that Championship Grand Final success. Brad Singleton wasn’t at his best in Leeds’ struggling side in 2019 but he may be inspired by the chance to link up again with his former Rhinos coach. James Cunningham is the only other addition. He was a key performer at scrum half or hooker in London’s ultimately doomed bid to avoid relegation from Super League. These aren’t signings that are likely to turn a largely Championship quality squad into a Super League title contender. It is easy to see why McDermott is looking for ways to use more of his club’s financial power.

Such meagre recruitment does leave room for additions should the salary cap issue be resolved in Toronto’s favour. The new faces have just replaced the few players that have left. Bob Beswick has joined Newcastle Thunder, Nick Rawsthorne has gone to Hull KR and former Warrington prop Ashton Sims has retired. A squad comprising only 23 players looks threadbare, another issue that has had McDermott grumbling in pre-season.

As well as Williams there is NRL quality in the shape of centre Ricky Leutele and his likely partner in that position Chase Stanley. The pair have over 230 appearances between them in the Australian competition. Gareth O’Brien and Matty Russell we’re briefly team-mates at Warrington with the latter having played in a Challenge Cup final and a Super League Grand Final for the Wolves, while scrum-half Joe Mellor has Super League experience with Wigan, Harlequins (remember them?) and Widnes.

Williams can play in a number of positions but spent many of his several hundred previous spells in rugby league in the back row. He will sprinkle some stardust on a pack that, Singleton and his former Leeds colleague Anthony Mullally aside, has little experience at the top end of Super League. Jon Wilkin spent 16 years at Saints, many of them as captain and many more as the fans’ favourite scapegoat when things didn’t go well. He may be past his best but Wilkin’s experience will be vital for McDermott as he attempts to guide his side through their first campaign at the highest level. That experience will be even more crucial when you consider that in the likes of Adam Sidlow, Bodene Thompson, Tom Olbison and former Saint Andrew Dixon there is more than a smattering of players in the forward group who might reasonably be described as Championship quality.

One of the many bugbears of the Toronto naysayers is the club’s inability to play at their home venue early in the season. The harsh weather conditions in Canada in the early part of the year mean that Toronto will not host any side at their own Lamport Stadium until Hull FC arrive in Round 11 on April 18. Until then Leeds, York and Saracens RU (maybe) are all set to host Wolfpack home games. Unsurprisingly this has persuaded the fixture compilers to fit in away trips to Salford, Wigan, Warrington, Leeds, Huddersfield and Catalans before that Hull date. It’s a testing run of games for a newly promoted outfit. For all the talk of spreading the game and having a strong Toronto side in the competition this may be a season of consolidation. A top eight place and avoiding having Williams switch back to union before Easter would represent success in 2020.