Super League 2021 Preview - Leigh Centurions

Leigh Centurions ambition at the start of 2020 season was to be back in Super League for the beginning of the 2021 campaign. That’s exactly what has come to pass, but it hasn’t happened in the way that Leigh fans or anyone connected to rugby league would have hoped. 

Just four games in to the 2020 Championship campaign the sport - much like everything else we value - was thrown into chaos by the Covid-19 outbreak. Unlike the top flight - which made a sanitised, TV-led return in August - the Championship and League One were unable to restart. With no significant TV funds to prop them up the clubs could not afford to play without fans coming through the gates. Players and club staff were put on furlough as we all learned a new word and the season outside Super League was effectively cancelled.

At the time that might have seemed a harsher blow for Leigh than for some others. They had started their bid for promotion with thumping wins over Dewsbury, Sheffield, York and Halifax. They were conceding an average of only 10 points per game while racking up 40.5 points per outing at the other end. They looked a genuine contender for promotion before it all came shuddering to a halt. It seemed their wait to get back among the elite would go on.

Events took a turn again when Toronto Wolfpack sensationally withdrew from Super League due to some extremely poor accounting which was ruthlessly exposed by the pandemic. By season’s end the Jedi Council of Super League owners had decided that they would not run with 11 clubs in 2021 as they had in 2020. Nor would Toronto be readmitted, failing to convince the owners and the expansion-sceptic Super League chief Robert Elstone that they could be relied upon financially long term. With no way of awarding a Super League place based on sporting merit franchising fans were thrown into raptures as Leigh joined Toulouse, London, Featherstone, Halifax and Bradford in a bidding process for the golden ticket. The Centurions got the nod and will have a first crack at Super League since 2017.

Much like it had been on that occasion the immediate aim will be to survive. As things stand relegation is back on the agenda after its one-year Covid-inspired hiatus. It’s a big step from the Championship up to Super League. The continued yo-yoing of those who achieve promotion is one of the reasons there is a growing lobby for its permanent removal. Mere survival may not seem like the last word in ambition but it would be a notable achievement. Not least because those very same protectionist club owners have conspired to ensure that the slice of the Sky cake awarded to the newbie is not quite as big as their own. Leigh will receive around £1million from the broadcast revenue pot. That’s £1million more than Toronto were receiving, but is only just over half the figure that the other 11 clubs will take. That puts the Centurions at a competitive disadvantage from the get-go.

Some of head coach John Duffy’s recruitment may reflect that. Four of his new arrivals have taken the already well trodden path between Toronto and Leigh, while four more move to the Leigh Sports Village from Super League’s bottom club Hull KR.  

Matty Russell is proven at Super League level. He played in a Grand Final for Warrington as recently as 2016 and was also in the Wolves line-up when they were defeated by Hull FC in the Challenge Cup final that season. He is adept at either full back or wing and has scored 72 tries in 148 club appearances since making his debut for Wigan in 2011. Remarkably he is still only 27, but had been out of Super League since joining Toronto in 2018 before the Canadian side’s brief pre-Covid appearance last year. Like many of his team-mates and the Leigh club generally, the question for Russell will be whether he can make the step back up.

Two others from Toronto with substantial top flight experience are Joe Mellor and Adam Sidlow. Mellor has perhaps been burdened with some very high expectations since emerging at youth level for Wigan in 2009. He never quite made the grade at Wigan and after loan spells with London Broncos’ previous incarnation Harlequins RL and Widnes Vikings he joined the Chemics permanently and made over 150 appearances for them before joining the Wolfpack project in 2019. At 30 he is another who will be keen to prove that he can still perform at this level. Sidlow is another ex-Widnes man, a rugged experienced prop with almost 200 games for Salford and Bradford under his belt. 

The final arrival from the Wolfpack was embarking on his first Super League campaign last year when Covid came along and spoiled the party. Blake Wallace only reached Queensland and New South Wales Cup level in his native Australia and at 28 will look to prove he can add something to Duffy’s ball-playing options. 

Challenging both Wallace and Mellor for playing time in the halves will be former Rovers pair Jamie Ellis and Ryan Brierley. Both have had previous spells at Leigh, racking up almost 160 appearances for the club between them. Ellis was a prolific try-scorer in his 2011 stint, crossing 34 times in just 31 appearances. Like Russell, both Ellis and Brierley are Scotland internationals. There will almost certainly be exciting moments from them all but they need to add consistency to give Leigh an opportunity to survive. 

Following Ellis and Brierley from what always used to be Craven Park are props Matty Gee and Nathaniel Peteru. Worryingly, Gee was part of the London squad relegated from the top flight in 2019 and will inevitably be viewed by many as the classic yo-yoer, falling out of the league with one club before getting a crack with their replacement. He must ensure it is different this time. Nathaniel Peteru probably didn’t think he’d have to worry about Super League survival when he joined Leeds Rhinos from Gold Coast Titans in 2018. Yet after underwhelming spells at Headingley and Hull KR the 29 year-old will be looking to rebuild his reputation in England. 

When Russell was losing that 2016 Grand Final two of his new Centurions colleagues were dancing around the Old Trafford pitch with winners medals in their hands. Lewis Tierney joins after a spell with Catalans Dragons during which he was a Challenge Cup winner in 2018, while Ben Flower has won three Grand Finals with Wigan. It is the one he lost for which we remember him most and for which he is notorious. The 17-cap Welsh international became the first man to be sent off in a Super League Grand Final in 2014 when his marbles went AWOL inside two minutes. Centurions fans can expect to see a much milder, mature character than that guy. But at 33 and with a fairly weighty medical report in recent years he remains a bit of a gamble.

Considering what we’ve seen at play financially Leigh have not had to sacrifice too much to make room for the new additions. Martin Ridyard was a firm favourite at LSV with over 250 appearances for the club in two spells spanning 11 years. Yet with Mellor, Wallace, Brierley and Ellis all on board now opportunities in the halves may have been harder to come by for the veteran 34 year-old. The same issues see Jarrod Sammut head back to London Broncos after only one appearance as a Centurion. 

Ben Reynolds is much younger at 27 but Duffy is satisfied that he has enough to allow the former Castleford and Wakefield man - another who has had two spells at Leigh - to join Toulouse in their bid to get to Super League for 2022. Brierley’s ability to play fullback along with Russell’s arrival means that Irish international Greg McNally has been freed to move back to Whitehaven where he began his career in 2008. 

Danny Addy is perhaps the most significant loss of all. The former Bradford man gets another tilt at Super League but with Richard Marshall’s Salford Red Devils. At 30, he has had severe injuries of late but if he is physically fit can still do a job in the top flight.  Aiming to fill the gap he leaves behind will be another Scottish international - James Bell - who comes north from Toulouse.

Looking at those already available to Duffy prior to recruitment there is cause for concern in the backs. Junior S’au has plenty of Super League experience but the remainder of Leigh’s back line could be much more reliant on the new recruits. They will need to settle in quickly. The fact that several of them know the club from previous spells should help. Up front there is more certainty with Sidlow, Alex Gerrard, Matt Wildie and Liam Hood all boasting top flight experience along with former Huddersfield Giant Nathan Mason and ex- Castleford and Leeds man Jordan Thompson. 

The early fixture list hasn’t been particularly kind to Leigh in their return. Starting with what will always be a grudge match with Wigan, Duffy’s side also face Warrington and Saints in the first five rounds. Castleford and Salford are also on the schedule during that opening run and will not prove  easy prey. If Leigh should find themselves still looking for a first win after that Round 5 clash with Saints on the May Day Bank holiday weekend Duffy and his troops must hold their nerve. It is a 25-round competition this year if all goes to plan. There will be time to recover. Optimists will point out in any case that Leigh beat all of Saints, Warrington and Salford at different stages of their last Super League campaign. It could happen again.

The run-in is likely to be of more significance to Leigh in all probability. That’s when the whips really begin to crack and the pressure to avoid the bottom spot intensifies. There is another clash with Saints awaiting Leigh in their final five but they will see fixtures with Wakefield, Huddersfield, Hull KR and Catalans during that period as games they can target. Some of them could be must-win for all involved by that stage. 

Climbing clumsily astride my fence I can’t say with any certainty that Leigh will buck recent trends and hang around for a second season in Super League. They have a fighting chance. It would be nice if they could, and to do it in front of some decent crowds when restrictions allow later in the summer. Only if they survive and attract a good following will they be able to silence some of the hand-wringers who tut-tutted at their top flight return at the expense of clubs from more fashionable, non-heartland locations. It would also help support the case for promotion and relegation - one of the pillars of UK sporting culture - at a time when the game is being Australianised to the point where pretty soon it will star Joe Mangel and Flat Head. 

So I’m with Leigh, except when they play Saints. I’m just not all that confident.

Super League 2021 Preview - Leeds Rhinos

If sport is about winning then Leeds Rhinos can justifiably deem their 2020 campaign a success.

In truth, almost anything would have represented success by comparison with a disastrous 2019 season.  Then, David Furner came and went as head coach and the Rhinos survived by only four points after a late season rally. Things could only get better, which they did. After some characteristic political shithousing from Gary Hetherington Leeds’ 5th placed finish in 2020 even turned out to be good enough for a play-off place. But the real success came in the Challenge Cup which Leeds won for the 14th time with a 17-16 win over Salford Red Devils. 

Many questioned the appointment of Richard Agar when he took over from Furner on a permanent basis towards the end of 2019. It was felt in some quarters that the former Hull FC and Wakefield boss was merely a stop-gap at Headingley. When the Rhinos were blasted by 30-4 in their opening game of 2020 Agar’s critics were sharpening their knives. Yet Agar’s side responded with five wins in a row, scoring 52 points against Hull KR and turning in a candidate for the most complete performance of the year by any side in Super League by smashing Warrington 36-0 at the end of February. They ran in 66 points against Toronto a week later, a result which unfortunately for them ceased to exist in the record books after the Canadian side withdrew from the competition before the August resumption.

The Rhinos never quite reached those heights again in the league. A week on from that fifth consecutive win (a miraculous one-point comeback victory over Huddersfield) Leeds were battered 48-0 by Saints and then lost 28-10 to Wigan. Towards the end of the season, as Covid began making fixtures ever more difficult to fulfil Agar began blootering nonsense in the press about expanding the play-off series from the planned four teams to a much more Rhino-friendly six. Incredibly, the authorities listened and Leeds scraped in despite only winning two of their last five league games. Of course, everybody enjoys it when the baddies get their comeuppance so there was widespread joy around the rugby league fraternity when Leeds were summarily shit-canned out of Grand Final contention at the first hurdle with a 26-14 defeat to Catalans Dragons. 

Yer there would be no stoping the Rhinos in the Challenge Cup. The competition was decimated by the withdrawal of the non-Super League clubs who had made the last 16, but there will be no asterisk to donate this in the grand old competition’s history books. Victories over Hull KR (48-18) and Wigan (26-12) set up a Wembley showdown with Salford. In one of the more entertaining Challenge Cup finals in recent years the Rhinos prevailed by a single point, thanks ultimately to Luke Gale’s drop-goal. Leeds fans of a certain vintage are well used to celebrating final victories in October, but to win a Challenge Cup as the leaves started to fall was a new experience even for them.

As Hull FC fans will no doubt attest the only downside to winning important trophies is that it transports your previously unheralded head coach from a position of vulnerability to one of near untouchable unsackability. Agar has probably earned himself a shot at this campaign at least and will always be able to point to that cup success if things get hairy. Lee Radford’s cup triumphs with FC bought him another three underwhelming years at the helm before owner Adam Pearson blew his top in a live interview following a heavy defeat by Warrington. If Agar is not the right coach for Leeds fans then they may be concerned that they are stuck with him anyway for the foreseeable future.  

This time around Agar will be assisted by Saints legend Sean Long. The former star halfback assisted both Keiron Cunningham and Justin Holbrook before a spell in rugby union with Harlequins. Now he’s back in league hoping to replicate the success he had both as a player and a coach. As the medal collectors of the Rhinos Super League glory years have all departed in the last few years it could be crucial to have someone like Long around who can show you exactly what it takes to win at this level. Long has had his problems mentally since his glorious playing career wound down but if his head is in the game he could be a real asset.

Clearly Leeds were not going to make the leap from fifth to first without a little tinkering with the personnel. Agar has overseen the recruitment of Zane Tetevano from Penrith Panthers and King Vuniyayawa from New Zealand Warriors. Bodene Thompson will be like a new signing too after making 11 appearances last term following his forced exit from Toronto. Having played in the Grand Final for Warrington in 2018 and also having a spell with Leigh there will be no issue with adjusting to the British game for Thompson. There might be an issue getting him to behave himself given that his chequered career includes being stood down by New Zealand in 2016 for his part in a booze and prescription drugs fiasco and also a fairly sordid sex scandal in which he accused his former partner of blackmail. At 32 it is to be hoped his wilder days are behind him.

Back rower Tetevano carries a bit of baggage too but we’ll get to that later. First the good stuff. He made 19 appearances for NRL Grand Finalists Penrith Panthers in 2020. One of those was off the bench in the Grand Final defeat by Melbourne Storm. He has amassed 122 NRL appearances in eight seasons which have seen stops at Newcastle Knights and Sydney Roosters before Penrith. Quite the CV. But there’s a but. There’s always a but. Tetevano spent two years out of the NRL after being sacked by the Knights in 2014 for smashing a taxi window following a domestic dispute. At 30 the prop or loose forward should be beyond these kind of shenanigans now but Leeds recruitment does seem to highlight quite how much risk is always involved in signing NRL stars. 

The one other significant addition is 25 year-old second rower King Vuniyayawa who arrives from New Zealand Warriors. Vuniyayawa is a rugby union convert who had only just made the breakthrough into the Warriors first team from their Queensland Cup side when he chose to make the move to West Yorkshire. In that regard he will be something of an unknown quantity to British fans. He has represented Fiji on three occasions and together with Tetevano and Thompson it is hoped he will improve Agar’s pack options.

Help was needed after the retirements of both Stevie Ward and Dom Crosby, while 2015 Man Of Steel nominee Adam Cuthbertson has moved on to York City Knights. Ava Seumanufagai was also released by Leeds. The new recruits will be complimented by established pack men Mikolaj Oledzki, Alex Mellor, Rhyse Martin and Brad Dwyer. Matt Prior was a standout in his first season with the Rhinos after joining from Cronulla. Cameron Smith, Alex Sutcliffe and James Donaldson will be among those competing for places in a pack that still looks a little short of title potential.

The backs are a far more exciting group. Ash Handley has his critics but is an absolute try machine who no longer seems to have any serious defensive frailties. Harry Newman is one of the best prospects in the British game at centre. If he recovers well from an horrific injury towards the end of last season his partnership with the always entertaining Konrad Hurrell will be a must watch. Tom Briscoe is still around as is his brother Luke, while if Jack Walker can stay fit he is one of the most talented full backs in the competition. Richie Myler has filled in there adequately enough but there’s arguably a lack of depth at number one.

If there is a creative question mark against Leeds it is in the halves where the combination of Gale and Robert Lui doesn’t always convince. Improvement in the forwards may help that but it is also possible that the experienced Myler may feature in the halves more regularly or that 21 year-old Callum McLelland may start getting the game time he needs to come of age as a Super League player. Having Long around won’t hurt his development. 

Leeds begin their campaign on March 27 with what will actually be a home game against Wakefield Trinity with the whole of round one taking place at Headingley. They then come to St Helens to take on Castleford Tigers as Saints take over hosting duties for round two. 

If you were to ask the fans I’m sure they’d say the playoffs are a minimum target for Agar in 2021. That’s not an unrealistic goal and we’ve all seen in the past what they can do once they are there, even if they only just scrape in. Yet doubts remain about whether this side has the quality or the mentality to match its predecessors of the first two decades of Super League. They shouldn’t have to worry about the drop but Leeds are also unlikely to add another Super League crown just yet.

Super League 2021 Preview - Hull KR

If the chaos caused by the Covid outbreak should have benefitted any Super League side it was Hull KR. The withdrawal of Toronto Wolfpack combined with the cancellation of the leagues below the top flight meant that relegation was immediately taken off the table in 2020. With that pressure released the season was almost a free hit for Rovers. While off the field these were uncertain and scary times what was the worst that could happen on it?

They had found out the answer to that long before Covid wreaked its havoc. In a pre-season run out prop Mose Masoe suffered a dreadful spinal injury which immediately forced his early retirement from the game. The former Saints man was unsure whether he would be able to stand or walk for a time but is happily making good progress. Nevertheless you have to wonder whether the horrible accident which ended his career cast a shadow over Rovers season. It never really seemed to galvanise them. 

Coach Tony Smith wasn’t shy about how he would respond to the absence of relegation and the diminished importance of results in the context of Masoe’s injury. Smith told us that his side would play a more open, expansive style. He was true to his word. Rovers were great to watch at times.  Only serial gamblers Warrington managed more offloads during the year while Rovers were in the top six for clean breaks also. 

Yet the bottom line is that despite removing the shackles tactically Smith saw his side win only three times in 17 outings. Only Wakefield, Wigan and Salford managed to lose to Hull KR in 2020 as the Robins staggered home in 11th and last place on what Australians insist on referring to as the ladder. Despite their relatively high offload and clean break counts none of the Super League sides scored fewer than Rovers’ 52 tries. Catalans Dragons managed 13 more than that despite only playing 13 games. Defensively Rovers were brittle too, missing more tackles and conceding more points than anyone else in the competition.

There are no guarantees for 2021 given that lockdown is likely to be lifted at a glacial pace, but all being well there will be no safety net this time around. If Rovers want to be a Super League club in 2022 they will have to avoid finishing bottom of the pile. That should be their minimum objective. If they are forward thinking and truly progressive they will look for more. Smith has been in position since the middle of the 2019 season. They avoided relegation only on points difference that year but surely the time for improvement is overdue. A coach who has won two Grand Finals and three Challenge Cups hasn’t been hired to fight the drop to the Championship year on year. 

In a bid to awaken this narcoleptic giant of a club Smith has overseen the recruitment of four players who plied their trade in the NRL last term. The name best known to British fans is that of Ryan Hall. The former Leeds Rhino struggled to get game time in a star-studded Sydney Roosters team but it is worth noting that he has over 230 tries in his club career and another 36 in 38 games for England. He can show you his medals too, a Grand Final winner on six occasions to add to two Challenge Cup and two World Club Challenge wins. He has the pedigree. The only question is whether he can still cut it at the age of 33 and after two seasons in which he made a total of only 11 appearances for the Roosters.

Less familiar to Rovers fans will be the three non-British NRL imports - Brad Takairangi, Albert Vete and Korbin Sims.  Predominantly a centre or back rower but also capable at stand-off, Takairangi was in the Parramatta Eels side which lost to Penrith Panthers at the NRL semi-final stage in 2020. That was only his 10th appearance of the campaign but the 31 year-old does have 178 NRL appearances to his name with the Eels, Gold Coast Titans and the Roosters.

Further bolstering Smith’s back row options is Fijian international utility forward Sims, younger brother of former Warrington and Toronto top-knot Ashton Sims as well as one-time State Of Origin star Tariq. Korbin is 29 and brings with him eight seasons of NRL experience during which he has amassed 141 appearances and scored 18 tries in spells with Newcastle Knights, Brisbane Broncos and St George-Illawarra Dragons. His final campaign with the Dragons was all but ruined by a broken arm picked up in the pre-season nines tournament so he should be keen to get his career back on track.

Perhaps the biggest gamble among the NRL recruits is 28 year-old prop or loose forward Vete who arrives from Melbourne Storm. Vete made just six appearances for the eventual NRL Premiers in 2020 and has made only eight since joining the Victoria outfit in 2018. It is clear that he needs more regular action. Not to say that he won’t be a success. Recent Super League history is littered with examples of players seemingly surplus to requirements in the NRL who become stars on the shores. Conversely there are those who arrive with big expectations and become Josh Perry. It really could go either way.

Most sports analysts and commentators would suggest that strengthening a direct rival is a no-no when conducting your transfer business. There could be much whaling and gnashing of teeth if the decision to let four players join newly promoted Leigh Centurions backfires. Jamie Ellis, Matty Gee, Nathaniel Peteru and Ryan Brierley all head to the Sports Village as Smith starts another rebuild. Ellis showed some classy touches last year, not least of which was his performance in a valiant 32-18 loss to Saints but all too often he missed out on selection to Jordan Abdull and the emerging Mikey Lewis. Gee and Peteru made only 19 appearances between them in 2020 and hardly disturbed any trees let alone pull any up but Brierley has something of the explosive and unpredictable about him that all squads need from time to time.  

Other higher profile losses are prop Mitch Garbutt who heads for Toulouse and veteran back rower Weller Hauraki who retired after being released. 

Those added to the squad will look to compliment what Smith already has at his disposal. Kane Linnett and Shaun Kenny-Dowall have shown quality since arriving while Greg Minikin is as exciting and unpredictable as anyone called Greg with Castleford Tigers connections. Ben Crooks scored 11 tries last term while Saints fans will know all about how Adam Quinlan giveth and taketh away. The boy ain’t dull to watch.

The pack will be a new one largely though Matt Parcell is a consistent presence and hugely under-rated performer at hooker. Matty Storton, Jez Litten and Elliot Minchella all made strides last year through troubled times and if the new imports gel Rovers could surprise a few. Yet for all that 2021 feels like a movie we have seen before with Rovers, one in which change, upheaval and the odd recruitment gamble again fails to see them challenge the elite. There are probably one, maybe two or three weaker sides than Rovers in the competition but don’t bet the house on them bothering the playoff fixture schedulers. 

Super League 2021 Preview - Hull FC

The 2020 season was a little bit different for everyone, and Hull FC were no exception. Yet it seemed that the more things changed for the black and whites the more they stayed the same. 

Even chairman Adam Pearson’s notorious interview in which he announced the departure of two-time Challenge Cup winning coach Lee Radford couldn’t shake FC out of their malaise of inconsistency and under-achievement. A late flurry and some creative tinkering with the structure of the competition offered hope, but when if fizzled out with a convincing 29-2 semi-final defeat to Wigan it felt like Hull had got what they deserved from the season overall.

Pearson put the club firmly in the rugby league headlines following an abject 38-4 defeat to Warrington in March. Facing the Sky cameras in place of Radford he announced on the live broadcast that Radford would no longer be in the head coaching role. It was a pretty stunning way to go about your business even if it seems likely that it had been discussed with Radford beforehand. It was bound to be spun as the chairman sacking his coach live on air. While it was not quite like that it was nevertheless a fairly classless effort on his part and would have caused a good deal of embarrassment for Radford. Perhaps his time was up, but he deserved better.

It had all started so well. When FC took Leeds Rhinos apart on the opening day it looked like this talented squad were finally ready to be taken seriously. They followed that win up with an always popular derby victory - beating Hull KR 25-16 at a rocking KCom. That appears to be the point where their troubles started. They suffered three defeats in a row to Saints, Wigan and Catalans Dragons, briefly reviving with a one-point win over Wakefield Trinity before that fateful Warrington walloping.

Andy Last - who had a 20-year association with the club as player and coach - was placed in temporary charge for what turned out to be the remainder of the season. It got worse before it got better as FC were whacked 54-18 by Salford Red Devils in the first game following Pearson’s intervention. FC then settled back into old ways, winning one and losing one in a pattern you could almost set your watch by until a three-game winning streak at the end of the season somehow got them into the playoffs. 

The curtailment of the regular season in the Covid chaos led somewhat illogically to the expansion of the playoffs to six teams. Hull were in then after victories over Huddersfield, Castleford and Hull KR in October. They even managed to win a playoff game - exorcising a few demons with a 27-14 win over the more fancied Warrington - before crashing out with an effort that doesn’t even qualify as a whimper in that heavy defeat by Wigan. That they missed out on playing in a home Grand Final after the event was switched to the KCom only heightened the disappointment.

Last was not offered the opportunity to continue as head coach on a permanent basis and has instead become Chris Chester’s assistant at Wakefield. His replacement at the KCom is former Huddersfield and Warrington full back Brett Hodgson. The former New South Wales State Of Origin player has been an assistant coach at another of his former clubs Wests Tigers in the NRL for the last two years. Now he returns to Hull - where he started coaching as a consultant after retiring in 2013 - to take on his first full time head coaching role.

With less than six weeks to the start of the 2021 season Hodgson’s only recruit is one who has made the journey with him to Humberside from the Tigers. Josh Reynolds managed only 10 appearances for the Tigers in the NRL last season, and only 22 over a three-year spell. That’s perhaps understandable given that he has been competing with the likes of Luke Brookes and Benji Marshall for a halfback slot in Campbelltown.  But he will turn 32 within a month of the season’s kick-off, so will his career enjoy a resurgence or is he just passing the time until his retirement? He has pedigree having made 138 appearances and scored 169 points for the Canterbury Bulldogs in a seven-season stint which included appearances in two losing NRL Grand Finals.

It’s arguable that the FC squad was in need of something of a clear out but it hasn’t really had it. Of the big name departures Josh Jones never really made an impression due to Covid while Gareth Ellis had to retire at some point. He does so for the second time - aged 39 - but in any case he was no longer the dynamic enforcer who had collected medals at Leeds and stormed the NRL. Meanwhile Albert Kelly is one of those Marmite players, indulged by those who cherish his ability to come up with the unexpected but maligned by those who want a bit more reliability in their number seven. The ability to tackle helps, too. Kelly regularly hovers around the top of the missed tackle charts.

If Reynolds can be relied upon he will probably form a halfback partnership with Marc Sneyd. The latter’s kicking game has never been in question but he’s never been all that dynamic either. Perhaps the pair will compliment each other. Hodgson will hope so but it does leave him with the conundrum of what to do with Jake Connor. Never the most popular player among opposing fans, when Connor is not winding opponents up he is one of the most talented players knocking about in Super League at present. He literally has everything. He could be used as a full back which would raise questions around Jamie Shaul, or else operate at centre meaning one of Josh Griffin or Carlos Tuimavave would have to make way. Hodgson is not going to be short of options in his back line despite Ratu Naulago’s defection to rugby union. Yet it might be that unless he can get Connor in the team and performing consistently we are not going to see the improvement in results that black and whites fans crave.

Hodgson will also need to get more out of a forward pack which promised much but delivered far less in 2020. Manu M’au, Ligi Sao and Tavita Satae all look well capable of more while promising home grown products like Josh Bowden, Joe Cator, Brad Fash and Jordan Lane offer further value. Veteran tackling machine Danny Houghton is still around but can expect to share time with Jordan Johnstone. Perhaps Hull’s most skilled forward is Andre Savelio but in many ways the former Saints starlet encapsulates FC’s weaknesses over the last few seasons. Occasionally brilliant but not somebody who has proved you can rely on him when things get real.

Fittingly, Hodgson starts his Hull FC tenure against his former club Huddersfield Giants. They too are bedding in a new coach as Ian Watson makes the move to the John Smith’s Stadium from Salford. Yet for Hodgson and Hull it is less about how they start and more about how they go on after that. Consistency is key for a squad which looks plenty good enough to make the playoffs but would turn the heads of nobody should they fall short. 

Super League 2021 Preview - Huddersfield Giants

Huddersfield Giants’ 2020 campaign was something of a metaphor for the times in which it took place. In the midst of an unprecedented pandemic there was turmoil, change, upheaval, brief hope and optimism but overall the recurring theme was disappointment.

The Giants won seven and lost 11 of their 18 Super League fixtures last term, leaving them an underwhelming seventh in the overall win percentage-based standings. Even the expansion of the playoff series to six teams wasn’t enough to spare them from missing out on the end of season knockout festivities. The Giants have not been involved in a playoff series since 2015, travelling almost exclusively in a backwards direction ever since the zenith of their 2013 League Leaders Shield triumph.  These Giants are not so much sleeping as positively narcoleptic.

In mid-September, just after he had finished explaining to the press that he wanted to commit his future to Huddersfield, it was announced that Head Coach Simon Woolford would leave the club at the end of 2020. A couple of days later he was gone with immediate effect. His departure was sudden but could hardly be described as a shock. The decision not to renew the former Canberra Raider’s contract came on the back of a five-game losing streak. It started with a barely credible capitulation against Leeds on the weekend of the restart and took in defeats to Saints, Warrington, Hull FC and Leeds again before the players saw another win bonus. They beat troubled, knee-dodgers Wakefield the day after Woolford’s exit.

Former halfback Luke Robinson had been learning the coaching trade on Woolford’s staff and was handed an opportunity to stake a claim to be the leading man. Initially he seemed to be grasping it with wins over Castleford and Hull KR following that Wakefield success. But another losing run was just around the corner. As the regular season unravelled and ended in a degree of farce the Giants imploded also, losing five straight to Salford, Hull FC, Wakefield, Warrington and Wigan. It was a run which extinguished the Giants’ brief revival and arguably put paid to Robinson’s hopes of securing the top job permanently.

Instead the club’s hierarchy have made what looks like a shrewd appointment in Ian Watson. The ex-Welsh international halfback is now a tried and tested Super League coach. He has presided over Salford’s best spell in the summer era and for many years before that. He guided the Red Devils to the 2019 Grand Final against all expectations and followed that up by taking a squad which had been picked clean by its rivals on the back of that success to the 2020 Challenge Cup final at Wembley. It was Salford’s first visit to the national stadium in 51 years. If you want to look for negatives you could point out that Salford lost on both of those occasions. But just to be mixing it with Saints at Old Trafford in 2019 and Leeds in the capital last year is a monumental achievement. Huddersfield will be hoping that some of the Watson magic which helped turn Salford’s perennial strugglers into trophy contenders will rub off on them. And Robinson will still be around as an assistant. There should be no shortage of attacking ideas for a team led by those two former midfield schemers.

Watson has brought a couple of his old charges with him to West Yorkshire. Josh Jones arrives after a torrid single season at Hull FC that was largely ruined by Covid, while Luke Yates is another ex-Red Devil. The headline signings are former Toronto centre Ricky Leutele - an NRL Grand Final winner with Cronulla Sharks in 2016 who made one appearance in 2020 for eventual champions Melbourne Storm - and halfback Jack Cogger. The latter endured a struggle with Canterbury Bulldogs last term but at just 23 is coming to England as he nears his peak. He may see the move as a shop window for another crack at the NRL down the line but if he can find some form for a year or two alongside the brilliant Aidan Sezer and with Lee Gaskell also on deck creativity should not be an issue for Watson’s men.

Jack Ashworth gets an opportunity to relaunch a career that has stalled at Saints in recent years. If Watson can get the best out of him - and why wouldn’t he given his track record at Salford - Ashworth could yet prove to be a quality addition. For inspiration he should look to what Gil Dudson did at Salford under Watson. Discarded by Wigan and seemingly plodding towards obscurity with Widnes, Dudson enjoyed a resurgence to become an integral parr of Salford’s successes and has since earned a move to the South of France with Catalans Dragons. Another former Saint - Joe Greenwood - should be thinking along similar lines. He has joined from Wigan after failing to establish himself there or at Leeds or Gold Coast Titans following a promising start to his career at Saints.

Recruits were necessary in the pack after longtime stalwart Ukuma Ta’ai was released and Suaia Matagi joined Castleford Tigers on loan. Utility man and another well known to Saints fans - Jordan Turner - is another heading for Castleford as Watson goes about shaping his squad. Turner’s versatility, as well as that of Aaron Murphy who joins Bradford Bulls, could be missed unless Watson can find the right balance.

One thing that Watson will have at his disposal which hasn’t always been the case during his time at the AJ Bell Stadium is a promising crop of youngsters to call on. Darnell McIntosh and Jacob Wardle are two exciting prospects in the back division. Both are products of the club’s youth system and at 23 and 22 years old respectively should be about to enter the best years of their careers. Wardle’s potential centre partnership with Leutele looks particularly promising while McIntosh already has 88 first team appearances under his belt. He can operate at full back or on the wing and could become one of the stars of the league in the next few years.  Up front Matty English is another good local product with a big future seemingly ahead of him.

That smattering of youth could really blossom when mixed with established pros like England winger Jermaine McGillvary, Leutele, Gaskell, Jones, hooker Adam O’Brien, second row Kenny Edwards and perhaps most importantly Sezer. The former Canberra man was a top performer in his first season in England despite the team’s struggles. He’s the sort of player you want to pay to see. A real throwback to how the halfback position used to be played. An on-field general with a supreme kicking game who has the passing game to make other players better too. Watson is undoubtedly the Giants’ key recruit but the potential importance of Sezer should not be understated.

The Giants will kick off their 2021 campaign with a clash with another of 2020’s underachievers Hull FC at Leeds on March 28. The black and whites also have a new coach in the shape of former Giants and Warrington full back Brett Hodgson. He’ll be desperate to put one over on his old side but he, like all the other coaches in the top flight, should find Huddersfield under Watson are a more formidable obstacle. 

As things stand it would take a serious improvement to elevate Huddersfield into a playoff place. What their fans should be looking for more than anything is evidence of steady improvement, where five and six-game winless runs are a thing of the past. I’m confident they’ll get it, with a top six finish not out of the question and who knows...maybe a good run in the cup?

Super League 2021 Preview - Castleford Tigers

The 2020 season wasn’t what anybody hoped or expected it to be, but few clubs will be as disappointed with their output on the field as Castleford Tigers.  

These days Daryl Powell’s side start most campaigns among the favourites to make the playoffs. They went close to winning the League Leaders Shield in Powell’s second season in 2014 before finally cracking the code and winning it convincingly in 2017. They were beaten by Leeds in that year’s Grand Final but they had nevertheless arrived, or so it seemed. The days of relegation battles and scrapping around for Super League survival have largely disappeared under Powell’s leadership as they reached the playoffs again in 2018 and 2019. With that in mind an eighth placed finish in a field of just 11 in 2020 represents something close to a disaster at The Jungle. Improvement in 2021 is a must. 

The 2020 campaign had promised so much before Covid-19 came along and changed everything. The Tigers were even involved in heralding in what were thought to be new beginnings for rugby league. They became the first Super League club to face Toronto Wolfpack as part of the competition’s opening day extravaganza. 

Castleford’s win would later be expunged from the records amid the wreckage of the Canadian side’s abrupt withdrawal from the competition. A game that never was seems a fitting metaphor for a season that ultimately led nowhere. Yet before the league was suspended in March Powell’s men had won five of their first seven fixtures including that Toronto success. The final game before lockdown was a convincing 28-14 triumph over an out of sorts Saints. Powell’s side had also seen off Wigan, Wakefield and Hull KR during that run and lost by a single point to Warrington. The only real cause for alarm to that point had been a 36-18 loss to the Catalans Dragons in Perpignan. 

Yet the Tigers won only twice more after the August restart. They took a heavy 40-14 beating by the Dragons on the day that play resumed, but were heartened by their defensive display in a dour 10-0 defeat to Saints. Only Wigan held the champions to fewer points than that after the restart. Salford matched it but did so against a youthful Saints side as Kristian Woolf rang the changes in preparation for the playoffs.  But the cold, hard truth is that for all their defensive solidity at times and in particular in that narrow Saints loss, only Salford and Hull KR came out on the wrong end of the scoreline against the Tigers after lockdown

If there wasn’t too much wrong with Castleford’s defence when they applied themselves the loss of their attacking edge was more concerning. After the loss of the influential Luke Gale to Leeds Rhinos Powell turned to Danny Richardson at halfback. His partnership with Jake Trueman in the midfield looked a dream ticket and may yet prove to be, but there were teething problems in the youngsters’ first season together. Trueman was bothered by a back injury and managed only seven appearances. His fitness and continued development alongside 2018 Super League Dream Team selection Richardson will be pivotal for the Tigers in 2021. Gareth O’Brien has also been added in the wake of the Toronto debacle and will offer that little bit more experience and nous this time around. O’Brien made eight appearances on loan for the Tigers in 2020 and now makes the permanent switch.  

Whoever you have at halfback you are going to need a solid pack capable of going forward to set a platform from which to play. Liam Watts has long been one of the standout front rowers in Super League while at hooker Paul McShane was so crucial to the Tigers’ effort week after week that he landed the Steve Prescott Man Of Steel Award. Their supporting cast is less convincing, to which end Powell has drafted in Suaia Matagi from Huddersfield Giants and Lewis Bienek from Hull FC. Junior Moors has moved on to Featherstone and Matt Cook to Widnes. The ageless Grant Millington adds further support alongside the class of ‘17s Nathan Massey and Jesse Sene-Lefao. George Griffin is a 2019 Grand Finalist with Salford and should prove a good addition after a difficult first year.

In the back row long time stalwart Mike McMeeken has moved on to Catalans Dragons. Sene-Lefao, Oliver Holmes, Alex Foster and Cheyse Blair look the likeliest starters there with either Adam Milner or Massey locking the now imaginary scrum. 

If the forwards can start to get Castleford down the field then there may be a chance of a return to the free-flowing style of play which characterised their best teams under Powell. Full back has been a problem position since Zak Hardaker snorted his way out of the Jungle exit, demolishing those 2017 Grand Final dreams in the process. 

Here to solve the problem is Niall Evalds, brought in on a one-year deal after almost 150 appearances for Salford. Evalds is one of many who caught the eye during the Red Devils’ rise from also-rans to a side featuring in major finals in both 2019 and 2020 under Ian Watson. Evalds has pace, scores tries, is a good support player and is dependable as a last line of defence. 

His presence will free O’Brien up to contribute in the halves and will hopefully end Powell’s apparent devotion to the idea that Peter Mata’utia is a serviceable Super League full back. Mata’utia may be needed at centre anyway with only skipper Michael Shenton, Foster and new boy Jordan Turner providing any depth there. Turner arrives after a three and a half year stint with Huddersfield but at 32 does little to address the lack of youthful dynamism at centre. 

Shenton is now 34 and Mata’utia 30. Only Foster at 27 can claim to be somewhere near his peak as an athlete and he has played his best football in the second row. Investment in a good young centre or the development of one or two in that position from the youth set-up ought to be a priority for Powell.  

If those he has at his disposal for 2021 can still cut it then there are few better equipped to finish off the chances they create than Greg Eden. Once derided after Nathan Brown rashly compared him to Billy Slater, Eden has reinvented himself as a prolific try-scoring winger. His 80 tries in 75 Tigers appearances are a testament to the expansive rugby played under Powell and they go a long way to ensuring that nobody at Castleford or in the sport of rugby league remembers the name of Denny Solomona without googling Super League stats from 2016. Eden has a mistake in him, but if he is on the field the action around him should not be dull.

It is reasonable for Tigers fans to expect better from their side this time around. Better than eighth should not be a stretch.  Look around the squad lists in Super League for 2021 and you will not find seven better than the one Powell presides over. A playoff place is within reach and is arguably a minimum requirement if Powell is to avoid the growing whispers that some of the magic that made the Tigers a genuine contender is wearing away. Powell may be some fans’ favourite to be the first coach to vacate his hot-seat but he will believe he still has a few surprises in store. 

Super League 2021 Preview - Catalans Dragons

Ultimately they didn’t win anything, but the 2020 season has to be viewed as one of steady improvement for Catalans Dragons. They were well beaten by Saints in the playoff semi-final, but just being involved in a knockout game at the end of the season represents progress. 

Like everyone, the French side had to deal with an unprecedented level of goalpost moving as the pandemic hit and the structure was tinkered with. The original plan was that four sides would contest the playoffs at the end of a season reduced to 11 teams after Toronto’s withdrawal. There would be a maximum of 20 games following a five-month Covid interlude. In the event nobody managed to squeeze in more than 19. The curtailment saw clubs on the periphery of the top four manage to persuade the game’s hierarchy to expand the playoffs from four teams to six. Not that Catalans needed that intervention. Their fourth placed finish would have been good enough under the terms of the original plan.

The Dragons made headlines from the very beginning, not all of them positive. The signing of controversial homophobe Israel Folau was met with criticism. And not without justification. Rugby league has an odd way of picking up the trash that other sports have long since put out, and of bracing itself for the flak that follows. Bad publicity is better than no publicity is a phrase that rugby league appears to have adopted as its motto. In the end Folau wasn’t worth the aggro, showing only flashes of his undoubted ability before ending the season being utterly monstered by Jack Welsby in that 48-2 semi-final rout at the hands of the back-to-back champions. As the 2021 season looms large Folau is being heavily linked with the exit although a recently mooted switch to the NRL Dragons of St George-Illawarra fell through. Perhaps Hell awaits him and Adrian Lam will be on the phone in due course.

The Dragons other star recruit for 2020 was James Maloney.  The 34 year-old halfback was coming to France on the back of a disappointing season with Penrith Panthers but had still been a prominent figure in New South Wales’ 2019 State Of Origin series victory over Queensland. He was still a genuine NRL star. Expectations were high. Unfortunately for Maloney and the Dragons those expectations far outweighed the quality of the performances. In mitigation there were only 14 opportunities to take the field in all competitions for Maloney as the Covid chaos meant the Dragons completed only 13 regular season games. That is six fewer than Wakefield Trinity managed which gives you some idea of how disjointed the campaign became despite everyone’s best efforts.  Cohesion was a challenge for everyone, not least a side with an ageing halfback coming into a new culture with a heavy burden on his shoulders. He will and must aim for better in his second term.

Before Covid brought a halt to proceedings in March the Dragons were travelling fairly well. They had lost their opener 32-12 to Huddersfield Giants but then enjoyed successive wins over Castleford Tigers, Hull FC and Salford Red Devils. Leeds’ Rhinos understandable refusal to travel to France as the infection rate grew sparked the chain of events which lead to a period of almost five months of inactivity. Throughout that time there were constant doubts about if, how and when the season would resume. The Dragons, like the season itself, were not quite the same when it did.

Their return to action was a 34-6 thumping at St Helens. It was a foreshadowing of what would happen in the semi-final and illustrated the gulf which existed between the top two and the rest for much of the journey towards the alternative Grand Final venue of Hull. The Dragons responded to that Saints defeat with thumping wins over Castleford and Wakefield before going down 28-12 to eventual Grand Finalists Wigan and 30-16 to perennial bouquet-catchers Warrington Wolves.  Steve McNamara’s side then reeled off three wins in a row but were comprehensively whacked 42-24 by Salford in early November.  They had been inactive because of postponements for 24 days at the time of that Salford loss. The season was beginning to unravel but the playoffs offered a fresh start. Win three games on the bounce and you’re champions irrespective of all the ups and downs along the way. 

Catalans negotiated the first hurdle when they faced Leeds Rhinos down at Warrington. Folau was among the scorers in a 26-14 win before he disappeared into Welsby’s pocket and the journey ended a week later. 

The 2021 season is unlikely to be what we would think of as normal but with a vaccine programme in full swing it is hoped that it will be something closer to what we are used to. The Dragons are likely to face more than a 13-game programme on route to a playoff place this time around. With that in mind some of McNamara’s off season business might be a cause for concern. There seems to be more quality and experience going out than coming in. 

Should Folau leave he will not be the most significant departure. David Mead has been a less controversial but more consistent presence in the back line over the last few years although injury meant that he managed only seven appearances in 2020 before agreeing a deal to join Brisbane Broncos for 2021. Up front Mikael Simon has retired while longtime talisman Remy Casty has been released. Both Sam Moa and Antoni Maria have joined FC Lezignan. All of which could leave the front row looking a bit light. Gil Dudson is a useful addition there. Deemed not good enough at Wigan Dudson has had something of a renaissance as part of the Salford Red Devils side that reached the Grand Final in 2019 and the Challenge Cup final last term.

Joining him in France is Mike McMeeken who arrives after six seasons at Castleford during which he made two appearances for England. The former London Bronco was a key figure in the Tigers’ League Leaders Shield-winning campaign of 2017. Like much of Daryl Powell’s side McMeeken had been failing to quite hit those heights over the last couple of seasons and he will hope that a new challenge will give him the impetus to return to the international reckoning. He could form an exciting back row partnership with Matt Whitley while Benjamin Julien and Mickael Goudemand offer solid back up there.

Yet it’s hard not to come back to Maloney in trying to assess whether Catalans will be a genuine contender in 2021. He can be a match-winner if he brings his A-game even at his advancing years. His halfback partnership with Josh Drinkwater will be crucial, with perhaps Samisoni Langi and the much decorated Sam Tomkins slotting in there at times. The Tomkins brothers and hooker Mickey McIlorum may all have seen better days but they have that experience of winning and that know-how that should always make them a threat. If the midfield generals can load the bullets the Dragons have wingers who can finish opponents off in the shape of another ex-Wigan man Tom Davies and the bullocking tearaway presence of Fouad Yaha. Lewis Tierney is among those who won’t be around having agreed a two-year deal with Super League newbies Leigh Centurions.

It’s hard to see the Dragons making the step up to becoming champions and adding a Super League title to the 2018 Challenge Cup on their roll of honour. A playoff place is within reach but it still feels like those traditional Catalans flaws of travel sickness and an over reliance on big names who are slightly past their best will scupper them once more.