XIII Oceans

In the absence of Alfred Garcia it’s been Brian Noble and James Lowes that have been hunted after disappointing starts to their teams’ campaigns.  This week offers them both away trips to places where you can easily come unstuck.  It was good to see Catalans get off the mark and at Huddersfield there was no easy yardage as the Giants pushed Saints all the way.  This week there’s no let up for good fixtures with the World Club Championship taking pride of place, for Leeds fans, on Sunday.

Leeds v Manly
What I said last for last year’s WCC applies here.  It’s a no-lose situation for the Australians.  Win and they can rubbish our game.  Lose and it’s a friendly.  Having been humiliated in the World Cup Final the NRL and AP won’t want to suffer more embarrassment, especially at the hands of a Leeds side that will be missing a few.  Ryan Bailey looks likely to miss out after suffering a heart attack when he broke through the opposition defence for the first time in his career.  Staff at Jimmy’s admitted several supporters with shock whilst Brent Kite refused to travel when he heard that Bailey has added running forward to his game.  Who does he think he is?  Mark ‘Potato Puff’ Carroll?  Leeds by 2.

Bradford v Huddersfield
I saw Huddersfield for the first time last week and I was impressed.  How deep their squad is I don’t know.  What I do know is that Nathan Brown has got something going on with the Giants.  Against Saints they almost punished Saints for missed conversrions when they came back strongly in the second half, putting the visitors on the back foot and asking lots of questions of what was a great defensive performance by Potter’s men.  Led by some first rate distribution from Scott Moore at dummy half, the Giants looked like the most imaginative and dangerous side they’ve had since Tony Smith coached Chris Thorman.  I would probably go beyond that and say with a few results these guys can go places.  The Bulls I haven’t yet seen.  What does that mean?  Well they’ve not Solomona, Lynch or Langley.  If this was at the Giants I would be backing Brown’s boys.  You can’t forget tradition in games like this, despite the claims of fools who say such things don’t play a part.  Huddersfield do not do well agaisnt the Bulls and although they certainly have the ability to change that it’s a safe call for the home side this time.  Bradford by 2.

Hull v Catalans
Hull’s round the world RL tour continues at home with a revived Dragons side who blitzed the Wolves last week by picking up the ball and putting one foot in front of the other with speed.  How effective can such a wild tactic be against Agar’s men?  A home game would have been preferable for Walters because the KC is not a bon vacance which has me favouring Hull.  The fishbangers we haven’t had the chance to assess which means it’s a bit of a stab in the dark and last week’s win in Wales isn’t a great barometer and given Wigan’s failure to register a win Hull’s first win isn’t either.  It would be unfair to be negative about Hull because both those games needed winning and they did that which is all you can ask.  Home form edges it.  Hull by 8.

St Helens v Hull KR
Question marks about Mick Potter’s appointment are being answered on a weekly basis by Saints which two very strong defensive showings have demonstrated.  At Huddersfield Saints had too much class for the Gaints as Sean Long and Leon Pryce combined to take two points which most teams would not have managed.  The Giants did everything possible to get over the line only for Saints to hold them out in a manner not seen at this stage of the season by Saints since 2006.  It wasn’t dissimilar from the way in which Hull KR almost beat Leeds.  There’ll be little pressure on Rovers away from home and the cameras, with Saints carrying a few knocks, missing Pryce, Flannery and Cayless could make this a lot closer than it should be.  Going to Saints and winning requires a season best outing these days and Rovers are clever enough to compete here.  Despite that Saints can usually be counted on to cough up at least one game at home but I don’t think it will be this one because I have to believe that Saints defence will be too strong for even Nick Fozzard to damage.  Saints by 8.

Wakefield v Warrington
What is happening at Warrington?  Nothing really and that’s the problem.  The Wolves problems under Cullen stemmed from a lack of respect for ball control which Lowes has tried to address and an ability to tackle which Lowes either has decided it isn’t a concern or he can’t coach it.  The latter was critical in the collapse at home last week.  There doesn’t appear to have been any progress on that front and you wonder how much longer Matt King is going to put up with flailing around in the middle of the table when really he should be busting tackles near the table’s peak.  Travelling to Wakefield, we have established already, is like visiting the dentist.  If you could avoid it you would.  You can’t and even if the dentist hasn’t got all his tools at his disposal he can pull that tooth out if he wants.  Warrington can sidestep a filling, except I think they might still be heavily sedated.  Wakefield by 6.

Castleford v Salford
It doesn’t take much for opposition fans to be out pronouncing the death of professional rugby league in Madchester, unfortunately most of them are about ten years late realising that.  Castleford are coming off a red hot win over Wigan, Matterson has the locals talking of finishing in the top ten and visiting Eden Lake is always tricky irrespective of how good a side you are.  Can Salford defy Darwin’s theory of rugby league evolution and come away with something from this game.  I doubt it.  Would that be a disaster?  Not at this stage.  Shifting back up to Super League hits the new teams hard and only a few have been able to make a dent in the top flight especially as the league has gotten more competitive.  For the first ten rounds I would be looking for establishing some consistency because you don’t get tested as often in the lower levels.  In Super League you can be tested every week.  Don’t lose faith Reds fans, City are winning in Europe and you can rejoice at that as you wait for your own little snippet of success.  Castleford by 10.

******GAME OF THE ROUND******

Harlequins RL v Wigan
This might not be the most attractive game to watch this weekend.  It might not even be the most evenly matched teams of the round.  What it is, is a crucial game for Brian Noble as Wigan are teetering on extending their worst ever Super League start.  This isn’t a game about Harlequins RL and I’m sorry to say that my southern chums.  Saturday night is about where Wigan are heading this year.  Four defeats in a row, rightly or wrongly, will set us up for an even bigger game next Saturday when Bradford roll into Wigan.  Dead Man Walking is what we all want to avoid.  Brian Noble might be a coach who places little faith in young British players but he is a knowledgeable man and a coach who demands our respect, no matter what his failings may be because of the way that he continues to conduct himself in moments of adversity.  Unlike supporters he doesn’t panic.  He has been in far worse positions than this and with lesser players, mabye.  Here it’s him against one of the original ‘Awesome Foursome’.  What Brian McDermott would give to have the same sort of young talent strutting their stuff for him as Noble has sat in the stands waiting for their big break.  Don’t believe me?  Do you think McDermott would be leaving a youngster like Sam Tomkins hanging around on the sidelines?  No.  He’d be working out a way of getting young eager beavers on the pitch someway because he has less options.  I’m not saying play Sam Tomkins and Wigan will win.  Radio Manchester is saying Tim Smith is like a turnstile in defence so if McDermott has hopes of making it two wins from three he must be looking at Smith as an area he can exploit.  I’m completely biased here and so I won’t be predicting a Harlequins RL win.   Wigan by 4.

Last week’s predictions;

Wigans by 14 (lost by 6)
Hull by 6 (won by 8 )
Warrington by 12 (lost by 20)
Huddersfield by 4 (lost by 17)
Wakefield by 8 (won by 19)
Leeds by 4 (won by 9)

Average start of 7-6.