XIII Oceans

Waffling amongst the previews is now commonplace I’ve noticed.  Last week’s game of the round didn’t attract too much comment from me which is pretty understandable given the way my mind drifted onto matters more appealing.  Are there things more appealing than a round of Super League fixtures?  Okay, let’s start again with my pro-Super League commentary.  We all go through peaks and troughs of interest with our great game, usually hitting the lows when our team does, our interest waning at the same time.  Therefore any pro-Super League comments I make have to be considered in the light that I have been fortunate enough to watch a competitive side year-on-year, subsequently enjoying every single season unfold even when it ends with a wet fart.  What is indisputable is that now I follow the rest of the weekends results with as much interest as my own team’s.  Seeing the lower profile teams edging their way up the table, an underachieving giant rising from the foot of the table, non-M62 teams making progress and being entertained by teams battling to make the playoffs are as great as sport gets for me.  You don’t need to be winning trophies to get excited about Catalans or Celtic.  You just need to love our game.

Huddersfield (5th) v Castleford (10th)
Love this game do you?  Love it enough to watch a re-run of an epic Challenge Cup Quarter Final?  Of course you do.  I expect a good crowd for this one.  Castleford have just committed themselves to keeping Terry Matterson at the helm and I hope their fans come out to mark that.  Has Matterson got it in himself to lift this team further up the table?  The Tigers have got to be impressed with the way he’s invested his own neck in producing young playing talent.  Remember getting to the top can require a long-term approach to planning and here is where I believe Castleford are coming out and backing that.  Huddersfield wouldn’t be singled out as a club which has taken the same kind of gamble but why?  Haven’t Huddersfield contributed with their own youngsters and stopped other players from being lost to reserve/amateur RL?  We’ve seen that several of the Giants players have been gambles on potential.  Some don’t appear to be working e.g. Robinson.  Others, like Wild and Mason, just might be.  It’s those riskier signings which have attracted most of our attention in response to their contributions to the Giants.  I loved Keith Mason’s stats for one of the recent Giants games (think it was the Hull KR one) when I’m sure he racked up over 200m.  It’s a first rate attitude like that which will push you into the top half of the table and it’s evident in the way the Giants have played this year.  Even when their ball handling has evaded them, they’ve kept on going.  Brown hasn’t lost faith in his side’s ability to be creative because he knows it’s the way to go.  Practice makes perfect and even if there’s lots of work to do I’m pleased with Huddersfield’s progress and I expect Brown’s men to be rewarded again.  Huddersfield by 12.

Hull (8th) v Salford (13th)
Cup-tie heroics still mean something for Salford despite their exit from that competition.  It was the win at Hull which gave them the belief that led to the historic win at Leeds.  Have Salford built on that?  I think they have.  If you look at what has happened to Hull since the cup game you can see Hull haven’t been able to find that belief within themselves.  Where is it going to come from for Hull?  It’s a question their fans have probably stopped asking.  A week’s rest for Salford should ensure any Hull victory will be earned and with my typically insightful analysis I’m plumping for higher table position and home advantage ahead of anything technical.  Hull by 8.

Catalans Dragons (12th) v Warrington (9th)
It seems Warrington’s recent exertions finally caught up with them as the Bulls ground out an impressive win.  It’s a journey to Barcelona this weekend where a 15k crowd is expected at a ground which isn’t the Nou Camp.  It’s okay to be jealous of Warrington fans’ luck with this draw.  They’ll get the opportunity to sample an open-top bus if they take one of the many guides that dart around the city.  If you do go to Barcelona and get on one of the buses you’ll get a relatively ordinary headphones guide that, last time I went on, actually stated “On your left is of no significance.”  A bit like a tour through the visitors trophy cabinet.  Times are changing and as Catalans slide further away from the top four so Warrington move towards it.  An initiative like this can unsettle home teams if fans fail to follow the club’s lead.  On Saturday we’re expecting to see more home fans than we see in Perpignan so this might be closer than I would have normally suggested.  Playing in France this year hasn’t been the test it can be and I expect a raised level of intensity from the home boys, I’m just not sure extra effort will be enough to beat a unit like Smith’s.  Warrington by 2.

Celtic Crusaders (14th) v Hull KR (3rd)
How wonderful to have a reliable retro brand name visiting one week and then another 80s success story with even more millions of fans coming down the next.  Rugby league does not get bigger than this for Celtic Crusaders.  The invite to Russell has been extended and it’s just a shame they weren’t aware of him being in the area earlier.  Marketing around Gladiator would have been limitless especially with heathens like Rovers suitably filling the villain role.  He might come he might not.  He might bring his pub band with him and blast out a few classics for the visitors like Stevie Wonder or The Kinks.  It could get pretty raucous out there.  Well done on beating Wigan.  You can’t beat these guys though.  Rovers by 12.

Bradford (11th) v St Helens (1st)
Bulls against the Saints not on SKY?  Rightly so.  If you forget the most recent breath taker between these two teams you wouldn’t be looking at this as prime time entertainment.  We all know the Bulls have slumped, are on the verge of playing at Valley Parade again and Saints are cruising towards another ill-fated Grand Final appearance.  Where’s the excitement in this one?  Well I’m pretty excited about it.  Haven’t Bradford just upset the competition’s other form team?  Wasn’t it away from home as well?  Haven’t the Bulls handed Saints their sodded jockstraps back to them at Odsal before?  Not for a while they haven’t.  Saints by 14.

Harlequins RL (4th) v Leeds (2nd)
Give the people what they want.  This is what we want!  Harlequins RL on the verge of breaking through into the corridors of on-field playing power.  Look down their fixture list for the season and you will see Harlequins RL’s remaining road games are against sides sixth placed or lower.  There is no trip to Leeds, Saints or Rovers and there are home games versus the Bulls, Salford and Castleford.  There is reason for hope for our rat race enthralled friends.  Huddersfield could not make that adjustment yet they’re still in the hunt for second as both of these teams are.  Leeds, rightly, have aspirations for catching Saints and with trips to Warrington, Rovers, Leeds and Harlequins RL to come for Saints there’s no reason for the other top five teams to stop believing they can too.  Harlequins RL will get some belief if they notch this win.  The parallels with the Giants situation do not need discussing.  A win for McDermott will surely see his side finish in the top eight.  Will it instil the belief we’ve talked about?  It’s a start.  This increasingly efficient McDermott mob are tightening themselves up every week and with that is coming consistency.  The demolishing of Paul Cooke’s pretenders was typical of Harlequins RL.  I commented about how Rovers could gift the game to the visitors last week and so they did.  Were you expecting Harlequins RL to be as ruthless?  Only a lunatic would have anticipated such a comprehensive win.  With the visitors it feels like I’ve lost touch with them since they were obliterated out of the cup.  Where are they up to these days?  It seems to me that they’re just chugging along preparing for the business end of the season when it will miraculously come together like a Froch fist.  For the first time Harlequins RL are expected to produce.  It’s an almost identical situation to the first Huddersfield-Leeds game.  Hopefully we can avoid the same car-crash-clash and see one of the n00bs test a big gun.  I’m hoping.  Leeds by 6.

Last week’s predictions;

Hull KR by 4 (lost by 30)
Saints by 24 (won by 40)
Wigan by 12 (lost by 6)
Wakefield by 10 (won by 15)
Warrington by 12 (lost by 11)
Leeds by 10 (won by 8 )

A 50/50 week thanks to three upsets making it 60-49 overall.