2017 Super League Preview

2017 Super League Preview

With the new Super League season just a few weeks away I thought I’d get in the habit of writing again and look at a few questions I have been pondering over the last few months ahead of the new campaign.

CAN WIGAN RETAIN THEIR TITLE?...

In a word – yes.  I would not be at all surprised if the Warriors swept all before them this coming season as they have the squad, coach and desire to do so more than any club I’ve read about in this close-season.

When all but the odd one or two other clubs are talking about consolidation Wigan have been bigging themselves up to secure back-to-back wins at Old Trafford and I wouldn’t put it past them to claim a victory at Wembley at the end of August as well.

If Sam Tomkins is back and if they don’t succumb to as many injuries as last season then they will be an unstoppable force in my view.  To be honest I’ll be glad if I can stop reading about Shaun Wane having to play the youngsters again because the squad has been ravaged by injuries!

Also, Wigan's first three matches of the season seem comfortable on paper and involve hardly any travelling - Salford away before Widnes and Leigh at home - so I expect them to get a decent start to the campaign.  In between those they have the small matter of the World Club Challenge Final against Cronulla Sharks which is also at the DW Stadium so they will want to make it third time lucky against the Aussies.

Wigan are my tip to win the league again this year as over a season-long marathon that the Super League is I don’t see anyone that can really match them this year.  Warrington fans may disagree with me and feel it is their time to win a Grand Final so let’s see if they can do the business.

TOUGH START FOR PROMOTED LEIGH...

Living near the ground I took advantage of the free entry to Leigh’s last home game of the season alongside over 10,000 other ‘Leighers’.  I also enjoyed a few drinks around the town afterwards in what was a celebration of a job well done at the second time of asking.

The previous year had seen Leigh fail to make an impact on the Qualifiers and finished with just one win in seven and bottom of the middle group of teams hoping to stay or climb into Super League for the 2016 season.  But last season they did the opposite and secured their promotion to Super League with two games to spare having won all of their first five matches, which included scalps over Super League sides Salford, Hull KR and Huddersfield.  That final home victory over Batley was the icing on the cake for a club that had worked so hard to get where they now are and I’m sure the celebrations on the pitch after the game went on for some time even after I left.

But I couldn’t help wincing for them when the fixtures were released and saw that they would play Leeds, St Helens and Wigan consecutively after an opening day trip to Castleford.  Soon after those three they will have to host Warrington in Round 5 after a visit from Huddersfield a week before.

That means they will play three of the top four sides from last season, plus what will no doubt be a hugely rejuvenated Leeds side, in their opening six games.  Ouch!  Talk about out of the frying pan and into the fire!

That opening few rounds could well make or break their season going forward and it will be a major test for them to see how they stand up to some real Super League heavyweights.  Many people are expecting Leigh to break into the Super 8’s later in the year but if they can win their opening game at Castleford and build some momentum early on, who knows what they can achieve.

LET’S HAVE A MORE COMPETATIVE SUPER LEAGUE...

My simple answer would be I hope so.  I’m going to stick my neck on the line here and say that we will see one or two more teams fighting it out towards the top of the table this year.  I think Wigan Warriors will still have enough about them to win at Old Trafford again but I can see Saint Helens and Leeds Rhinos being stronger sides this year.

Last year was a blip for Leeds and they will certainly come back in some force this year.  I think it will some time before we see them dominate Super League like they did in 2015 but they’ve had to almost restart from scratch and will be determined to break back into the Super 8’s at least later in the year.

St Helens had a very strong finish to the season after a poor start by their standards and did well to finish level on points with long time leaders Hull FC which meant they cantered into the Play-offs by virtue of finishing a massive nine points clear of fifth placed Castleford Tigers.

Therefore, I hope that we don’t see what happened last year where we ended up with two mini leagues of four teams just jostling amongst themselves for positions with the Play-off teams virtually confirmed with three or four games to go.

I would also like to see Huddersfield Giants and Salford Red Devils bounce back from their adversities and look to break into that top 8 (yes, I know Salford would have done had it not been for their points deduction) and make a real go of it.

All-in-all I’d like to be able to look at the table after Round 21 and 22 and still see at least three, four or even five teams clambering for those last couple of places in the top group.

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