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| The Great JT! |
Let’s start the year off on a positive note and hope that
Leeds Rhinos can shrug off the loss of Sir Kev, JP, Kylie Leuluai AND Paul
Aiton and knock over the NRL Premiers North Queensland Cowboys, JT et al, at
what I am sure will be a bouncing Headingley on Sunday 21st February.
It won’t be easy obviously – I’m not sure that the Rhinos
recruitment has been that inspired – Keith Galloway, Beau Falloon and Anthony
Mullally all seem pretty run of the mill players although the unexpected
addition of Brett Ferres is a huge plus – and I am sure Head Coach Brian
McDermott will be relying fairly heavily on his new skipper Danny McGuire and
his other experienced players to help along and ensure that young stars such as
Liam Sutcliffe, Stevie Ward and Brad Singleton fill the voids left by the loss
of such an outstanding group of players.
Despite the loss of so many experienced players the Rhinos
will still have much more experience of this type of Challenge game than the
Cowboys.
This will be the Rhinos 7th World Club Challenge
match, having won the title in 2005, 2008 and 2012 whilst the Cowboys are
playing in their first, following their golden point Grand Final win over
Brisbane Broncos last October.
The man who did more than anyone to win that first
Premiership Title, half back Jonathan Thurston (JT), probably has more of an
effect on the way the Cowboys play than any other player has on any other team
in the world.
2015 saw JT rule the world – not only winning the
Premiership with the Cowboys, but also taking out the Golden Boot as the best
player in world rugby league, the Dally M medal as the outstanding player in
the NRL for a record 4th time and also the Clive Churchill medal for
his man of the match performance in the Grand Final.
JT will have a huge influence on the way the Cowboys play –
however, they are far from a one man team and will also look to the likes of
fellow half back Michael Morgan, full back Lachlan Coote, wingers Kyle Feldt
and Antonio Winterstein plus Australian Test props Matt Scott and James Tamou,
outstanding hooker Jake Granville and powerhouse loose forward Jason Taumololo
to do enough for them to win their first World title.
Will the new look Rhinos be strong enough to win their 4th
World Club Challenge or is too early for them to cover the loss of such
experienced protagonists as Sinfield and JP in such a high level game?
I hope they can but I’m just edging towards a Cowboys win to
take the title back to Australia for the fourth successive year.
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| Bastards!!!! |
The pain of that defeat will never be 100% erased, Hull FC
fans will make sure of that just as we always remind them that they have never
won at Wembley.
Having waited 29 years, I was there in 1980, 1981 and 1986,
since seeing my team at Wembley and having my 4 kids with me as well – the day
could not have gone much worse that it did.
Rovers did so well in overcoming some tough opposition to
earn their place in the Cup Final, winning at Bradford Bulls and Wigan Warriors
before defeating Catalans Dragons at home in the quarter final and Warrington
Wolves at Headingley in the semi-final, but they badly let themselves, and the
fans, down on the day at Wembley.
It has to be said though that the Rhinos would have beaten
any team with the way they played that day.
Rovers supporters both young and old are owed a quick and
successful return visit.
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| Big Sam - back to his best?? |
The unexpected return to rugby league of Sam Burgess in the
aftermath of England’s disastrous Rugby Union World Cup campaign has been
debated endlessly by most people with an interest in either code since he
jumped ship last November.
Whether you think he made the right decision or not, the
fact is that he has come back to the sport that he truly loves and the one in
which he is definitely a big fish and more or less idolised.
What we all need now is for the furore to calm down and for
Sam to be able to concentrate on his rugby so that he becomes the force on the
playing field that he was before he left to dip his toe in Rugby Union.
When he left South Sydney after their 2014 Grand Final win,
Sam was at the pinnacle of his rugby league career – his stock had never been
higher.
He took a risk – some will say it came off and some will say
he failed – whatever your opinion it will be interesting to see the type of
player he has become.
Big Sam says he thinks he will be a better player which may
mean he plays the game differently than he used to – he will be a different and
more rounded player and person possibly – but what also has to be taken into
account is that the Rabbitohs themselves have changed much over the last 12-15
months.
The Rabbitohs struggled to back up their Premiership success
in 2015 – they comfortably won the World Club Series against Super League
Champions St. Helens last February and won their opening three league games but
the wheels started to come off after that and they could only manage a 7th
place finish in the regular season ladder and they lost out in the first round of
the play offs to Cronulla Sharks.
Numerous players have left the club including Sam’s elder
brother Luke along with Ben Teo, Dylan Walker, Chris McQueen, Lote Tuqiri and,
maybe most importantly of all, New Zealand Test Captain Isaac Luke and their
also question marks over Head Coach Michael Maguire after reports surfaced that
his playing squad was starting to get a little bit tired of his, at times,
overly strict regime.
Sam may be seen as something of a saviour by the Souths fans
and they will be expecting big returns for the big chunk of the salary cap that
he has taken up that has expedited the release of the likes of McQueen and
Walker but it is also important that Sam hit’s form and is ready to provide a
massive impetus for England’s attempt on the Four Nations at the end of the
year.
PEACE AND QUIET ON
THE SALFORD FRONT
I had hoped for a season of peace and harmony for the
dedicated band of Salford Red devils fans who suffered more than any other set
of Rugby League supporters in 2015.
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| Tim Sheens - Salford saviour?? |
Times are never dull under the ownership of Marwan Koukash
but they seemed to lurch from one crisis to another last year – all of which
has been well documented and doesn’t need to be re-gurgitated here.
The one positive step Koukash took was appointing legendary
Australian coach Tim Sheens as his Director of Rugby.
Sheens will bring a calm and thoughtful approach to the tiller
and has huge experience after being involved with many successful rugby league
outfits and I though his appointment was a sign that Koukash would take a step
back and let Sheens and CEO Martin Vickers get on with running the club and
improving it’s sullied reputation – something for which Koukash is largely
responsible.
However, it was announced in December that Koukash would be
taking over as CEO from Vickers and was putting together a new commercial team
to help increase and improve income streams, something that Vickers is expected
to be a part of – but also in early January Koukash announced that he had received
two fines from the RFL, before the season has even started!!!
Add in Bradford Bulls Chairman Marc Green having
correspondence with the RFL regarding Salford’s perceived mis-use of the salary
cap in 2015 leaked to the Rugby League Express last week and it is not the
peaceful start to the season Salford fans would have wanted.
Neither would they have wanted to lose one of their new
signings for the opening two to three months of the year. Winger Daniel Vidot
was signed from Brisbane Broncos with a big reputation and the Samoa
international has damaged a shoulder whilst training and has had surgery
already.
Koukash has insisted that he will not get involved in the
rugby side and will leave all of the decisions on that side of the business to
Sheens – let’s hope that is the case because Sheens could well prove to be the
best signing that he has made in his time at Salford and he needs to be given
full authority to use all of the experience and knowledge he has garnered over
the last 30 years as a Head Coach for Penrith Panthers, Canberra Raiders, North
Queensland Cowboys, Wests Tigers, New South Wales and Australia.
I can’t see Sheens being too happy if the Doc starts giving
him rugby league advice!!! |
| Going to a new home? |
Obviously, the Bulls were relegated in 2014 so that
stranglehold is reduced to just three clubs.
Only 2 clubs in addition to the four winners, Hull FC and
Warrington Wolves (twice), have even contested the Grand Final in 18 years. This
must change, our game needs to be less predictable.
Look at this year’s Premier League.
It is being described as one of the most exciting in years
because there is, seemingly, a change of guard with Chelsea way off the pace,
Manchester United and Liverpool not really being seen as title contenders and
the likes of Leicester City and Tottenham challenging for the top 4 and West
Ham United, Stoke City and Crystal Palace sat in 6th, 7th
and 8th positions.
In the same time span in Australia 12 clubs have competed in
their Grand Final with 11 clubs winning at least one Premiership in the same
time span (New Zealand Warriors are the only team to have competed in a Grand
Final in this time span without winning) and no club has successfully defended
their title since Brisbane Broncos in 1992 and 1993. It is far more competitive
and unpredictable.
So, will 2016 see a new club take home the Super League
title and, if so, who will it be?
For the last few years, certainly since Tony Smith took
charge, Warrington Wolves have looked the most likely club to break into the
winners club but they failed at the final hurdle when losing the 2012 and 2013
Grand Finals to Leeds Rhinos and Wigan Warriors respectively.
Huddersfield Giants memorably took out the Minor Premiership
in 2013 and have been in the top 4 in 5 of the last 7 seasons but they tend to
bottle it in high profile knock out games and had Castleford Tigers won their
final league game of the 2014 Super League season they too would have won the
Minor Premiership – something that would have been a remarkable achievement as
they had finished 12th the previous season.
I really hope one of these clubs can keep up the pressure on
Leeds, Wigan and St. Helens although I am struggling to see one of them winning
the Grand Final.
I’ll name Hull FC as a potential dark horse, and believe me
that pains me, but they have recruited well, especially in the forwards, and it
really depends on which half back pairing they go with and whether Lee Radford
is a good enough coach to lead his team deep into the play offs. |
| ''4 Nations next year, boss?'' |
With the talent that Steve McNamara has available to him,
should he still be in charge, I firmly believe England have an outstanding opportunity
to win a major title for the first time since the 1972 World Cup.
However, they will have to play a couple of levels higher
than they did when winning the Test Series against New Zealand back in
November.
England defended strongly and showed tremendous togetherness
but struggled to break down a depleted New Zealand side who were missing a
whole host of front line players that will be available to them, subject to
injuries at the end of a long year of rugby league, in the Four Nations.
McNamara still confuses at times with his selections – in
particular, for me, the non-selection of Michael Shenton and then the selection
of John Batemen over Leroy Cudjoe in the centres plus the use of George
Williams at scrum half when he had played stand off all year and was selected
over club mate Matty Smith and one of the players of the year in Luke Gale and
it was made abundantly clear with his third test performance that Jermaine
McGilivary should have been chosen in front of Joe Burgess from the beginning
of the series – something most supporters knew already – however, I do think he
has the players on his side and has made the international set up much more
professional and the team is also competitive for a full 80 minutes rather than
60 minutes as in previous years.
There are also a bunch of top quality players that,
hopefully, will be available to England that were not for the Kiwi Test Series
– players of the calibre of Sam Tomkins, Sam Burgess, George Burgess and Alex
Walmsley will be in contention and there are likely to be one or two young
players who make a mark in 2016 and will force themselves into the squad.
It promises to be a great end to the year and it will be
fitting that Scotland’s Danny Brough will get to play in a major international
series – unfortunately, not for England – now he would make a difference to
your side Mr. McNamara!!!