The new 2023 Betfred Super League season kicks off this week.
Warrington host Leeds in the Thursday-night curtain raiser while all the other sides will be in action over the course of the following few days.
That is with the exception of St Helens and Huddersfield, with the Saints preparing to face NRL champions Penrith Panthers in Saturday's World Club Challenge.
Ahead of the big start, the Daily Mirror’s rugby league writer Dave Craven spoke to record nine-time Grand Final winner and ex-England captain Jamie Peacock and Daily Mirror assistant night editor (rugby league nut and diehard St Helens fan) Nigel Wiskar to discuss all the major talking points.
Dave Craven: So, we’re about to start Betfred Super League again. Can anyone stop St Helens picking up a fifth successive title - they’re 2/1 favourites - or are they now there ready to be brought down?
Jamie Peacock: I think the World Club Challenge on Saturday is going to seriously derail Saints’ Super League challenge. You can’t underestimate the impact that will have on that team at the start of the year to go to Australia and get themselves emotionally and physically up to play the best team in the NRL. I do think it’ll really impact their ability to get to the Grand Final.
If they do get there and win it, that would be their greatest ever Grand Final win. I love Paul Wellens. He’s a great mate of mine from Great Britain and I want him to do really well as head coach. I do think he’s our next really good British coach coming through. But I think this year is going to be a big challenge for Saints.
I hope they beat Penrith. I really do. But the emotional baggage that comes with that and the logistical baggage will really impact their first four to six games and maybe later in the year.
Nigel Wiskar: JP’s gone down the pessimistic route and I sort of agree with him. Potentially. As a St Helens fan it can go two ways: they could get horribly battered by a sensational NRL side, pick up a couple of knocks and be scarred going into the first game against Cas. The flip of that is it’s a State of Origin style contest: It’s going to be a proper game. If you come through that alright, even in defeat, you’d like to think that could steel them even more for the rest of the season. They have players returned who weren’t playing at the back end of last season or weren't paying that well. Jonny Lomax, Alex Walmsley and Mark Percival have all had off-seasons and you bring Lewis Dodd back into that, too. At full strength they are comfortably the best team in Super League. But I do get what JP is saying. It could be nasty. But we should be all cheering Saints on.
DC: Who excites you out of the new signings in Super League. Jake Connor moving back to Huddersfield is a big one, Daryl Powell’s had a revamp at Warrington with some recruitment and there’s plenty more.
JP: We know Daryl Powell's a proven high-class coach. He’s in the top five of the Super League era in terms of coaching ability. Last year was a difficult year for him. This year he’s cleared the decks, got the players he wants on board, got some gritty Australians in there, some size in the forwards. It’ll be interesting to see how Warrington do. They say it every year: “It’s going to be our year.” But I do think they’re going to be really strong but also Hull KR. I think they’ll come out of the blocks. I've heard lots of good things about their pre-season. The key for them is they’ve signed some good overseas players and have got some good young players as well as a good coach in Willie Peters with Danny McGuire. It’s whether they can maintain momentum for ten months.
DC: And Nige, who do you fancy? Cas have brought Gareth Widdop in, Wigan have two new centres in Jake Wardle and Toby King who both have a point to prove…
NW: At Castleford, you’ve not only got Gareth Widdop but Jacob Miller in there, too, for a very good half-back partnership. It’s a bit strange as a lot of business was done at the back end of last year so players like Matt Dufty who I think will be sensational this year. I watched him a lot in the NRL and it was a bit weird as Warrington were all over the shop at the back end of last season. But with a decent pack - Josh McGuire and Paul Vaughan in there - he will be terrific. Leeds have been very low key with their signings. There’s no ‘name’ player. You’d argue they’ve lost one in Matt Prior. But the most important signing of the lot is Hull FC bringing Tony Smith in as head coach. They’ve been all over the shop and up and down for the last few years but he’ll bring some consistency.
DC: Leigh have made some big signings, too, in people like Ricky Leutele and Zak Hardaker. What do we think of their chances of staying up? They’ve come up three times and gone down three times immediately. But a lot of people think this could be the year when they do stick?
JP: I agree. They have every chance of doing that this year. They're going to be around the bottom two or three but they almost have enough quality in there to make sure they do stay up. The key for Leigh is to make the Village a fortress, a place no one wants to go. If they can win the majority of games at home, they should do it.
DC: Is a lot down to whether the Leigh owner Derek Beaumont stays interested?
NW: There’s a feel to a lot of their signings that they’re not too dynamic: the likes of Tom Briscoe, Hadaker and Robbie Mulhern. They’ll stay up. I think Wakey have had it this time. I can't see any depth in their squad. A few knocks and I just don’t think they have enough. I'm still laughing at the whole Leopards thing at Leigh. I thought it was vaguely preposterous at the time and still do. But if it works from a marketing perspective, fair enough.
DC: Wakefield are interesting with Mark Applegarth in as a new rookie coach who’s come up through the ranks. A lot of people are hoping for the same Matt Peet-effect at Wigan in his first year…
JP: It’s interesting about the Matty Peet-effect. He had a very, very talented squid to work with at Wigan in his first year as a head coach last season. He was great getting the best out of them last year. I don’t think Mark’s got the same calibre of player to work with. The key for Wakefield is their big-name signings need to play well. If they don’t it’s going to be a really long season for Wakefield and maybe a season back in the Championship.
DC: One great bit of news on the eve of the season - for his club and Super League - is Brodie Croft signing a new eight-year deal at Salford Red Devils. What do we think of that announcement?
JP: I think he needs to show more commitment! I thought loyalty wasn’t a thing in rugby league any more but it obviously is.
NW: It’s massive but if he’s still playing for Leigh in eight years’ time, Derek Beaumont will be signing me for Leigh Leopards! That contract will not go eight years! But in signing for that long, I guess when someone does come in for him in three years or whatever, there’s a bigger fee. Croft is massive for Salford. He’s a hell of a player. He's such a good, dynamic player in broken play and in the middle of the park there’s probably no one more exciting. He’s got a brilliant organiser and kicker alongside him in Marc Sneyd so they’ll be OK again. Ollie Partington’s a very good signing for them. Elijah Taylor was terrific but Partington will be good. I imagine they’ll be mid-table as Hull are stronger because of Smith, Warrington will be better and I think Hull KR will improve more than Salford will.
DC: Right then, necks on the lines. Who’s going to win the Challenge Cup and who’s going to win Super League?
JP: I think Rhinos can win the Challenge Cup. I’ve got to go with my hometown club. And I am going to go with Warrington for the Grand Final. There you go! It's their year at last!
NW: I always think it depends who's actually fit and playing when down to the back end of the season and as Jamie will testify better than anyone else you can win it from down in fifth. If you've got momentum and the right bodies. But St Helens are the best side. It just depends on what happens to them during the course of the season. They are there to be shot at but I’m going Saints for Super League. And the Challenge Cup as well. I think they’d have beaten Wigan in that semi-final last year as well if Jonny Lomax didn't have one arm in a sling.
DC : And the World Club Challenge as well so a nice treble…?
NW: Yes. And the League Leaders’ Shield!
DC : To round off with, what do we want from IMG?. People are still waiting for news or to see something of their plans to grab on to. What would you like them to introduce this year?
JP: That’s a big question to finish with, Dave! For me, what I’d like IMG to help get a grip of is to help the international game. We’re talking Super League here but I’d love to see England playing Samoa, Papua New Guinea and Tonga in this country with the women’s and wheelchair next to it. And then IMG to shorten the season next year. Scarcity creates demand: we don’t want to see Saints playing Wigan five times.
NW : I’d agree with Jamie on England. We had momentum at the World Cup and this poster boy called Dom Young, Not many people had seen him before but he was on terrestrial television scoring these amazing tries. I was in the ground for a couple of those games and there was a buzz every time he got the ball. There were fans there who won’t see him this year as the NRL won’t let him come over for the France game and we have no meaningful international programme moving forward. We need to play Australia in this country. That’s what IMG need to do: get the Kangaroos over here again, maybe play a couple of club sides and the NRL will do all they can to block that but primarily we need the likes of Dom Young and Victor Radley on our screens again. And it needs to be quick as people will forget. Dom Young will be forgotten by the neutrals soon. There were new eyes on the World Cup but we’d lose them in a flash.
DC: That was always the fear, that we’d lose that momentum after the World Cup and not build on it so I completely agree. Let’s get it sorted.
