2020 Super League

[adamkungl]

Leeds.. ugh
Disjointed and ill disciplined. I won't write them off again as I've been very wrong before but they looked so poor. Some decent individual performances... Prior, Martin, Ward were decent in the forwards. But the playmakers were offering nothing and it all fell apart. Gale was passive and flat. Lui is a bum.

Hull look well drilled for round 1. Sneyd was on point in everything he did. Connor Shaul and Griffin were all effective. Forwards played well and stuck to the plan. Great to see Savelio fit and firing, what a game from the bench. Pity he never got a fair shot at Brisbane.

3 - Sneyd. Controlled and mature performance, made sure Hull was always in prime attacking position and his outside men finished the job.
2 - Shaul - everywhere. Slick game had Leeds permanently stretched.
1 - Savelio - tackle breaks and offloads for days in a showing almost worthy of the "English Sonny-Bill" tag... (meanwhile the real SBW struggled 2 hrs earlier!)

Internationals

For Leeds England hopefuls only Stevie Ward really made a decent showing. Gale certainly didn't help his England chances. Early days though...new combinations take time to click.
Hurrell (Tonga) looked a bit unfit and heavy-not-in-a-good-way, but PNG's Rhyse Martin made a big effort.

Hull have a very international mix...
Jones and Taylor put their hands up early and will be in the England chat, Shaul probably has too many in front of him but certainly will be playing to get noticed. Would love to see Savelio have a big year.
Tongan eligible second row in Mau and Satae, winning never harms your chances.
Tuimavave and Sao might be in the frame for Samoa, and Fiji might have an eye on Naulago with 2 tries on the wing.
But of most interest is whether Sneyd will take an Ireland call-up. Would be a huge get for them and has started the year in fine touch.

 

[Warriors Fever]

Love a sellout with 2-3000 empty seats on one side of the grandstand haha! Keep eating that bs up though bud.

But it was though, there were no seats left to sell ie a sellout, all seats looked taken for the second game.
What bs am I eating up?
Are you really finding a negative in a sellout at Leeds?

 

[League Unlimited News]

 

[Perth Red]

Watched the Hull KR v Wakefield game at weekend. Rovers played an expansive game and defended their line much better than in recent years. Quinlan the stand out player of the match.
Wakey made a lot of errors but where in the game until Brough's injury. Surprised he carried on playing for 10mins given it was a torn ACL! Crowd 8,400 which is a decent effort against Wakefield on a cold Friday night.

 

[adamkungl]

Team of the week anyone?

1 Shaul
2 Naulago
3 Naiqama
4 Miloudi
5 McGilverey
6 Lomax
7 Sezer
8 Walmsley
9 McShane
10 Thompson
11 Savelio
12 Lees
13 Philbin

14 Welsby
15 Ward
16 Watts
17 Crooks

 

[Perth Red]

Ben Crooks scored 4 tries. Not the hardest but still probably earns him a wing spot.

 

[Perth Red]

Just watching cas v toronto, that is a very weak starting 17 the Wolfpack have got. I’ll be very surprised if they stay up unless they strengthen.

 

[Walter sobchak]

Just watching cas v toronto, that is a very weak starting 17 the Wolfpack have got. I’ll be very surprised if they stay up unless they strengthen.

Or the rules are changed.

 

[adamkungl]

Just watching cas v toronto, that is a very weak starting 17 the Wolfpack have got. I’ll be very surprised if they stay up unless they strengthen.

Their spine is just garbage. SBW might bring more attention but going after Maloney and Sezer would bring more success

 

[wibble]

Eye-opener for Toronto and SBW with Castleford taking them fairly comfortably.
Experienced and classy Cas with too much talent across the park accustomed to Super League while the Wolfpack strugglde with the pace of the game and have too many weak points in key positions.
Toronto will improve as they get used to upgrade in quality, but the bigger question for me is whether they have enough players that are up to this level. While they have a sprinkling of stars, there are a number of players who have spent a lot of years at Championship level. When the 23 man squad starts to feel the fatigure, this will become an even bigger issue.

3 points for Danny Richardson. Focal point of the attack, always had 2 or 3 options running angles off him and usually picked the right one.
2 McShane controlled the middle with poise and allowed Richardson and Trueman to roam and attack with ease. Stark comparison to the disjointed playmaking of the Wolfpack.
1 Miloudi. Wolfpack's best player in attack, with direct involvement in their 2 tries.

For Cas, the 3 starting props Watts, Millington and Milner led the way, while their playmakers used the good field position to cut the Wolfpack to shreds. Richardson is definitely one to watch while Trueman has already gone touring with the GB Lions. Quality all-English halves pairing assisted well by McShane and Rankin. Not a whole heap to say, a quality team performance with everyone making their contributions known.

Starting with the positives for Toronto, they never got completely blown away. If they tidy up the discipline and get used to the pace, they'll be at least competitive. But. The playmaking combinations are extremely limited in what they can offer at this level. It's only round 1 but I can say with some confidence that McCrone, Mellor, Wilkin, Wallace, Ackers are not going to cut it if they want to play finals. McCrone's first touch being an intercept pass wasn't surprising.
Sonny Bill Williams, the man of the moment, had a fair few moments to forget in his Super League debut. Obviously doesn't have his timing right yet. No doubt he'll get there, but in the meantime needs to put his head down, run hard and get tackled instead of looking for the pass every play.
Hakim Miloudi was the best player for Toronto, showing glimpses of the French flair of old. Of their players who have spend a lot of time below SL level, here's one that I reckon can make a big impact with the step up. Reign in some of the more extravagant passing attempts (which the whole team was guilty of) and his impact would be all positive.

International watch -

Toronto feature an interesting sprinkling of talent from all over. Maybe they could get better value out of their contracts by leaning into this and looking for under the radar talent from tier 2 test squads and local competitions.
Hakim Miloudi (France) was their best player. Hasn't spent too much time in the France squad over the years. The national setup needs to rectify the situation with their first grade players showing limited interest because there is a good team in there if they can get them all together.
The Ireland contingent in Kay, Mullally, and Singleton played well and seem comfortable at this level. Also featuring Leutele (Samoa), Russell (Scotland), Springer (France) and of course SBW whose allegiance will be of interest for some time.

None of the more exotic internationals for Cas, but their England hopefuls (Watts, Milner, Trueman, Richardson, Eden) did their chances no harm with professional performances across the board. Mata-utia will be hoping to keep his name in the mix for Samoa despite playing across the other side of the world.

I guess it should not have surprised. Adding SBW to the Newtown Jets would not suddenly make them competitive with Manly, for example. I was disappointed though (not that I dislike the Tigers, they are always good to watch).

I agree Richardson and McShane were outstanding. I also really liked the contributions of Trueman.

I'd say Toronto's all out attack attitude did them in, but Castleford are the standard bearers in that regard over the last few years, and it didn't hurt them this game either.

The Wolfpack struggled in three really fundamental areas, and if they can't fix them they will struggle all season.

They lacked any timing on their passing and running, often throwing in front (for the first intercept try) or behind the runners. They made way too many errors and looked frantic most the game.

And just when they made a half decent set, they lacked good finishes. Their kicking game was nearly as bad as their passing game. Wilkin, Mellor and McCrone were all very out of touch with the ball.

Lastly, their first contact was quite weak, not up to top grade standard, and it allowed the Tigers forwards to roll forward, with many post contact metres and quick play the balls. This lead to quite a few penalties as well, as Toronto desperately tried to stem the flood.

In many ways, the most pleasing aspect was the scoreline. They looked soundly beaten in the general play, but take off the intercept, add in the try they nearly scored with about 15 minutes to go, and they would have been right in it.

I agree SBW was guilty of the same nonsense the rest of the team was. He did look menacing at times, and will definitely get better, but the whole team needs to knuckle down a bit more, and as the "big recruit" in the forwards he needs to lead that.

I'm a bit biased, but I really like the contributions Ricky "The Tackle" Leutele made for the Wolfpack.

 

[wibble]

Leeds.. ugh
Disjointed and ill disciplined. I won't write them off again as I've been very wrong before but they looked so poor. Some decent individual performances... Prior, Martin, Ward were decent in the forwards. But the playmakers were offering nothing and it all fell apart. Gale was passive and flat. Lui is a bum.

Hull look well drilled for round 1. Sneyd was on point in everything he did. Connor Shaul and Griffin were all effective. Forwards played well and stuck to the plan. Great to see Savelio fit and firing, what a game from the bench. Pity he never got a fair shot at Brisbane.

3 - Sneyd. Controlled and mature performance, made sure Hull was always in prime attacking position and his outside men finished the job.
2 - Shaul - everywhere. Slick game had Leeds permanently stretched.
1 - Savelio - tackle breaks and offloads for days in a showing almost worthy of the "English Sonny-Bill" tag... (meanwhile the real SBW struggled 2 hrs earlier!)

Internationals

For Leeds England hopefuls only Stevie Ward really made a decent showing. Gale certainly didn't help his England chances. Early days though...new combinations take time to click.
Hurrell (Tonga) looked a bit unfit and heavy-not-in-a-good-way, but PNG's Rhyse Martin made a big effort.

Hull have a very international mix...
Jones and Taylor put their hands up early and will be in the England chat, Shaul probably has too many in front of him but certainly will be playing to get noticed. Would love to see Savelio have a big year.
Tongan eligible second row in Mau and Satae, winning never harms your chances.
Tuimavave and Sao might be in the frame for Samoa, and Fiji might have an eye on Naulago with 2 tries on the wing.
But of most interest is whether Sneyd will take an Ireland call-up. Would be a huge get for them and has started the year in fine touch.

Spot on again.

Leeds started this year like last, sharing the very weak first contact woes Toronto showed a few hours earlier. And that was despite some good efforts from Prior (again, I'm biased, but I thought he was very busy, maybe a bit over used).

Yep, Gale and Lui were dreadful, and Sneyd stood them up in every aspect. Savelio is an exciting prospect, really looked good.

 

[Perth Red]

Predictions for Rd2?

Wolves V St's
Hull FC v Hull KR
Tigers v Wigan
Salford v Toronto
Giants v Rhinos
Wakey v Dragons

Mine:
St's, Rovers, Wigan, Salford, Giants, Dragons for the win.

 

[adamkungl]

Predictions for Rd2?

Wolves V St's
Hull FC v Hull KR
Tigers v Wigan
Salford v Toronto
Giants v Rhinos
Wakey v Dragons

Mine:
St's, Rovers, Wigan, Salford, Giants, Dragons for the win.

StH, HFC, Cas, Salford, Leeds, Catalans

Some round 2 bounce backs

 

[Warriors Fever]

Saints, hull fc, Wigan, Salford, Leeds and wakey.

Catalans are usually terrible starters and this year appears no different.

 

[TDD91]

Hoping for a good performance from Wigan on Friday, making my first trip to Wheldon Road since the 22-22 draw in 2011 where Richie Mathers booted the ball at my head after a knock on.

Powell has made the 21 man squad after last week, but Burgess hasn't. Looking like Mitch Clark will be in for Burgess, expect Smith or Shorrocks to be on the bench for cover.

 

[adamkungl]

I think Wigan will need to improve a fair bit to beat Cas, if Cas play like they did against Toronto.
Wigan were pretty limited in attack last week and I think if Warrington didn't take themselves out of the game with 2 cards they would have won.

 

[Springs09]

Predictions for Rd2?

Wolves V St's
Hull FC v Hull KR
Tigers v Wigan
Salford v Toronto
Giants v Rhinos
Wakey v Dragons

Mine:
St's, Rovers, Wigan, Salford, Giants, Dragons for the win.

St Helens
Hull FC
Castleford
Toronto
Huddersfield
Wakefield

Expect Wigan to build into the year again, Leeds to be slow while they find form, Catalans to be poor early with an unsettled team, Toronto to surprise Salford while they're down.

 

[wibble]

Saints, Hull FC, Tigers, Salford, Giants, Wakefield.

 

[Jack Deth]

I'm going to go
Wire
FC
Tigers
Toronto
Giants
Dragons

 

[Welsh RL & RU watcher]

If the Wire didn't win tonight i would have bn tempted to say, sack Price. Wire had to win, well, more or less.

FC to win along with Leeds, Catalonia, Toronto and Castleford.