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Super League back week after next and cannot wait!
Have followed RL all my life, am a season ticket holder and watch lots of games…I sometimes think you can have the edge over the bookies with it not being a major sport…many times last season bookies were miles out on some of the handicaps…
With watching regular and being mightily impressed when they visited my teams ground and beat us I managed to back Hull FC to win the Challenge Cup at 14/1 which they obviously went on to win…
The bet that really catches my eye at the moment is Castleford st 14/1 with Stan James to finish top after the regular season…Skybet, who I definitely think are one of the most clued up on RL are only 6/1..
They had horrendous luck with injuries last season and surely can’t suffer that badly agai…they are right up there for me in a league where they look to be one of very few teams who look stronger than last year…
I was formally a London RL season ticket holder in their guises as Fulham, London Crusaders and London Broncos (first incarnation) following them at Chiswick Polytechnic ground, Crystal Palace Stadium, Barnet Copt Hall Stadium and all over the North of England. Our driver didn’t half put in the miles, it’s a long way to Barrow, Workington, Whitehaven and Carlisle! Lost touch a bit in the Super League years and more so now I am in Scotland (only 4 amateur RL teams up here!). Good to see Broncos making a significant mark in the Championship last season and still in with a chance of the making the ‘Million Pound Match’ going into the last round of 2016 season matches.
The Championship might be interesting as the new Bradford set up are the joker in the pack. Start 12 points but I would imagine they will have a strong squad and prove difficult to beat.
The Super League is more competitive than some at the top would prefer and Castleford look as good a bet as any if that 14/1 is secured. A good start and there might be scope for a lay-off bet.
Let it be remembered that Scotland are now 4th in the World Rankings following a fine performance in the 4 Nations, particularly the draw with New Zealand.
Incidentally the Challenge Cup started last Saturday, BBC are showing ties from the early rounds and had a close game between Leigh Miners and Wigan St Patrick’s (12-16) live on their website.
You couldn’t be further from the truth with Bradford Rob! Their squad has been severely decimated following the points deduction and money problems…they’ve lost the big majority of their better players…new owners are in but it would be a miracle if they even made the top 4…it’s gonna be a long, slow rebuild there!
Hull KR definitely the team to beat although Toulouse could be a darkhorse…I know friendlies can more often than not be taken with a pinch of salt, but they beat a near full strength Catalans Dragons 22-6 the other week and in Jonathan Ford have one of the most talented half backs in that league in their ranks! Featherstone for me are another side who have recruited well…
Thanks for the update on Bradford, I hadn’t really followed that one in great depth, just assumed…
Always respect Featherstone who are decent club living within their means. Always enjoyed my trips to Post Office Road though no doubt it has a sponsor’s name these days! Pie and peas there were a great hangover cure!
Hull KR will presumably fling the kitchen sink at it this term to try to go straight back up. I believe there are parachute payments which must help.
Every week I’m going to post a double or treble on the handicaps to see how I go, will be a £10 stake every week and I’ll keep a running total!
It’s another week until the start of Super League but the Championship is going this weekend…I’m a bit mad at not putting them up this morning when I picked them out because both have changed by six point since then, so I’m not the only one thinking these two will come in..
Halifax v Featherstone
I’m taking Featherstone (-6) as I think they’ve recruited really well for this season…they kind of crossed each other last season with Halifax on the way down after an excellent season the year before and Featherstone on the way up improving past Halifax to finish in a top 4 spot…the players Featherstone have added, along with a few decent dual reg players from Leeds will make them a tough team to beat IMO and I think they will start the season running and cover the 6 points…
Rochdale v Dewsbury
I’m taking the away side again Dewsbury (-8)…Rochdale will want to start well being a promoted team and Dewsbury will be one of the teams who may struggle over the course of the season as they just don’t have the squad, or resources to challenge many teams in this league…they’ve got quite a few injuries at the moment too but the thing swaying me at the moment is the four players in their squad from the team I follow (Wakefield) on the dual reg system….with us having no friendly this week and our opening game next week against a very strong Hull side, our coach is using the dual reg as a way of getting game time for a few players who need it…
All four would walk into most Championship teams and will make Dewsbury much, much stronger than they would have been…without these four I’d have probably fancied Rochdale with home advantage but they are all quality players and should make the difference…
So it’s a tenner double…
Featherstone (-6) @ (10/11)
Dewsbury (-8) @ (10/11)Hope you are wrong about Fax Zam been a Halifax lad but believe this is a decent bet. After missing the Middle 8s last season I’ve heard players have had to take a pay cut. A relative has been helping at Fax for the past 40 years now and he predicts a long season ahead. I just hope it’s not “Another Bloody Sunday”. Oh for the Chris Anderson days of the mid 80s.
I haven’t been up on SL for the last 2 or 3 seasons now so not sure if Cas at 14s is a decent bet or not. Surely they’ll miss the scoring of Solomona this season but I do like Daryl Powell as a coach.
Hope Bradford are relegated
GL on the bets. I will be following this thread pretty closely and best of luck to Wakey for the season ahead. Any news on a new ground yet?
I think it’s fair to say that’s a disastrous start! Think I’ve set myself a record for being out on a handicap…Dewsbury got beat 46-0!
Featherstone did manage a tight win, scoring late on but didn’t cover the handicap, so both teams lost…bad start!-£10
Homer….my mate at work is from Halifax…we often talk Rugby League as we’re both fans…I remember trips to Thrum Hall back in the 90’s with the likes of big Brendan Hill, Karl Harrison etc….might mate often goes on about the Anderson times…Smokin Joe Kilroy one of his favs…and has plenty of tales of Dave Watson…a player I remember who was probably ahead of his times physique wise, and a quality player!
The ground issue at Wakey is a farce really and one that’s holding us back big time…we’ve come so far in the last 2-3 years since we were in a dire financial mess…our current chairman (who I know personally, through playing football with) is doing a tremendous job…but the ground is the major issue…to try and cut a very long story short, we’ve been screwed over by our local council and a developer who used us big time to get what they want and ducked out of what they should have legally been tied in to do to assist us…all overlooked by the council who haven’t and don’t want to seem to do a thing about it..
That leaves us stuck in a ground well past it’s sell by date and not fit for purpose…it’s recently been bought by a group who promised to do this and that but up to now nothing has happened…a couple of threats have been made by our chairman that if there’s no sign of some of the promises been made very soon, then we’ll be leaving at the end of this season to go and ground share out of the City with Dewsbury, which would be a disaster really, so we live in hope of our landlord pulling his finger out and doing some of the things he said…or…the council actually showing some balls and getting onto that developer who has tried screwing us over…or…a big fan winning the euromillions! All long shots really!
As I say it’s a real shame because the strides we’ve made in the last two seasons in all other areas is unbelievable really…cup semi final and top eight last year…community winning all sorts of things last year doing brilliant work in and around the city…got some excellent merchandise in for the first time for ages with record shop sales, smashing previous years easily…on the field we’ve probably assembled the strongest whole round squad i’ve seen us have in nearly 30 years of watching, and importantly…for the first time since I can remember we’ve got some real quality homegrown youngsters coming through the ranks and making the first team, which IMO is the key to success in the long term, building a back bone of home grown talent…
We’ve got the current young player of the year Tom Johnstone who’s dynamite, first time I think one of our players has won it in my time watching…Our young fullback Max Jowitt also won a young player award in one of the rugby papers and is one of the most naturally gifted young players we’ve produced, and I’m sure will go on to play for England one day…we’re about to unearth another gem this season too…a backrower who is as good as any young player I’ve seen come through our ranks…when you consider I watched both Gareth Ellis and Ben Westwood come through our academy, the former who was regarded by many as the best player in the world when at the top of his game when playing in the NRL, and Westwood who’s been one of the best players in Super League for the last decade…I think this kid can be just as good as both of them if not better! And crucially….because of how we’ve turned our finances around from desperation to steady, we’re in a position (for the firt time in a very long time) to keep hold of our young quality players…
Here we go then I’m going for my first bet in super league this season…it’s still very early days though and anything can happen so confidence can’t be real high…
Usually like to play the handicaps but I’m going for a straight win double…never usually a good idea for me backing my own team but I feel we are definitely overpriced so the first leg of the double is…
Wakefield to beat Huddersfield @9/3 (Skybet)
Am surprised at Skybet being the biggest price for us as I feel they are usually the most clued up bookie on RL….this is a 50/50 game at worst though IMO…Huddersfield have been a bit of a bogey side for us for many years but last season we beat them 3 times in 3 games…once at home and twice away…we finished 8th last year while they finished bottom…I personally think we’ve recruited really well and will surprise a lot of the lazy judges who predict we’ll finish bottom…on the other hand I don’t think they have recruited that well and can see them struggling again…We were excellent on the opening day going down narrowly to a very strong Hull side in a game we should have won really…I’d be pretty disappointed if we didn’t win tomorrow night…
2nd leg of the double is…
Castleford to beat Warrington @13/8 (Skybet)
The team I tipped to top the league against a very, very good Warrington side who will be up there challenging on all fronts…last week they played in the world club challenge game beating Brisbane…the first half was as good a 40 minutes as you will ever see and it put them in the strong position to win that game which they did…a brilliant win against the odds…
Now on any normal week it would be a very tough ask to go there and win but I just feel the exertions of that win might just take a lot out of Warrington and Castleford are a team fully capable of taking advantage of that…
So a £10 win double at 9/4 & 13/8 at Skybet…
Another loser unfortunately so total now..
-£20
Same old thing about backing your own team…Castleford did their bit winning at Warrington…which ain’t a bad thing for the 14/1 tip at the start of the thread for them to finish regular season top of the league as they’re less than half that now and looking good…
Was a frustrating night though because after going 8-0 down early we completely dominated the game for a good hour leading 16-8 with 20 minutes to go and looking very comfortable…then 3 tries in ten minutes swung the game round and although we piled on the pressure in the last ten minutes we came up short…aswell as losing on the double I also did a 5 team acca on the handicaps and my team with 4 start were the only loser on that aswell which was a bit of a sickener…
Ah well…onwards and upwards and be looking for a first winner next week…
Missed putting up selections last week not realising there were no Sunday games!
Anyway, going for a double on handicaps this week with two games played tonight..
Both these teams who I’m going against will be hoping to bounce back from bad defeats last week and both coaches are under more pressure by the week…I just don’t think these two are that good anymore though and are living a bit more on name and part reputation rather than what they actually are these days…
So the double is…
Hull (-8) to beat St Helens
Catalans Dragons (+2) to beat Leeds..
Both are evens at Skybet so £10 double..
I knew I’d tipped up Cas at 14/1 somewhere! They ran away with the league leaders shield in the end…had it sewn up with about 5 or 6 games to play…2nd consecutive season I’ve nailed a 14/1 shot following Hull the previous year winning the challenge cup!
Anyway…it starts again Thursday!
Not going to commit to anything this season because I said I’d do weekly bets last season but got off to a poor start and never kept up to it…I do lose a bit of interest betting wise after the huge high of Cheltenham and tend to go quiet on the forum for a few months, so won’t say I’m gonna do it but may bob the odd fancies up!
My antepost touch this year will be on my own team Wakefield! I tipped up the enemy last year and they came through, although they went on to lose the grand final…I just think it’s wide open this year…we improved dramatically last season and finished 5th…a point outside the top four and suffered two agonising close defeats to Hull and St Helens who both went on to finish top 4 but didn’t make the grand final..
Now if you look at the betting this season (using skybet as an example) you’ll see St. Helens joint favourites for the league leaders shield with Castleford at 10/3…Hull 3rd favourites at 11/2, while my team Wakefield are a whopping 50/1…! Challenge Cup not too different…St. Helens 9/2…Hull 6/1 and Wakefield 33/1…
I find it crazy the difference in prices…it’s probably based on recent history and the fact that for many seasons we’ve been one of the strugglers fighting down the bottom while the likes of Saints and Hull have been up there….I think our club has turned around superbly though in the last 4 or 5 years on the playing side and it’s easily the best squad I’ve seen us have in 30 years of watching us!
For a team on probably the lowest budget in the league we’ve managed to assemble an outstanding squad strength wise with great cover in all positions. That is crucial in rugby league nowadays as clubs are continually running with quite a number of injured players because of the nature of the game these days…there may be plenty with a better starting 17 on paper but when you talk about a 30 man squad depth wise I genuinely believe we are right up there with the best.
We’ve a cracking set of forwards…five huge, no nonsense props…workaholics in the back row with the addition of a bit of quality in the signing of ex NZ international Justin Horo…and a youngster to watch in James Batchelor…arguably the most promising back rower I’ve seen at our club coming through the ranks…when you consider I saw Gareth Ellis and Ben Westwood develop through our academy and they went on to be two of the best back rowers super league has seen. then believe me when I say this kid can go right to the top!
Our two hookers are both quality players…Tyler Randell in particular…snapped up from Newcastle Knights towards the back end of last season he only played a few games but showed his quality…he’s unfortunately going to miss the start of the season as he picked up a knee injury in a friendly on boxing day but should be back around a month into the season…this kid is dynamite…if he stays injury free, he’ll be a revelation this season…could easily be as influential as Matt Parcell has been for Leeds…
Then onto our backs…who collectively are surely the quickest backline in the comp! Tom Johnstone, one of the brightest prospects in the game back now from the leg break of last year and has gone really well in pre season…..he will be like another new signing as he missed most of our cracking last season through injury…I’m really optimistic for us this year and would suggest a cheeky few quid on us..
50/1 for league leaders shield and 33/1 for challenge cup…may get better if you shop around…
As I say…don’t think there’s any standout team but we’ve definitely signed well and should be as good if not better than last season…can’t wait for it all to start Thursday!
Good to see Wakefield get their season back on track with a win against top placed Saints. They’ve been on the wrong end of some close results recently and probably deserve to be higher than their current 7th position.
Featherstone did manage a tight win, scoring late on but didn’t cover the handicap, so both teams lost…bad start!
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