Is Warrington’s form reaching critical levels yet?
Five games, five defeats. It’s been far from an ideal start for Tony Smith and Warrington – made all the more perplexing by the fact that they hammered Brisbane in the World Club Series.
On Friday they travel to St Helens – a team who have been in the spotlight themselves, although they eased the pressure on Keiron Cunningham with a morale-boosting win in France last Saturday. Should it become six losses from six, just how serious would Warrington’s start to the season become? And does a top-four push look out of the question already?
Will Danny Brough play for Huddersfield on Friday?
All the signs suggest he will after being named in their 19-man squad, but given the speculation about Danny Brough’s future at Huddersfield, it’s only right to wonder what will happen tomorrow night. If he does play – and we suspect he will – his encouraging partnership with Lee Gaskell will likely be given another chance to shine. If not, the rumour mill might go into overdrive once again!
Can Hull continue to slide under the radar?
Everyone is rightly talking about Wigan and Castleford’s great start to the season – but what about Hull FC? Win on Friday night against a depleted Wigan outfit, and Lee Radford’s side go top of Super League.
They’ve got four wins from five, with their only blip so far a home defeat to Catalans. But Albert Kelly is settling into life along Marc Sneyd well, the FC pack is on dominant form once again and on the whole, Hull look wholly capable of continuing last season’s impressive form under Radford. Nobody is really talking about Hull just yet – but maybe a win tomorrow would change all that.
Will Rangi Chase return to the fold for Castleford?
After defeat last week to Salford, Daryl Powell was coy about whether he would make too many changes for Castleford’s game against Catalans on Sunday. However, one thing he did reveal was that half-back Rangi Chase is likely to come back into his 19-man squad for the game.
Chase was dropped due to an off-field issue several weeks ago, but given how Ben Roberts has proven to be a menacing influence from the bench rather than starting, perhaps Powell will roll the dice and give Chase another chance. He hasn’t got many left, that’s for sure – but there’s no doubting the ability of Chase the player.
