WE saw a record numbers of spectators, a record number of televised matches and probably a record number of red and yellow cards for an opening round of Super League games.
It was quite a weekend and it’s interesting to speculate on which clubs will be happy, which ones will be worried and which will be uncertain about what the first round meant for them.
I would guess that the most worried club owner over the weekend will have been Hull FC’s Adam Pearson, whose side was up to its old tricks on Thursday night against Hull KR.
I wrote several months ago that Hull would suffer badly from losing three key players in Tevita Satae, Jake Clifford and Adam Swift, while they are also still missing Jake Trueman.
Those absences were obvious on Thursday and we can add to that the lack of firepower in their forwards that was, quite frankly, alarming for their supporters.
Franklin Pele was a massive disappointment, and not just for the reckless challenge that led to his dismissal from the field. After that display Hull won’t miss him on Friday at Warrington but they will miss Ligi Sao, who is also likely to be suspended for kicking out his legs and kneeing Matt Parcell in the face, even if he pleads a lack of intent.
It’s hard to imagine that Hull will play as badly again, but they’ll need to improve dramatically if they are to avoid another humiliating defeat. Surely they can do no worse than to give an opportunity to some of their younger players.
Hull KR will feel much happier, but their coach Willie Peters urgently needs to find a solution to his goalkicking dilemma. It was surprising to hear him admit that his team didn’t have a goalkicker and in a tighter game that could have mattered a lot.
If Peta Hiku is to be the kicker, he needs an awful lot of practice between that game and the next one this Thursday night against Leeds, which is likely to be a much closer game.
The happiest coach on Friday night was almost certainly Huddersfield’s Ian Watson, who wasn’t fancied by most people to get a result on their visit to Leigh.
The Leopards had played very strongly in the pre-season, especially with a strong win against Warrington, but Friday’s game demonstrated once again that pre-season form can’t be relied upon.
The halfback combination of Lachlan Lam and Matt Moylan didn’t fire as Adrian Lam might have hoped, with both players looking to me as though they were uncertain about who was supposed to be running the show. Moylan put in a great grubber for Josh Charnley’s try, but apart from that his short kicking game close to the Giants’ line was unsuccessful.
They lost Edwin Ipape to injury and perhaps it’s a good thing to have a bye weekend while their round-two opponents Wigan take on Penrith.
On the same night the Giants have a fascinating match-up against St Helens at the John Smith’s Stadium. Last season they lost the equivalent game 12-14 and they look significantly stronger this year than last. If they could beat St Helens, that would be a hell of a marker to put down and I hope they get some supporters coming out of the woodwork to cheer them on.
Incidentally, one thing that slightly annoyed me about the Leopards was the numbering on the back of their shirts, which was hard to read, while the Giants should surely incorporate their colours of claret and gold in both their home and away kits. Virtually none of their supporters in the stand could be seen wearing that desperately dull away kit.
Leeds coach Rohan Smith would probably feel relieved rather than happy in getting a tight victory against Salford.
Salford, who looked much better than many pundits had predicted, could easily have won that game if they hadn’t conceded so many penalties, especially in crucial positions. But they must have been delighted by the form of Nene Macdonald and the Rhinos fans, despite booing him throughout the game, must have been watching with some regret about the way he left the club last year.
Paul Rowley won’t be satisfied with a defeat, but the Red Devils face Castleford this Sunday and that has to be a game they will win if they can replicate their form from Friday night, while I’m looking forward to seeing their new recruit David Nofoaluma, who I’ve long enjoyed watching scoring tries in the NRL for Wests Tigers.
The other Friday-night game went as expected, with the Broncos going down to a heavy but not disgraceful defeat in front of a very impressive crowd of more than 14,000. That latter fact is what will please St Helens most, I’m sure.
On Saturday, the game between the Catalans and Warrington rivalled the Leeds-Salford clash as the match of the round and the Dragons performed extremely well to win it after Michael McIlorum was dismissed right at the start of the second half.
Jordan Abdull and Théo Fages combined well together and Jayden Nikorima showed plenty of pace when he came on the field, while Tariq Sims made the tackle of the weekend on George Williams, with George showing incredible toughness to get straight back up off the floor. That incident alone demonstrated the difference between Rugby League players and their football cousins and not surprisingly the video of that incident has gone several times around the world.
All eyes were on Sam Burgess, of course, for his first game in charge and, while he didn’t secure a victory, his side showed enough spirit in defeat to suggest that good times could be on their way. But they have to beat Hull FC this Friday to confirm that impression.
Finally, the game between Castleford and Wigan will have left both coaches with mixed feelings.
The Tigers played with plenty of spirit and looked more coordinated than I thought they might be, especially with Paul McShane missing, but they were destroyed by the dismissal of Liam Watts.
There is no doubt that both Liam and Joe Westerman could have been sent off for the same incident, as both their shoulders clearly came into contact with Tyler Dupree’s head, but if Joe had been red-carded too, the game would surely have descended into farce.
Someone urgently need to think about the implications of something like that happening, because it surely will, given the crackdown on all contact with the head.
