Super League 2009

[mooster100]

Bradford are struggling at the moment and although home advantage i can't see where the improvement is going to come from. Hull are out the blocks early this season, there attack play is marvellous so far and i think they will have to much fire power and the Bulls will be tamed once again.

Although Celtic put up a superb performance against St Helens last week the ground was attrotious and the weather conditions are totally different today. Hull KR managed to beat Saints this year and although i think Saints will struggle this season not many teams will go there and take points off them.

Catalans was awesome last season at home and struggled away, this year they seem to be struggling at both. Wakefield have been a totally different team this season winning 3 out of 5 only going down to Hull KR and Leeds. I think Wakefield my falter now after losing there last game while i feel Catalans are improving.

PREDICTION
Hull to beat Bradford (scr)
Hull KR to beat Celtic (-14)
Catalans to beat Wakefield (+6)

[SecretSquirrel]

Yea SkyBlue, I really fancied Hudds but then again, really Fancied Warrington! So was a mixed day for me.

Im just about to set off to Knowsley Road or Whatever theyre calling it these days so Ill make this a quick en.

Leeds finally got to play some of their best rugby this season with a first half demolition of Wigan last week. 2nd half wasnt so good and If Wigan could have got an early desicion in the 2nd half the game would have been a lot closer so were gonna have to perform a lot better next week to beat Saints who havent had the explosive start everyone expected. They have a few injuries but KR is always a tough place to go for Leeds, Its a place i absolutely love to go and the warm weather weve had should make for a great night. Its not a game I will be shedding a lot of cash out because Im used to seeing Leeds get beat at KR. Out wide is where Saints have the upper hand with Leeds still having a lot of inexperience on the flanks but Saints have a weak pack with Pauletua out and maybe missing Gilmore. But as the saying goes, forwards win it and the backs decide by how many. Thats why im going to Pick leeds to win in a very close battle as expected. Leeds by 8

Two bets stand out for me are:
Leeds to win by 6-10 points 11/2
Leeds to win by 1-12 Points 21/10

In the other games i fancy both Wigan and Hull to beat 12 point starts against poorer opposition in Cas and Salford. Wigan always beat Salford and 2 scores looks a doddle and Hull have been awesome, I backed them to win the challenge cup e/w and had them in the head to head with Hull KR at very good odds. They should have way too much for a leaky Cas defense that struggle at the KC stadium.

Wigan by 22
Hull by 20

[mooster100]

St Helens v Leeds
St Helens are winning but not playing well at present and if not up to scratch tonight another loss is guaranteed. Leeds defence in super league over the last couple of seasons is second to none while their attack is going from strength to strength and now we have seen the two combined to make the complete side. They was fast out the blocks last week against Wigan which seen them have the game sewn up by half time.
PREDICTION
Leeds (scr) Evs

Salford v Wigan
Salford have home advantage tonight but up to now have been the poorest side in the league and tonight the rot is set to continue. Wigan started slow against Leeds last week and the game was over at half time but against a lesser opposition tonight the shoe should be on the other foot. It would be a shoddy show tonight if Wigan weren't leading by the 10 pts margin their giving on the coupon by ht.
PREDICTION
Wigan ( -10) 10/11

Hull v Castleford
Hull have done nowt wrong this season so far and another possible win is on the cards tonight but it wont be easy.A very good away win against Bradford last week stands Hull in good steed here and they now have a great chance of a top three finish after the disappointing starts by Wigan and Warrington.Castleford have really impressed me this year and was unlucky losers last weekend against Huddersfield. I think the 2pts could go to Castleford here and the 10pts on the handicap coupon is an absolute banker.
PREDICTION
Castleford ( +10)

[SecretSquirrel]

Today we should see three close games as Quins travel to Huddersfield, Hull KR go to Warrington and Wakey go to Wayaallls!

Quins and Hudds have both got off to decent starts but performance wise Harlequins have been outperforming most sides they have met this season and were very unlucky not to beat Wigan. Had they done that they would be playing to go top of the league today. Huddersfield have been less impressive in defeating Cas last week and losing to Hull the week before and I expect the form to carry over into this Game and the Quins to win it. You can get +4 on the Handicap but the outright win looks a decent price at 13/10 Hills. Man for man these teams are evenly matched but to say the Quins had a much interupted preseason, they are playing like a very well gelled unit and should have too much for the Giants. Quins by 10

The other afternoon kick off sees Warrington trying to lose their 100% record at the start of the season against very tough opposition in Hull KR who have already won at Knowsley Road and gave Leeds a really good game. The fans have really been giving it to the Wire and unless vast improvement is shown today there could be some major implications as far as the support for the rest of the season goes. Hull KR are pretty much as they were last week but Paul Cook is expected back while Warrington are expected to make several changes, Lee Briers is expected to warm the bench and Riley and Bridge are set to start.
I cant see how Warrington can beat KR today. They were simply awful last week and Hull KR have improved Week after Week, These are always close games though so I Fancy the Hull KR by 1-12 points market @ 11/5

The evening game will hopefully be a cracker and show the Welsh fans and in particular the rugby Yawnion lot what rugby league is all about.
Wakey will be full of confidence after the start theyve had even though they have been injury riddled but with Danny Brough back, they put Catalans to the sword last week and I expect them to do the same tonight. The Welsh side havent lost at home by more than tonight handicap mark of 8 points but tonight there is a huge insentive for the Wildcats- Win by 24 or more and Go top and I cant see John Kears men letting up if they take an early lead. Celtic have been steadily improving but I fully expect Wakey to beat them by 2-3 scores.
Wakefield by 16

[mooster100]

BARROW v WIGAN
Wigan travel to Barrow today with almost a fully strength side. I'm not to sure on Barrows form as i don't follow the lower leagues but i'm pretty sure it would be a poor performance if Wigan couldn't brush them aside by more than the twenty eight points their giving away. The other game i have an interest in is the Keighley Castleford game. Again i don't know much about Keighley but Castleford have been an outstanding unit so far this season, their attacking play is up their with the best two teams in super league and i can see a mass of points tallying up for the visiting team.
PREDICTION
WIGAN -28
CASTLEFORD -40

GOOD LUCK

[freeride]

Bradford are without Deacon and are struggling to make an impact in super league. Leeds will be far too strong for them. Leeds -8 at Bet365

[SecretSquirrel]

Wigan V Saints
Its Derby weekend and tonight we have what should be a great game between the games two fiercest rivals. After seeing Saints Control Leeds at Headingley at the weekend Im finding it hard to see anything other than a comfortable win. The only thing that can decide how many Saints win by will be the weather. A weakened Wigan team struggled to put Barrow to bed last week and they welcome back Richards and Hock and New singing Martin Gleeson while Saints are Missing Flannery along with Long and Wellens (i think).
Saints have had the run over Wigan recently and tonight should see them go top until we beat Bradford tommorrow.

Saints defence was awesome last week and I cant see Wigan scoring more than 14/16 points. Wigan on the other hand cant keep anyone out and I can see Saints notching up a lot of points tonight.
Saints by 16+

[rodeee]

Nothing about the Quins ? Harlequins - 7 seems complicated

[SecretSquirrel]

Ill do write ups for all the games tommorrow If I have time But ill get the Big 2 out of the way while its all in my head!

Bradford V Leeds
Long gone are the days where Leeds used to travel up to Odsal expecting a hiding from the Bulls and I fully expect Leeds to show their class tommorrow against an out of sorts Bradford side who have twice snatched defeat from the jaws of victory in the last two weeks.
Leeds have the advantage all over the park, Coaching, Forwards and Backs and conditioning. The way the Bulls capitulated in France was pretty embarrasing to watch and I cant imagine Steve Mcnamara lasting a month If the same continues.
Bradford are struggling with Injuries and their most important player IMO, Glen Morrison is out along with Paul Deacon. Leeds on the otherhand are at almost full strength but Scott Donald misses out.
Theres no way I can see Leeds losing this game, I expect a comfortable Victory and will be making the short trip to watch the Lads further embarrass the Bulls. Bradford will struggle to score points and Leeds should rack up 5 plus scores on the board. I expect the line to go up tomorrow. Im not sure what the weathers gonna do up this end but I cant see anything other than a comfortable Leeds win.
Good weather- Leeds by 26
Poor weather- Leeds by 12
Confidence- 8/10
Hull FC v Hull KR

Both teams are pretty much the same as last week in what promises to be a belter in the early KO. Hull have seen their great start to the season fall to pieces whereas KR have gone from strength to strength and continue to impress me. They are a hard working side and should have too much for Hull tomorrow who seem lacking in confidence at the moment and their fierce rivals will jump on any opportunity to capitalise.
Hull KR have a decent mobile pack and In a tight derby game this is where its going to be won and lost. If they can keep it tight in the first half then I expect them to go on to win the game.
They are getting a 2 point start with most bookies and I think this is pretty decent value.
These games have thown up some pretty crazy results as far as winning margin goes, some have been dead tight and some have been runaway victories so the Hull KR 12+ looks like its worth having a few quid on also.
Not too big stakes but should be a cracker
Hull KR by 8

Salford V Warrington
Finally Warrington seem to be getting some consistancy and Salford finally have a 2nd win of the season, albeit in the Cup but I can only see one winner this aft at the Willows and that will be the Wire Who will have too much pace and class for the Reds, they have won the last 4 meetings, 3 of which were by more than 10 points. The Wire have got rid of some poison in the camp in releasing Gleeson to Wigan and this shows that Tony Smith is going to get this team playing great rugby within a month or two. I can see Warrington winning this by 12+ points and thats what Ill be betting on today.
Warrington by 24

[mooster100]

What an excellent game last night ( Wigan v Saints ), the only thing that let it down was the half time commentary by Eddie and Stevo. For me they talk so much s**t, me being a Wigan supporter was disappointed with last weeks performance at Barrow but last night i had to listen to these idiots going on about Saints being tired after last weeks hard game with Leeds. Any body who made the trip to Barrow realizes that Wigan's game weren't plain sailing and they had to play the full 80 to ensure they progressed. Both teams have since had the same amount of rest as they both played Sunday and any way these are professional players who should be able to play a hard game one week and turn out the next and perform. I feel Wigan was the better side for the majority of the match being able to out play Saints in many aspects of the field for large amounts of the game but they failed to back up on the mini breaks and there hard work wasn't justified. I must admit Saints didn't turn up as the side that beat Leeds last weekend but to say it was because of hard games is b******s and is disrespectful of the performance Wigan but up. Saints at times was able to show glimpses of there exceptional attacking play but it was a 3 min lapse of concentration by Wigan that lost them the game. I thought Ben Thaler was excellent, he may of let a few decisions either way go a miss but it's always a hard game to referee and i thought he did it superbly.

Any body think im talking s**t just leave a comment. My blood is still boiling with Eddie and Stevo. :rant:

[swashbuckler]

Hi Mooster
Watched most of the game last night (watching the Rugby on TV and following the Golf on the computer,,,,,,What a hard life )
Of what I saw Wigan were the better side but they just couldn't break down the St Helens defence, which was Brilliant I must say.Some nice young players on view last night who have big futures ahead of them and I thought the referee (Thaler) did reasonably well but started to make some odd decisions near the end, most notably the blatant knock on by Wigan with a few minutes to go that he waved play on. But as clarkey said in commentary, The linesman should have helped him out on that occassion.Good game to watch

[adyNo1]

17.04.2009
Bradford bulls - Warrington Wolves
Hull FC - Wakefield WIldcats

some thoughts about these games would be great.