Another busy round of Super League matches begin as ever on Thursday night with Hull FC hosting Catalans Dragons in a match much bigger for the home side than the visitors you would have to say.
Hull FC head into the set of matches with a one point lead at the top of the table and very much everything still to play for while after last week’s defeat the Dragons are just playing out time on the season now barring some amazing turnaround.
Hull FC
Everything is going along nicely for Hull FC at the minute. They go into this match off the back of absolutely annihilating Widnes last week and they will be hoping for another such win this week to go into next week’s Challenge Cup final with.
Everything has steadily improved for Hull FC throughout the season. Their defence remains superb and tough as teak throughout the 80 minutes and with every passing week they look to have more dynamism in their attack. Credit for that must go to Lee Radford for the way he has managed his squad throughout a busy campaign.
Catalans Dragons
If there is such a thing as a season of two halves then Catalans are putting it together. They were excellent at the beginning of the campaign and it looked like this would be a real defining season for them but in the season half of the season it has been a real struggle and their fall away from the top has been both alarming and disappointing.
Obviously injuries have played a key part in the demise of the Dragons but one of their big things at the start of the season was meant to be the depth they had in their squad so how much they can use that as an excuse remains to be seen. We’ll certainly see how much depth they have over the coming weeks.
Team News
With the Challenge Cup final next week Hull FC coach Lee Radford has decided to rest his captain Gareth Ellis for the match but Marc Snead is back from his ankle injury and Danny Washbrook is back in contention too.
Catalans Dragons are coming to terms with the fact that he will be without Todd Carney and Pat Richards for the rest of the season while he is without Jodie Broughton and Justin Horo for this match too. Antoni Maria is among those coming in for them.
Betting
On a normal week I would be all over Hull FC like a shot here even with them giving up 12pts and more but this isn’t a normal week. It is the week before a huge Challenge Cup final and it would only be human nature for the home side to have more than half an eye on that match.
Catalans look cooked for the season you would have to say but they are a proud bunch and it won’t sit pretty with them to get walloped every week in the run in to the end of the season so I still expect some fight and if they don’t shoot themselves in the foot like they did last week and if they do find Hull FC looking too far ahead this could be closer than it looks on paper.
I’m in no rush to back Hull a week before Wembley but after last week’s shambles I can’t be backing the Dragons even without a 12pt head start so I’ll sit out the opening match of this round.
Tips
No Bet
