There is one match left in the opening round of the Super League XXVIII season and it comes along on Sunday afternoon when Hull FC open up their new campaign when they host Castleford Tigers at the MKM Stadium.
These two teams both missed out on the play-offs last season so their immediate task at hand will be to respond and launch a season in which they hope they will be able to break into the top six once again. There is no TV coverage of this game.
Hull FC
It looked like being a promising season for Hull FC last term but then they got to the halfway mark of it and then just completely hit the buffers and slid away pretty tamely in the end. That was enough to cost Brett Hodgson his job and controversially Tony Smith has been seconded from the other side of Hull. New board members and players have arrived in the close season in the aim of restoring the good times back to the black and white part of the city.
Smith usually gets a positive tune out of the teams that he coaches because he likes to adopt an attacking brand of rugby which players enjoy playing. The question for Hull FC here is whether their new signings have had enough friendlies to get up to speed and build the combinations which need building. All eyes will be on those new players in this match but the ones who were here last season might feel they owe the club a good display.
Castleford Tigers
The Castleford Tigers missed out on the play-offs by one place last season when they went down to the Leeds Rhinos in a do or die last game of the regular campaign. That will have been a disappointment for Lee Radford and his men but rather than dwell on the disappointment, they have put a good squad together and if pre-season results are anything to go by they are looking in decent shape going into the new season.
Radford himself has been involved with the World Cup finalists Samoa and that sort of experience can only benefit the Tigers. The obvious downside for Castleford leading into this opening game is the unwanted attention around Joe Westerman but it might be that the rugby pitch offers some solace. Castleford certainly look dynamic in attack and if they defend well here you would imagine they will be a tough nut to crack.
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Team News
Tony Smith has included new signings Jake Clifford, Tex Hoy, Brad Dwyer and Liam Sutcliffe in his squad and they could all make debuts for the club in this season opener. There is no place for club captain Carlos Tuimavave in the 21-man squad.
There are no shortage of potential debutants in the Castleford Tigers squad either. Gareth Widdop, Jacob Miller, Jack Broadbent, Albert Vete and Muizz Mustapha could all wear the Tigers shirt for the first time. There is a place in the squad for Joe Westerman despite his difficult week.
Betting
I would imagine Hull FC will be a good watch this season but I also think they might take a week or two to build into their best version of themselves and that makes me lean towards the Castleford Tigers in this match. They had a good pre-season which they rounded off with an emphatic win over a relatively strong Huddersfield Giants side and that looked a standout result, albeit you can’t always take too much from friendlies.
Castleford should be a very good team this season. There aren’t going to be many better half-back pairings doing the rounds than Gareth Widdop and Jacob Miller while the likes of Niall Evalds, Bureta Faraimo, Jake Mamo and Paul McShane offer real class to support them with. Hull just have one or two too many changes to their squad for comfort for me and if one of those two from overseas don’t hit the ground running they could be vulnerable here. Castleford feel a big price to take this one down.
Tips
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