By DAVE HADFIELD
I’VE been asked to expand a little on my recent argument that, in some ways, this has been the most disappointing season of Super League yet.
I don’t mean that it has been dull to watch or short of exciting games, electrifying finishes or spectacular tries. It has had plenty of all of these.
Where it has been remarkable, I believe, is that just about every club has reason to be disappointed with its performance.
It shouldn’t be possible – after all, for every loser there should be a winner – but that’s the way it looks to me.
In fact, I reckon 11 of the 12 clubs in the competition have cause for regret.
That must sound relentlessly miserable, but let’s take a look at the evidence.
To get the easiest targets out of the way first, the decline of HUDDERSFIELD would, in any other season, have been the big story in Super League.
They’ve gone backwards at a rate of knots and a lot of the spirit seems to have gone out of the place.
I’m not keen on their recruitment for next season, either; too many players who couldn’t get a game for the weakest club in the NRL for my liking.
When it comes to crashing and burning, however, LEEDS have lit up the night sky.
Their eventual safety should not be allowed to obscure their displays for much of the season, which were, to be frank, often disgraceful.
SALFORD have two straws to grasp at. One is that, when in the mood, they could play some exhilarating rugby. The second is that their points deduction cut the ground from under them. I wouldn’t set too much score on that one; if it hadn’t been that, it would have been something else.
WAKEFIELD had a surprising purple patch after the appointment of Chris Chester, but that only made it more disillusioning when they couldn’t sustain it.
HULL KR, who had sacked Chester, failed to make any discernible progress and have now settled on a ‘Back to the Future’ strategy, which involves Jamie Peacock playing and Tim Sheens coaching.
WIDNES are the first of the clubs who should be kicking themselves for failing to take advantage of the shortcomings of the clubs above them.
They started brilliantly with a thrashing of Hull, but its as if there’s a glass ceiling in place, which cuts them off from getting any further up the table.
Another in this ‘kicking themselves’ category are CASTLEFORD.
Okay, they had more injuries than most, but with Super League’s most natural try-scorer on deck in the shape of Denny Solomona, they should have been able to carry on with the Job a bit better than they did.
They might never have a better chance to break into the top four.
That’s where the CATALANS looked to be heading in the first half of the season, but the way they played in the second half was an absolute embarrassment, considering the players they had on their books.
And that’s a disappointment not just in Perpignan, but for everyone who wishes French rugby league well.
It’s past the stage where there’s any point regretting the impending departure of the likes of Carney, Stewart and Taylor. It’s all a sorry case of what might have been.
That takes us to WIGAN and ST HELENS – surely a couple of clubs with reason to be satisfied with their efforts so far. Well, yes and no.
If you just look at their results and their places in the table, there seems to be enough to celebrate, but the supporters of both clubs know that the standard of rugby hasn’t always measured up.
Shaun Wane’s men have won no end of games through grit and determination, but hardly any through high-quality play.
As for Saints, they have been so had at times that you can only regard them as being in the top four by default.
What about WARRINGTON? They have spent more time on top of the table than anyone and probably have the most talented squad. Surely they have nothing to belly-ache about?
No, apart from some wild inconsistency and an inability to win big matches that matter; witness this year’s Challenge Cup final.
That leaves HULL, the team that beat them that day at Wembley.
They, I would submit, are the only side to have nothing to feel disappointed about in 2016 – although there’s still time for them to put that right.
At the moment. though, the only downbeat thing you can say about FC is that they don’t play as well after winning at Wembley.
Steel shortlist spot-on
THE shortlist for the Man of Steel Award is dead right this year – and that hasn’t always been the case. Mind you, it wasn’t the hardest of tasks.
Any advance on the new Super League record try-scorer, Denny Solomona and the Hull duo of Danny Houghton and Gareth Ellis anyone?
No, I thought not.
The only player I can think of who might have forced his way into that company is John Bateman, but I think his mid-season antics and club suspension rule him out.
