Rugby League – Rhinos Can Charge To Another Title

The new Super League season is upon us and that must mean that summer is just around the corner! But before you dig out the sleeveless tops from the back of your wardrobe and iron those floral bermuda shorts that don’t look good anywhere but on the beach at Ayia Napa, how about setting about funding your holiday by lumping on the Leeds Rhinos with bwin to finish top of the regular season. The Austrian-based bookmakers, who are offering a matched bet up to £30 for new customers, are relatively new kids on the UK block and, as such, may be trying to establish themselves in the market by putting up one or two giveaways in the weeks ahead. That certainly seems to be the case with offering 11-10 against the Rhinos finishing top of the pile again (most of their rivals are going odds-on!) and this price should be snapped up before it inevitably disappears. Leeds arguably still have a little way to go before emulating Wigan‘s exploits in the 1990s but there is no disputing their current dominance of the domestic scene. Last October, they completed a hat-trick of Grand Final wins and coach Brian McClennan is confident that a fourth will follow in 2010, despite the loss of Lee Smith to rugby union. Kiwi Greg Eastwood will enhance the Rhinos‘ options, while Aussie centre Brett Delaney with prove an able replacement for Smith. In addition, former Kangaroos captain Danny Buderus is fit again and, with big things expected of youngsters like Kallum Watkins this term, it’s difficult to see where the champions have a weakness. They are 13-10 with sportingbet for another Grand Final win. St Helens, beaten finalists in last year’s Grand Final and top of the regular season in five of the last seven seasons, should again be among their closest challengers. But the loss of Sean Long and Lee Gilmour could take a while to recover from and some of the Saints‘ promising youngsters are going to have to come of age pretty rapidly. Given those facts the 7-2 offered by skybet, sportingbet and Stan James to top the regular season isn’t that attractive. Warrington won the Challenge Cup last year but are perennial under-achievers when it comes to the league so the general 12-1 makes little appeal but the team they beat at Wembley, Huddersfield Giants, might be worth a little each-way interest at a general 14-1 as they look to have recruited wisely over the winter. They shouldn’t be as big as Wigan (Ladbrokes) who may remain maddeningly inconsistent for a while longer until new coach Michael Maguire settles into the role.