When the fixtures were released for the new Super League season in October, Leeds’ clash against Huddersfield in round four always looked like one of the early standout matches. After all, it is only five months since the two West Yorkshire rivals were involved in perhaps the greatest game in Super League history, when Ryan Hall’s late try denied Huddersfield the League Leaders’ Shield, securing leg two of a historic treble for the Rhinos in the process.
They meet on Friday night in different circumstances. There is mitigation aplenty with injuries and retirements for both to contend with, but the cold, hard fact is that two of last season’s semi-finalists go head to head still waiting to secure their first points of 2016.
The embryonic Super League table draws obvious parallels to its Premier League equivalent thus far, and as well as some asking if Widnes can “do a Leicester” and remain at the top after the opening few weeks, there are similar questions about last year’s champions Leeds struggling to replicate their heroics of the previous year in a similar vein to Chelsea.
The Leeds full-back, Zak Hardaker, has fast become a senior player amid an injury crisis that sees the champions without established internationals such as Tom Briscoe, Carl Ablett and the captain, Danny McGuire. He acknowledged that their poor start is impossible to ignore, but reiterated that recent history shows a shaky opening few weeks doesn’t necessarily spell long-term cause for concern.
“It doesn’t read good so far being zero from three, but it’s a long old season,” Hardaker said. “North Queensland Cowboys lost their first three in the NRL last year and won the competition, so that proves that the start isn’t the be-all and end-all.
“One win changes everything in this game. We’re staring down the barrel of a gun at the moment but in the performances we’ve given – Widnes aside [Leeds lost 56-12] – we’ve played pretty good rugby. We will be there or thereabouts this year, mark my words.”
As well as being one of the two remaining sides without a point in Super League, Huddersfield’s start has been as similarly affected by injuries as Leeds’. It was confirmed this week that the half-back, Jamie Ellis, could be out for up to 10 weeks due to a shoulder injury, joining names like Eorl Crabtree, Craig Huby and Joe Wardle on an increasing injury list.
They could be boosted by the return of their talismanic captain, Danny Brough, for Friday’s game, and the Giants’ forward, Larne Patrick, shared a similar ideology to Hardaker in looking long-term when assessing his side’s prospects for the season ahead.
“The start clearly hasn’t been the best but it’s not how you start, it’s how you finish,” Patrick said. “Hopefully we can get this win and get a run of games together where we’re picking up results. There’s no better place to play and win than Headingley.
“There’s no panic; we’re only a month in and it’s not like we’re mid-season or near the end of the campaign – with the experience this group has got, we know we’re still one of the better teams, and this is still one of the bigger games in the division.”
Patrick may well be right in his assessment of the magnitude of Friday’s encounter, but in a Super League where the balance of power feels like it could be about to shift, this is a big game for entirely different reasons than just a few short months ago.
