Six to go: What I'd like to see in 2016

Welcome to the first edition of 2016 of Six to go, looking at some of the things that I’d like to see happen in rugby league in the next 12 months.

Leeds Rhinos win the World Club Series
Let’s start the year off on a positive note with Leeds Rhinos knocking over the NRL premiers, North Queensland Cowboys, at what I am sure will be a bouncing Headingley on Sunday, February 21.

The Rhinos recruitment has not been that inspired – Keith Galloway, Beau Falloon and Anthony Mullally all seem pretty run of the mill, although the unexpected addition of Brett Ferres is a huge plus.

Coach Brian McDermott will be relying on new skipper Danny McGuire and his other experienced players to ensure young stars such as Liam Sutcliffe, Stevie Ward and Brad Singleton fill the voids left by the loss of an outstanding group of players.

Still, the Rhinos have much more experience at this type of challenge game than the Cowboys.

This will be the Rhinos’ seventh World Club Challenge, having won the title in 2005, 2008 and 2012, while the Cowboys are playing in their first, following their golden point grand final win over Brisbane Broncos last October.

The man who did more than anyone to win that first title, halfback Johnathan Thurston, probably has more of an effect on the way the Cowboys play than any other player in any other team in the world.

2015 saw JT rule the world – not only did he win the premiership, he also took out the Golden Boot as the best player in rugby league, the Dally M Medal as the outstanding player in the NRL for a record fourth time, and also the Clive Churchill Medal for his man of the match performance in the grand final.

However North Queensland are far from a one-man team, with five-eighth Michael Morgan, fullback Lachlan Coote, wingers Kyle Feldt and Antonio Winterstein, plus Australian Test props Matt Scott and James Tamou, outstanding hooker Jake Granville, and powerhouse loose forward Jason Taumololo to do enough for them to win their first world title.

Will the new-look Rhinos be strong enough to win their fourth World Club Challenge? I hope they can, but I’m edging towards a Cowboys win.

Hull KR to return to Wembley – and win
Hull Kingston Rovers, my team, need an immediate return to the Wembley stage, and a first Challenge Cup final win for 36 years in order to purge the memory of the record 50-0 defeat they suffered at the hands of treble winners Leeds last August.

The pain of that defeat will never be 100 per cent erased, Hull FC fans will make sure of that, just as we always remind them that they have never won at Wembley.

Having waited 29 years – I was there in 1980, 1981 and 1986 – since seeing my team at Wembley, and having my four kids with me as well, the day could not have gone much worse that it did.

Rovers did so well in overcoming some tough opposition to earn their place in the Cup final, winning at Bradford Bulls and Wigan Warriors before defeating Catalans Dragons at home in the quarter-final and, Warrington Wolves at Headingley in the semi-final, but they let themselves, and the fans, down on the day at Wembley.

It has to be said though that the Rhinos would have beaten any team with the way they played that day.

Rovers supporters, both young and old, are owed a quick and successful return visit.

Sam Burgess to be the force he was before he went to rugby union
The unexpected return to rugby league of Sam Burgess in the aftermath of England’s disastrous Rugby World Cup campaign has been debated endlessly by people with an interest in either code since he jumped ship last November.

Whether you think he made the right decision or not, he has come back to the sport that he truly loves and the one in which he is definitely a big fish.

What we all need now is for Sam to concentrate on his footy, so that he becomes the force on the playing field that he was before he left.

When he left South Sydney after their 2014 grand final win, Sam was at the pinnacle of his rugby league career. He took a risk – some will say it came off and some will say he failed – and it will be interesting to see the type of player he has become.

Big Sam says he thinks he will be a better player, which may mean he will be a different, more rounded player. But what also has to be taken into account is that the Rabbitohs have changed.

Souths struggled to back up their premiership success in 2015 – they comfortably won the World Club Series against St Helens last February, and won their opening three league games, but the wheels started to come off after that, and they could only manage a seventh-place finish in the regular season. They then lost in the first round of the play-offs to Cronulla.

Numerous players have left the club, including Sam’s elder brother Luke, along with Ben Teo, Dylan Walker, Chris McQueen, Lote Tuqiri and – maybe most importantly of all – New Zealand Test player Issac Luke. There are also question marks over coach Michael Maguire, after reports surfaced that his playing squad are getting tired of his, at times, overly strict regime.

Sam may be seen as a saviour by the Souths fans, and they will be expecting big returns for the big chunk of the salary cap that he has taken up.

Peace and quiet on the Salford front
I had hoped for a season of peace and harmony for the dedicated band of Salford Red Devils fans, who suffered more than any other set of rugby league supporters in 2015.

Times are never dull under the ownership of Marwan Koukash, but they seemed to lurch from one crisis to another last year.

The one positive step Koukash took was appointing legendary Australian coach Tim Sheens as his director of rugby.

Sheens will bring a calm and thoughtful approach to the tiller, and has huge experience after being involved with many successful rugby league outfits. I thought his appointment was a sign that Koukash would take a step back and let Sheens and CEO Martin Vickers get on with running the club.

However, it was announced in December that Koukash would be taking over as CEO from Vickers, and was putting together a new commercial team to help increase and improve income streams. Then in early January Koukash announced he had received two fines from the RFL, before the season has even started!

Add in Bradford Bulls Chairman Marc Green having correspondence with the RFL regarding Salford’s perceived misuse of the salary cap in 2015 leaked to the Rugby League Express newspaper last week, and it is not the peaceful start to the season Salford fans would have wanted.

Neither would they have wanted to lose one of their new signings for the opening two to three months of the year. Winger Daniel Vidot was signed from Brisbane Broncos with a big reputation, yet the Samoan international has damaged a shoulder while training, requiring surgery.

Koukash has insisted that he will leave all football decisions of the business to Sheens – let’s hope that is the case, because Sheens could well prove to be Salford’s best signing, and he needs to be given full authority to use all of the experience and knowledge he has garnered over the last 30 years as a coach of the Penrith Panthers, Canberra Raiders, North Queensland Cowboys, Wests Tigers, New South Wales and Australia.

I can’t see Sheens being too happy if the Doc starts giving him rugby league advice!

A new team to win the Super League grand final
The game in the UK is crying out for a new club to break the stranglehold of the four clubs – Leeds Rhinos, St Helens, Bradford Bulls and Wigan Warriors – that have won the Super League grand final since its inception in 1998.

Obviously the Bulls were relegated in 2014, so that stranglehold is reduced to just three clubs currently in Super League.

Only two clubs in addition to the four winners, Hull FC and Warrington Wolves (twice), have even contested the grand final in 18 years. This must change.

Look at this year’s English Premier League. It is being described as one of the most exciting in years because there is, seemingly, a change of guard, with Chelsea way off the pace, Manchester United and Liverpool not really being seen as title contenders, and the likes of Leicester City and Tottenham challenging for the top four. As well, West Ham United, Stoke City and Crystal Palace sit in sixth, seventh and eighth positions.

In the same time span in Australia 12 clubs have competed in the NRL grand final, with 11 clubs winning at least one premiership (New Zealand Warriors are the only team to have competed in a grand final without winning since 1998), and no club has successfully defended their title since Brisbane Broncos in 1997-98.

Will 2016 see a new club take home the Super League title and, if so, who will it be?

Since Tony Smith took charge, Warrington Wolves have looked the most likely club to break into the winners circle, but they failed at the final hurdle in 2012 and 2013 to Leeds Rhinos and Wigan Warriors respectively.

Huddersfield Giants memorably took out the minor premiership in 2013 and have been in the top four in five of the last seven seasons, but they tend to bottle it in high-profile knock-out games. Had Castleford Tigers won their final league game of the 2014 Super League season they too would have won the minor premiership – that would have been a remarkable achievement, as they had finished 12th the previous season.

I really hope one of these clubs can keep up the pressure on the three perennial winners, although I am struggling to see one of them winning the grand final.

I’ll name Hull FC as a potential dark horse – that pains me, but they have recruited well, especially in the forwards. It depends on which halfback pairing they go with, and whether Lee Radford is a good enough coach to lead his team deep into the play offs.

England to win the Four Nations
With the talent Steve McNamara has available to him, should he still be in charge, England have an outstanding opportunity to win a major title for the first time since the 1972 World Cup.

However, they will have to play a couple of levels higher than they did when winning the Test series against New Zealand back in November.

England defended strongly and showed tremendous togetherness, but struggled to break down a depleted New Zealand side, who were missing a whole host of frontline players.

McNamara still confuses at times with his selections – in particular the non-selection of Michael Shenton and then the selection of John Batemen over Leroy Cudjoe in the centres, plus the use of George Williams at scrumhalf when he had played stand off all year. However, he has the players, and has made the international set-up much more professional. The team is also competitive for a full 80 minutes rather than 60 minutes as in previous years.

There are also a bunch of top-quality players who will be available that were not for the Kiwi Test series – think Sam Tomkins, Sam Burgess, George Burgess and Alex Walmsley. There are also likely to be one or two young players who make a mark in 2016 and force themselves into the squad.

It promises to be a great end to the year, and it will be fitting that Scotland’s Danny Brough will get to play in a major international series – unfortunately, not for England. Now he would make a difference to your side, Mr McNamara!