The YP's James O'Brien looks ahead to the opening weekend of action for Hull FC, Hull KR, Leeds Rhinos, Huddersfield Giants and Castleford Tigers
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00:00 Super League is back and the season starts with a humdinger, to quote Tony Smith.
00:10 The whole derby is always an intense affair, always delivers on the terraces, a great atmosphere.
00:16 The last few derbies I haven't delivered on the field have been quite low quality affairs,
00:23 or one-sided like the last derby at the MKM Stadium last Easter, that Hull-KR 1-14-0.
00:30 I'm not sure there will be a repeat of that tomorrow, in early season conditions it promises to be a tight affair,
00:37 like I say, very intense. There's a lot of new signings on both sides, it's hard to know what to expect really.
00:44 Hull-KR look stronger on paper, you'd expect them to grind out a win,
00:49 but there's a few question marks there as well, they've lost experience in Kenny Dowell,
00:54 Lynette and other players as well, who were on the fringes, they've replaced them with,
01:00 or they've brought in, the likes of Peter Hickou, Tyrone May, players like that,
01:05 who have come into the spine, Jordan Abdel has left.
01:08 So yeah, there's a lot of change there, Hull FC have beefed up the pack,
01:11 Franklin Pelley is a big human being, they've got a couple of others as well,
01:16 they've made changes to the spine themselves, so it's going to be a really intriguing affair,
01:20 and one to really look forward to elsewhere.
01:24 On Friday night you've got Leeds coming up against Salford, some interesting subplots there,
01:29 you've got Brodie Croft and Andy Akkers facing Salford on their Leeds debut,
01:34 you've got Nene Macdonald coming back to Hedderley for the first time since going home towards the end of last season,
01:40 and not coming back, so that's an interesting game.
01:43 Leeds should get off to a good start, they've got the perfect chance there against Salford,
01:48 who as a club have gone through quite a lot in the off-season,
01:51 high-profile departures, a lot going on there, so it's a good chance for Leeds.
01:55 Then you've got Huddersfield going to Lee, it kicks off a tough start for Huddersfield,
01:59 they've got seven of the first nine games away from home, including trips to Wigan and St Helens as well,
02:05 so they just need to hang in there early in the season,
02:08 later on they'll have opportunities at home to put some wins together.
02:13 And then Cass, tough start, understatement, you've got Wigan at home who won the title last year,
02:20 have improved the squad, they look very strong,
02:22 but it's a great chance for Cass in front of the home fans at the start of a new era under Craig Lingard
02:28 to put down a bit of an early marker to show that there are no easy beats this season,
02:33 they've lost ten games at home last season, which is very unlike Cass at Weldon Road,
02:38 so a good chance for them against Wigan to show what they're all about in front of the BBC cameras.
02:43 Elsewhere you've got St Helens playing London, that could be a very tough night for the Broncos,
02:50 and then you've got Sam Burgess in his first game as a head coach for Warrington away at Catalan,
02:57 a very interesting game as well and that should be very hard fought.
03:02 A very exciting weekend ahead.
03:04 .
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