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Fiddes' Cent

Sky Bet's Jordan Fiddes previews round four of Super League and the World Club Challenge.

Sky Bet's Jordan Fiddes previews the World Club Challenge and round four of Super League

Leeds Rhinos welcome Melbourne Storm to Headingley Carnegie on Friday night knowing that a win will see them break the record for wins in a World Club final. Before a pass has even been made, they have broken the record for the amount of appearances in such a fixture, yet this Friday could be their toughest yet. They have played Melbourne twice before, with both teams winning one apiece, however this year they have a couple of key men missing. The most notable absentee is Zak Hardaker at full-back with a broken thumb - he has been replaced in the squad by Joe Vickery. Vickery is an unknown quantity in Super League, having being forced from the field 18 minutes into his debut with an ankle injury. He has not featured since, so his inclusion is a huge gamble for the reigning Super League Champions. Vickery is 12/1 to open the scoring and 6/1 to score the first Rhinos try. This isn't too bad considering the Australian crossed the whitewash on both of his outings in pre-season, yet I am looking for a bit of value in an anytime scorer for this fixture. Carl Ablett is 3/1 to score anytime in the game and he is likely to feature in the back-line rather than his usual position in the pack. Ablett scored in last year's game against Manly and has also crossed in a Challenge Cup Final and a Grand Final recently so he knows how to raise his games for the big occasions. In the regular rounds last year he scored nine tries, which was nearly a try every other game. These stats are made even more impressive considering he didn't play the whole season in the backs. That's my tip for the weekend's curtain raiser but in Super League, I've got a couple of extra bets to add to Ablett's try.

Back in Super League

Warrington travel to the KC Stadium on Saturday evening knowing that they have not lost there in their last five visits. They have a handicap of -4 points but I think their early season form and previous visits to this ground should overcome that at 10/11. The Wolves drew there in round one last year but the form of the two teams at the end of the season couldn't have been any more contrasting, especially as Warrington knocked Hull out of the play-offs at the end of the campaign. Hull's last home win against Wire was a 46-14 win on 12th August 2007 and I don't expect them to beat that record on Saturday. In Sunday's televised game Hull travel to Salford to take on the City Reds. Salford have now lost their last ten Super League fixtures dating back to July 8 last year. However, that win was over none other than the Robins of Hull KR. The Reds have announced the capture of Leeds' Daryll Griffin this week and he will be a huge boost to an otherwise light pack. Unfortunately, I don't see this one loan signing being enough for them to beat the +16 handicap. Hull KR had a very impressive win over Widnes last weekend, with the 18 points for the Vikings flattering them somewhat. Salford on the other hand, have conceded 124 points in three games and scored just 20. I don't expect them to notch up many points again this weekend with their scrum-half Theo Fages still on the sidelines and confidence very low. So the final addition to the weekend's accumulator is Hull KR -16 again at 10/11.

View from the Sky Bet trading room

"We have already seen a lot of money coming in for the Storm as they look to take the World Club Challenge trophy back to Australia. They are currently -4 but could easily be higher come 8pm on Friday night. The usual suspects are favourites in the try-scorer markets; Billy Slater, Cooper Cronk and Ryan Hall but there has also been a lot of interest in Kevin Sinfield to score a try. We've even added a special bet for Sinfield to score a try, get Man of the Match and lift the trophy at 9/1 in our 'What If..' market."

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