Friday 29 May 2015 23:41, UK
The boys are back and ready to tear into each other once more as they go head-to-head with their Super League predictions.
On the pitch, Barrie McDermott and Terry O'Connor liked nothing better than tearing into the opposition.
They may have hung up their boots but that competitive streak still runs strong and we have found a way to channel their energies.
Each week they will give their predictions for the Super League games; they will score one point for a win and if they both pick the winner, then the pundit with the closest score gets an extra point.
Last year, McDermott pipped O'Connor to the title, and although Terry demanded a recount, he finally conceded that Barrie was the rightful winner.
Let battle commence!
Current standings
BARRIE - 69
TERRY - 74
Salford v Widnes: 2pm, Saturday, Sky Sports 1
Barrie: The first game of the weekend is a litmus test. Salford’s credibility is such this year that you could turn up and get a really cracker-jack of a game.
Salford put in a creditable performance against Warrington last weekend, in front of a very passionate crowd - well done to the Salford fans for their numbers. The games that they’ve played, if you discount Huddersfield and the 19-0 defeat, they’ve had a couple of close losses against Hull, Cas and Leigh in the cup so Salford aren’t that far away from a victory.
Widnes are a team that can beat most sides on their day as they showed when they beat Leeds and Warrington and drew with Wigan this year. So both teams have the potential to knock the other one off. What I’m looking forward to is watching these teams on the big stage; it’s an inspiring platform that they’ll be playing on in Newcastle.
The key players for both teams are in the halves. I’ve got a lot of time for Theo Fages, I think he’s done a sterling job while Rangi Chase and Michael Dobson have been away and he’s going up against one of the grand masters in Kevin Brown. He’s crucial, anything that Widnes do, any great performance that Widnes put in has Kevin Brown right at the middle of it. I’m looking forward to seeing those two players on this platform and seeing who comes up with the goods.
My head tells me Widnes will get the win in this one but I just have a sneaky feeling Salford will get this one.
Prediction: I’m going to go for Salford to win by six points.
Terry: I took a gamble last week and backed Salford to beat Warrington and they stuck in there and they played very well but they just didn’t have the class at the end to beat a very determined Warrington side.
If you look at Widnes’ victory away from home, they were up against a side that had sacked their coach and they had players who were really focused to do a job because they’d let their old coach down. Widnes had lost Kevin Brown and yet they still went there and won, probably on their first-half performance.
Widnes won this fixture last year at the Etihad and it all came about from a physical shot from MacGraff Leuluai on Lama Tasi to knock the ball out before Rhys Hanbury went the full length. Widnes love playing on the big stage and I expect them to come up with another big performance to back up last week’s.
Prediction: I’m going to go with Widnes, with an inspirational display from Kevin Brown, to win by 10.
Hull FC v Hull KR: 4.30pm, Saturday, Sky Sports 1
Barrie: This is a great fixture wherever it’s played and it will be the seventh time these two have met at Magic. Who can forget Chris Green’s onside/offside try and David Hodgson’s last-minute, length-of-the-field effort? It’s one that is always full of passion and drama.
Hull KR’s threat is again in the half-backs and the backline. They have pace and strikes all over the pitch. Hull FC have struggled a little bit, in all honesty, but they have the personnel to give anybody a good game.
Lee Radford will be asking for effort and commitment, in the Hull derby played over Easter Hull KR beat Hull FC pretty heavily, 20-6, so even though Hull FC will have a good go at this I think it’s Hull KR all day and all night.
Prediction: The Robins to take this one by 10 points.
Terry: Another one I went for a gamble on last week, Hull FC to beat Saints - they’d really turned a corner going into the game. They’d won four out of five Super League games. Lee Radford, under pressure early on, really turned the corner, the players stepped up to the mark.
Hull KR have had their critics but they had a fabulous win over Wigan in the Challenge Cup and then last week they came unstuck against Leeds Rhinos, I think it was the second half performance against Leeds where they seemed to fall apart.
Another exciting derby game, this is why I love this Magic Weekend - the local, intense rivalries that we’ll see.
Prediction: I’m going to go for a shock here, Chris Chester’s Hull KR to win by six points.
Leeds v Wigan: 6.45pm, Saturday, Sky Sports 1
Barrie: This is a marquee game in anybody’s book. They’ve been fantastic contests whenever we’ve had them - league games or play-off semi-finals, it doesn't matter. They’ve often been at the end of the day, to bring the curtain down and just when you think you can't take anymore drama, these two deliver another classic.
Last year’s game was a very passionate game with a highly aggressive Wigan team pushing Leeds to the absolute limit. There is some terrific quality involved in this fixture and if you have friends who have never watched Super League, this is the game to take them too.
Looking at the form of both sides, Wigan are coming off the back of two bad defeats. The first one in the cup to Hull KR, they were well beaten by the Robins, and the other was last weekend. Of course, it’s never nice to lose but it was the manner of the defeat to Catalans that will cause concern to Shaun Wane.
Catalans are a good side at home but the Warriors were well beaten in Perpignan and they were out-enthused. Wigan are a very good defensive side so after shipping 58 points, Shaun Wane will be focusing on that and getting back to their very high standards. He has spoken about his team getting back to basics and doing what they do well, I’m sure that is what they’ll focus on.
Leeds, however, have had two victories going into this one. Hull KR was a bit of a sluggish affair but the week before against Huddersfield was as well as they’ve played all year. So the balance of confidence is in favour of the Rhinos going into this one. The battle could be won and lost in the kicking game, the control and game management of Kevin Sinfield against Matty Smith.
Whoever controls the kicking game controls the territory, pressure and ultimately points. The best game manager of the Super League era is Kevin Sinfield so I think he’ll take the Rhinos home by a narrow margin.
Prediction: Four-point victory for the Rhinos.
Terry: I remember this fixture last year and Jamie Peacock and Micky McIlorum clashed on two occasions in a minute and it was absolutely brilliant - that physical challenge and presence of these two sides. You’ve got McIlorum, who won’t back down to King Kong, and Jamie Peacock, who is just that tough character that you need within your side when you play on the big stage.
I don’t know what to expect from Wigan this weekend. They were soundly beaten by Catalans last week and the week before that they were beaten by Hull KR. I’m sure the players will all want to put it right but I’m just not sure they can put it right.
To concede 50-odd points to Catalans in the south of France and being beaten by Hull KR the week before, I’m not sure that they can bounce back and beat a Leeds Rhinos team that has Kevin Sinfield back and has the likes of JP who loves these big games.
Prediction: Leeds Rhinos to win by 12.
Catalan Dragons v Huddersfield: 12.30pm, Sunday, Sky Sports 1
Barrie: It is the first time these teams go head-to-head at the Magic Weekend, Huddersfield are playing their seventh team in nine years so they’ll be well used to different opponents. Catalans used to play London so they’ll be looking forward to playing a team who have a good following with a good atmosphere.
The Sunday afternoon game is always a bit of a slow burner after everybody has had a good night on the Saturday in whichever city is hosting, so this is a great game to get the second day started. Catalans, for me, were the team of the round last weekend. To put 58 points on a team that were determined to bounce back was outstanding and they did it off the back of a tremendous personal performance from Zeb Taia.
Me, Terry and Bill Arthur watch all the home games of Catalans Dragons and every game has Zeb Taia right at the front of it. It makes you ask the question: if Zeb Taia was playing for one of the big teams would he be right at the front of everyone’s minds for Man of Steel? For me, he is in the top two or three players consistently for Catalans every week and so that puts him right at the front for Man of Steel in my mind.
Huddersfield also have an outstanding weapon in their back three in Brett Ferres, who I thought was outstanding against Castleford last weekend. It was a tough West Yorkshire derby and they had to fight hard to get away with a victory.
Prediction: Catalans' form going into this is extremely good so I’m going for them to get a rare win away from home, by eight points.
Terry: Trying to pick a standout player from all the teams is quite difficult, there are a few of them that you can throw in, the likes of Adam Cuthbertson for Leeds Rhinos and Alex Walmsley for St Helens but probably the stand out player for me this year has been Zeb Taia for Catalan - he has been absolutely immense.
I’d love to know what the players' thoughts were or what the votes would be on the Man of Steel because he must be up there. He’s quality, he leads by example all the time and Catalans came up with their best performance of the year last weekend.
They love playing against Wigan but they took the game to them, they were more skilful, they ran harder, they tackled harder and this will be a decent game for them. Their home form has been excellent but their away form has not been the best, shall we say. People said Huddersfield were helped out by the video referee when they played Castleford last week but they are another team that seem to be playing really well this year.
Paul Anderson has done a fabulous job with the players, he’s done a fabulous job with some of the players who have come into the side - Craig Huby looks like he’s played there for years.
Prediction: Catalans to keep up their tremendous form and win this by 14.
St Helens v Warrington: 3pm, Sunday, Sky Sports 1
Barrie: The champions will be determined to put in a good performance, no one has a better team than the Wolves at Magic Weekends, though. They’ve won six of eight matches, including the last three. This should be a quality match.
Saints have had lots of injuries and lots of adversity but despite that they have only lost once in their last five and even though they would admit that they’re not playing particularly well, they’re still managing to get what they need, which is the two Super League points. They’ll feel that if you’re not playing well but still picking up points that is a good place to be in.
Warrington have also won four of their last five and they are getting closer to having a full bill of health, even though they still have some absentees. One of the top performers from last weekend, Gene Ormsby, scored a spectacular hat-trick against Salford including that sensational finish in the left-hand corner, so when players like Matty Russell and Joel Monaghan come back into the side Tony Smith will have a headache, he’ll have a couple of really big decisions to make. So it’s all good stuff if you’re a Warrington fan.
The wingers of Warrington are the biggest threat, just as the wingers of St Helens are the biggest threat. Tommy Makinson has scored 10 tries in the last eight games and Adam Swift has eight in the last four but it is the absence of Luke Walsh that will be the biggest concern. The dream partnership of Travis Burns and Walsh hasn’t been allowed to flourish because of injuries to both players.
Predictions: I’m going to go for Warrington to win by seven points.
Terry: I was on the side-line when Warrington played Salford last week. Warrington were down to one fit sub on the bench and Chris Hill had come off the park and there was not a chance he was going back on. The doctors said no, the physio said no but they lost another player and he put his hand up to go on. They strapped his ankle up and he went on.
I just think there is something good at Warrington at the minute. They have been criticised because people tipped them to get to the Grand Final and they have underperformed this year, but last week against Salford it wasn’t about the tries or the skills they were playing with, it was about the sheer determination. I thought they were unbelievable.
Fixtures like this are why Magic Weekend is called Magic Weekend, because you’ve got the best playing the best and Saints can turn it on whenever they want. They’ve got a young side, a skilful side, a couple of old heads. They had Jon Wilkin and Luke Walsh missing last week but it didn’t seem to affect the rhythm of the way they played.
Prediction: Because of the battle Warrington had last week and they may have some players missing I’m going to go with Saints to win this by eight.
Castleford v Wakefield: 5.15pm, Sunday, Sky Sports 1
Barrie: A West Yorkshire derby between two teams with little affection for one another. Both teams will hold nothing back. The two points that are on offer are vital for both teams. Castleford are just narrowly missing out and even though they are competing, Daryl Powell will be desperate for the two points and Wakefield, who are without a permanent coach, are under the leadership of Stuart Dickens.
He is a relatively new coach having only finished his playing career a couple of years ago with Featherstone. Cas last weekend were in that hard-to-take and intense defeat to Huddersfield and Wakefield lost to Widnes after losing to Leigh the previous week, which is what ultimately cost James Webster his job.
When coaches get the sack there is always a response and I think that last weekend’s 12-point defeat to Widnes was it for Wakefield. As much as a loss can be a reaction, they played really well and they pushed Widnes all the way but I don’t think they’ve got enough to match Castleford.
Everything points to a Castleford victory and I think this is going to be a spicy, intense game. Traditionally, the last game has always been one of the highlights of the weekend and I think this will be the same. I think Cas are going to put on a really good performance and show that they are capable of getting in the top eight, but I don’t think Wakefield will lie down and take that, they’ll fight all the way.
Prediction: Castleford to win, by the biggest margin of the weekend, by 22.
Terry: The last derby to finish the weekend. Let’s hope that Cas and Wakefield can serve us up something. Castleford were upset they didn’t pick any points against Huddersfield last week.
One of the stand out players who has taken the plaudits for Cas this season is Luke Gale, he’s another who must be up there for the top award come the end of the year. Wakefield were absolutely heroic in the way that they came back and bounced back against Widnes. They’re a team who have got no confidence, no wins apart from the first two of the year, going there to play their nearest and dearest.
If there is any game that will mean something to the Wakefield side it is this one against Castleford. But I just think that Castleford will get this, they’re a steady side, they’ve got players in form coming off the back of a loss against Huddersfield by they will fancy their chances against a team that hasn’t won since round two.
Prediction: Cas to win this by 18.
