Super League Betting 2015: Five bets you must have ahead of the 'New Era'

Raj Bains
04 February 2015

Will Jamie Peacock be named Man of Steel again?

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Raj Bains joins the BB team with a new column for the new Super League season and he kicks off with five bets to whet your appetite ahead of tonight's curtain-raiser

"Strong forwards, smart backs, determined coaching and stability are in their favour, and you'd be hard pressed to find a better Regular Season Winner bet."

Wigan Warriors @ 4.67/2

For the past few months the Super League has been drumming up their promotional work ahead of the new season - or 'New Era' as they've started to call it - and the Widnes v Wigan curtain raiser is almost upon us. Behind the scenes, the sport has been awfully busy; the league format has changed again, the World Club Challenge has expanded from one game to three, and rugby league has rarely looked this primed for a fantastic season ever before.

1 - Regular Season Winner: Wigan Warriors @ 4.67/2
We're not yet in a position to start calling Grand Final winners at this stage, but Wigan look more than ready to take home the League Leaders' Shield despite a disappointing end to the 2014 season. You won't need reminding of their 12-man heroics in the narrow Grand Final loss to bitter rivals St Helens too much, nor the media furore that followed prop Ben Flower afterwards, but there's more than one in Cherry and White looking to make up for that this time around. Strong forwards, smart backs, determined coaching and stability are in their favour, and you'd be hard pressed to find a better option.

2 - Man Of Steel: Jamie Peacock @ 21.020/1
You don't find many 37-year-old prop forwards still plying their trade in the Super League, but Jamie Peacock has always strived to make himself an exception. A legend of the game at both club and international level, his services to rugby league have been recognised by the Queen with an MBE, and he doesn't look like one to slip in to retirement quietly. A favourite last season, if Peacock performs at the levels we've become used to again in his testimonial year at Leeds, he could become only the fourth multiple award recipient in its history.

3 - Top Regular Season Tryscorer: Thomas Makinson @ 13.012/1
There's a whole host of wingers out there who would be more than deserving of a bet, but ever so slightly down the pecking order at 12/1 is Tommy Makinson, who seems the most temptingly priced of the lot. He's a winger with everything: pace, skill, athleticism, strength and determination. He has a knack of scoring the acrobatic and improbable, and will be a focal point of the Saints' goal line attack this season. The current St Helens squad is often described lacking an outstanding young star talent - Makinson could put that right this season.

4 - Top Four Finish: Salford Red Devils @ 3.02/1
Rugby League has lasted quite some time without having a real outspoken character at the head of a club, but in Marwan Koukash at Salford, we needn't look any further. He bought the then named City Reds in 2013, and set about remodelling the club from top to bottom. The name changed, the coaches changed, the players changed and Super League began to feel the force of his reported $3 billion wealth. Star studded and incentivised, they're the closest thing the sport has to Manchester City or Chelsea, so if they click, they'll be a force to be reckoned with.

5 - To Finish Bottom: Wakefield Trinity Wildcats @ 2.255/4
Much like their West Yorkshire neighbours Bradford Bulls, the Wildcats have been flirting with relegation and financial ruin over the past few seasons, and this could be the year where it all catches up with them. Having failed to strengthen as effectively as their direct rivals, namely Widnes and Hull, it'll take an exceptional effort from their no doubt experienced squad to keep them above the foot of the Super League ladder this time around. Stranger things have happened, and it'll be a shame to see them go, but this could just be one season too many.