Rugby league: Whelan's Wigan to turn riches into revival

One team threatens to be the superpower in Super League this season. Dave Hadfield on the dangers of Central Park domination

THE THIRD summer of Super League, which kicks off tomorrow night at Huddersfield, could turn out to have more in common with the old winter regime than with its two predecessors.

It is not some obscure side-effect of El Nino we are talking about here, but the potentially chilling impact on their rivals of a revitalised Wigan.

Cynics were heard to remark that the biggest difference in the first two seasons of Super League was that Wigan did not dominate the game in this country. That left the way open for first St Helens and then Bradford to seize the initiative; there is a danger that they and the rest will have the door slammed in their faces this year.

On one level, a Wigan revival is good for the game. Indeed, the managing director of Super League and former chairman of Wigan, Maurice Lindsay, sometimes seems to forget which hat he is wearing and makes Henry Ford- style pronouncements to the effect that what is good for Wigan is good for rugby league.

Well, yes, up to a point, Minister. A strong Wigan and a return of huge crowds to Central Park, before it finally closes its gates, would provide the game with a major boost. A Wigan side strong enough to scrap it out with, say, Bradford at the top of the table could make it a gripping season.

The trouble is that, on the evidence of the way they dismantled London in the Challenge Cup semi-final last Sunday, Wigan could just be too good. And the last thing this season needs is another one-horse race.

Wigan, with Dave Whelan's money behind them, once more have the strongest squad in the competition. John Monie, whatever his trials and tribulations in Auckland, is the most effective coach the game here has ever seen and, although they are having a little local difficulty over their salary cap, it is nothing that more cash cannot fix.

The overdue change to a top five play-off and a Grand Final at the end of the season means that one side running away with the home-and-away section of the competition is not the dampener it would have been under the old system. But other clubs must emerge as genuine contenders over the next few weeks if the campaign is not to settle into a pattern of inevitability.

Who can do that? Well, Bradford have as much raw power as ever, although the early signs are that they seem uncertain why they signed Shaun Edwards. If it is not to call the shots, there is little point in having him there.

There is a premature tendency to write off the London Broncos after their one-dimensional performance against Wigan in the Cup, but they will get a lot better as new players bed in. St Helens will have times when they will look the most accomplished team in the land and only a starry-eyed optimist would relish playing the Sheffield Eagles in their current mood of absolute self-confidence.

Before the season has even started, Castleford have shown what can be done with clear-sighted coaching and some flair and organisation behind the scenes, while Leeds' potential to be the biggest club in the game is as much of a truism as ever.

In Graham Murray, they have what should prove to be the right coach, but it almost seems cruel to burden them with too much expectation. There have been too many false dawns for that.

What Super League aspires to is a situation where just about every result is unpredictable, but that requires the weaker sides to lift themselves, week after week. Huddersfield just do not seem to have enough players of Super League calibre, while the turmoil behind the scenes at Hull is the last thing that potentially powerful club needs.

The encouraging aspect is that sides who struggled last season, like Halifax, Warrington and - lest we forget - Castleford, all look to have more ability this time. In theory - and this is backed up by some wonderfully dramatic Cup-ties - there really should be more competitive games.

Those games will be presented with even more razzle by Sky television, although the audiences for the Cup on the BBC are a reminder of the value of terrestrial TV.

Super League is also going around the country in search of a new audience. Like the new finals series, this is an overdue innovation - and one that has happened only because of an embarrassing gap in the season in July - but the prospect of games in Swansea, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Gateshead and Northampton is a welcome one. Television coverage if fine, but there is still no substitute for being there, although some of Wigan's opponents might feel differently by the end of October.