SUPER League is now in full swing, with many of the runners and riders showing their hand as they challenge for the title.
Things are also building up, with the Challenge Cup ready to kick in for every top flight team and Magic Weekend looming large.
But as ever there is plenty going on around the competition, with films being launched, England players meeting and, as ever, discussions about the future of the game.
Unfortunately, there have been one or two serious injuries that have robbed sides of key players.
And what has made its mark on SunSport’s eye in the last seven days as Super League goes on, and on, and on?
Here, we take you through six of the more noteworthy things to have happened in rugby league.
ALL THE BEST, BEN
IT IS hard to not feel sorry for Warrington and England star Ben Currie, who has been ruled out for the rest of the season with a serious knee injury.
To have one problem is bad enough, to have two is amazingly bad luck.
Currie told SunSport that he was using a Theraband, a big elastic band used by athletes, pretty much every day to get over his last knee injury.
Now, though, he has suffered another problem and it is important he takes as long as it needs to get back fully, for club and country.
VAIVAI VOOM
OVER in Hull, where rugby league players are put under a microscope, Hull KR may have unearthed a gem.
Junior Vaivai arrived on these shores with hardly any reputation, other than being a cousin of Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson.
Well, he has already made a huge impact in Super League on the pitch – and expect more from the USA international as he settles into Tim Sheens’ side.
He could become a fan hero, or villain if his encounter with a mouthy 12-year-old is anything to go by!
BACK TO THE BAR
OK, SunSport feared the worst when St Helens star Ben Barba went down at Salford.
When the full-back was stretchered off with his neck in a brace before being taken to hospital, the talk was of how many weeks the star would be missing.
Well, the answer could be none after he was named in Saints’ squad for tomorrow’s match with Catalans Dragons.
And if the guard of honour he was given at their training ground on Monday is anything to go by, no-one is more relieved than coach Justin Holbrook and his players.
GIANT TASK
SO Simon Woolford has been given the task of dragging Huddersfield up from the bottom of Super League.
Good luck in that job but there is much more to fix at the Giants than performances and results on the field.
At least the Australian now knows when his likely first game in charge, the Challenge Cup tie with Wakefield, will be, at all of 10 days notice.
But if anything getting the Giants’ squad, which has talent and names throughout, playing to its best is just the first of Woolford’s tasks.
IAN THE FRAME?
TIPPING a coach whose side has just conceded 60 points at home may seem like madness but should Salford’s Ian Watson be in the frame to replace Wayne Bennett at England?
The Salford coach has had to put up with problems and he is one of the first to admit that money is extremely tight at the Red Devils.
But if he guides them to a top eight finish this year, then that is exceeding may expectations of a relegation struggle. Then there is the development of young players like Niall Evalds, Jake Bibby, Josh Wood and Ryan Lannon.
The likes of Brian McDermott, Shaun Wane, Lee Radford and Daryl Powell will inevitably be talked about as Bennett’s replacement after 2019 but can you discount Watson?
FRENCH PHEW
IT WAS not the greatest drop goal in rugby league history, in fact it will probably go down as one of the scruffiest ever in Super League.
But the importance of Tony Gigot’s crucial one-pointer that gave Catalans Dragons a 25-24 win over Hull FC cannot be downplayed.
Put simply, Dragons boss Steve McNamara needed that or he would have been under severe pressure. So showing they can grind out a success against a side that wants to challenge will be huge for belief.
And after St Helens, they face Whitehaven in the Challenge Cup before Salford at Magic Weekend – at least two wins would raise spirits in the south of France even more.
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