Squad watch: Super League Round 4 squad news, TV coverage & predictions

Josh McAllister
James Roby St Helens SWpix

Photo: David Neilson/SWpix

Here is everything you need to know ahead of Super League Round Four, including squad news, television coverage and our predictions.

The next round of action gets underway at the DW Stadium, with Wigan’s first home televised match of the season as they host Catalans on Thursday.

Then it’s over to the John Smith’s Stadium with Sky Sports on Friday as Huddersfield take on Castleford, who parted ways with head coach Lee Radford earlier this week.

There are a total of four games on Friday, before Hull take on Salford at 3pm on Saturday at the MKM Stadium.

Super League Round 4 squads:

Wigan v Catalans (Thursday, 8pm, live on Sky Sports)

Siua Taukeiaho, Super League. SW Pix
Picture by Catalans Dragons via SWpix.com

Matt Peet has named an unchanged 21-man squad to the one that defeated Castleford 36-0 at the Mend-A-Hose Jungle. It’s the side’s second home fixture of the season so far.

Meanwhile, injured duo Cesar Rouge and Romain Navarrete drop out of Steve McNamara’s Catalans squad. They are replaced by Loan Castano and Tanguy Zenon. Sam Tomkins continues to miss out. 

Wigan: Field, French, King, Wardle, Marshall, Cust, Smith, Singleton, Powell, Byrne, Isa, Farrell, Smithies, Cooper, Ellis, Havard, Pearce-Paul, Mago, O’Neill, Miski, Nsemba.

Catalans: Mourgue, Davies, Keighran, Laguerre, May, McMeeken, McIlorum, Bousquet, Seguier, Garcia, Goudemand, Chan, Romano, Taukeiaho, Dezaria, Johnstone, Scimone, Ma’u, Tison, Castano, Zenon.

Predictions: Catalans remain unbeaten so far this season, but I’m predicting a Wigan victory at home by 16.

Huddersfield v Castleford (Friday, 8pm, live on Sky Sports)

Harry Rushton, Huddersfield. News Images
Ireland’s Harry Rushton and Toby King tackle Lebanon’s Charbel Tasipale during the RLWC2021. Photo by Craig Thomas/News Images

Winger Jermaine McGillvary drops out of Huddersfield’s squad due to a hamstring issue. Jack Ashworth has been included and could make his first appearance of the season, while Harry Rushton could make his debut.

Andy Last will take charge of Castleford following the departure of Radford earlier this week. He has made just one change to the squad that lost to Wigan, with Niall Evalds dropping out, replaced by Jason Qareqare.

Huddersfield: O’Brien, Golding, McQueen, Hill, Hill, Marsters, Rushton, Livett, Ashworth, Bibby, Greenwood, Jones, Cudjoe, Yates, English, Peats, Mason, Russell, Wilson, Trout, Fages, Lolohea, Pryce.

Castleford: Eden, Fonua, Faraimo, Widdop, Miller, Lawler, McShane, Griffin, Edwards, Mellor, Westerman, Massey, Sutcliffe, Milner, Broadbent, Vete, Mustapha, Smith, Matagi, Qareqare, Watts.

Predictions: This could be a tricky one to predict, but I’ll say Huddersfield by 16.

Leigh v St Helens (Friday, 8pm)

St Helens prepare for World Club Challenge and NRL pre-season challenge
Picture by Tom Maguire/St Helens via SWpix.com

Captain James Roby and prop forward Agnatius Paasi return for St Helens. Paul Wellens will be without Sione Mata’utia, Curtis Sironen, and Konrad Hurrell due to respective suspensions. 

Off-season recruit Wesley Bruines has been named for the first time this season. 

There is just one change to Adrian Lam’s Leigh squad. Ben Reynolds drops out due to suspension, replaced by Tom Nisbet.

Leigh: Hardaker, Briscoe, Chamberlain, Leutele, Charnley, Mellor, Lam, Amone, Ipape, Mulhern, Wardle, Hughes, Asiata, Nakubuwai, O’Brien, Davis, Gannon, Nisbet, O’Donnell, Seumanufagai, Shorrocks.

St Helens: Welsby, Makinson, Percival, Bennison, Lomax, Dodd, Walmsley, Roby, Lees, Knowles, Lussick, LMS, Paasi, Wingfield, Bell, Norman, Davies, Royle, Baxter, Ritson, Bruines.

Predictions: There’s one easy prediction – Derek Beaumont will certainly put on another spectacular show at the Leigh Sports Village with T’Pau performing before the game. On the field, St Helens by 22.

Hull KR v Warrington (Friday, 8pm)

Riley Dean
Picture by John Clifton/SWpix.com

Hull KR skipper Shaun Kenny-Dowall begins his four-match suspension this week. Jordan Abdull and Kane Linnett also miss out through injury, while Ethan Ryan also drops out of Willie Peters’ 21-man squad.

Matty Storton, Jimmy Keinhorst, Louis Senior and Dean Hadley have all been named for the Super League clash.

Riley Dean has been recalled from his season-long loan at Featherstone and has been included in Daryl Powell’s Warrington squad. Matty Nicholson has been named, while Matty Russell also returns.

Adam Holroyd, Leon Hayes and Jack Darbyshire all drop out.

Hull KR: Coote, Opacic, Hall, Sue, Parcell, King, Halton, Minchella, Litten, Kennedy, Batchelor, Storton, Keinhorst, Dagger, Lewis, Milnes, Hadley, Senior, Wood, Johnson, Luckley.

Warrington: Ashton, Bullock, Clark, Currie, Dean, Drinkwater, Dufty, Harrison, Kasiano, Mata’utia, Mikaele, Minikin, Nicholson, Ratchford, Russell, Thewlis, Thomas, Vaughan, Walker, Whitehead, Williams.

Predictions: Both sides have impressed so far in 2023, with Warrington remaining undefeated, while Hull KR fell to their first defeat last week at home to Leigh. Another tricky one, but if the Robins want to prove they’re the real deal this year, this is the kind of game they need to be winning. I’ll go with the hosts by eight.

Leeds v Wakefield (Friday, 8pm)

Harry Newman Leeds Rhinos

Rohan Smith welcomes back Harry Newman, Corey Johnson and James Bentley to his squad. All three could make their first appearances of the season this Friday.

Wakefield will be without star winger Lewis Murphy for the rest of the Super League season due to injury. Reece Lyne returns to Mark Applegarth’s squad alongside Tom Lineham.

Leeds: Myler, Fusitu’a, Newman, Macdonald, Handley, Austin, Sezer, Tetevano, Bentley, Martin, Smith, O’Connor, Lisone, Olpherts, Holroyd, McDonnell, Walters, Roberts, Donaldson, Johnson, Ruan.

Wakefield: Taufua, Hall, Lyne, Lineham, Gaskell, Lino, Battye, Hood, Whitbread, Ashurst, Pitts, Crowther, Kay, Atoni, Kershaw, Proctor, Smith, Langi, Butler, Eseh, Windrow.

Predictions: It’s hard to look past the home side in this one. Leeds by 24.

INJURY: Lewis Murphy may have played his final game for Wakefield

Hull v Salford (Saturday, 3pm, Our League pay-per-view)

Scott Taylor scores for Hull FC, Super League. PA.

Tony Smith has made two changes to his 21-man squad. Ben McNamara and Liam Sutcliffe both drop out through injury. Scott Taylor returns from his suspension, while young forward Will Gardiner has also been named.

Paul Rowley has been forced to name just a 19-man squad for their trip to the MKM Stadium. The club are currently awaiting specialist prognosis on Ollie Partington and Joe Burgess after the injured duo had scans.

Hull: Hoy, Swift, McIntosh, Clifford, Sao, Houghton, Satae, Savelio, Lane, Fash, Lovodua, Cator, Evans, Scott, Brown, Griffin, Litten, Gardiner, Shaul, Taylor, Dwyer.

Salford: Brierley, Sio, Watkins, Lafai, Croft, Sneyd, Ormondroyd, Ackers, Vuniyayawa, Atkin, Addy, Dupree, Wright, Sidlow, Longstaff, Bourouh, Williams, Costello, Cross.

Predictions: It’s a tough ask for Salford, who have been somewhat impressive so far this season despite only having picked up one win. But I’m going with Hull by 14.

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