Warrington Wolves v Leeds Rhinos predictions and rugby league tips: Wire can make a winning start

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Sky Sports Arena, 8pm Thursday

Best bet

Warrington -2
2pts 10-11 general

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Warrington Wolves v Leeds Rhinos preview 

There is an ongoing joke among fans of Warrington Wolves' rivals that it is always their year.

But it is now 68 years since the Wire were last crowned champions and the Cheshire club have plenty to prove after a dismal 2022 in which they flirted with relegation and finished with only Toulouse below them.

The off-season has seen a customary influx of high-calibre players pitch up at the Halliwell Jones Stadium but Grand Final odds of 8-1 are their longest for a number of seasons.

That's around a point bigger than the Wolves' opponents on Super League XXVIII's opening night, Leeds, who went from near the foot of the table in April last year to Grand Finalists six months later.

It was a remarkable turnaround for the Rhinos orchestrated by impressive head coach Rohan Smith, the nephew of Tony, who led Leeds to two Super League titles in 2004 and 2007.

Leeds's off-season has been more about consolidating Smith's ideas than reinventing the wheel, although he has named six new signings in his first squad of 2023.

The Rhinos will, however, be without their first-choice centre pairing, Harry Newman and Nene MacDonald, while England prop Mikolaj Oledzki is also sidelined following surgery after the World Cup.

Leeds paired wingers Ash Handley and David Fusitu'a in the centres in a pre-season defeat at Hull KR with youngsters Luis Roberts and Liam Tindall on the edges. That strategy didn't pay off for the Rhinos, who looked suspect defending out wide, and those losses may just give Warrington the leg up they require to start 2023 on the front foot.

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