Super League betting tips: Ian Millward's verdict

Recommended bets: Super League

1pt Catalans (+8), Castleford (+6) & Leeds (-10) win treble at 7.4/1 (William Hill) – Catalans may even win; other two should out-class their opponents

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Hull v Catalans (+10) – Thursday, 2000 GMT, Sky Sports 2

I’m more confident with Catalans here, despite them having lost all three games with Hull last season.

This week, with Albert Kelly out suspended, Hull are bringing in a new half-back and in the first game they lacked fluency in attack. They did gain a gritty win but will need to improve their attack to beat Catalans.

I thought the Dragons were really good first up and Louis Anderson returns. He adds real stability to the forward pack as he’s such an aggressive player, very similar to Greg Bird who was inspirational in their opening win.

In the halves, Luke Walsh and Richie Myler were really good in that victory over Warrington and I don’t think Hull were anywhere near as fluent. I wouldn’t be surprised if Catalans won this game and so they look a good bet with the start.

Wigan v Widnes (+18) – Friday, 2000 GMT

*PREVIEW WRITTEN BEFORE MATCH WAS SWITCHED TO WIDNES VENUE*

The problem with Widnes is they’ve lost Joe Mellor and now Tom Gilmore will miss this game (and more), all that on top of them still getting used to life without Kevin Brown.

Perhaps surprisingly, Widnes won both games between the two last year but both were low-scoring games.

Defence is a massive plus for Wigan – they showed that they are the best defensive team in the UK in last week’s World Club Challenge, and it’s an area they were very good in last year too. They are at home after last week’s massive win and it should be buzzing.

If you talk about the inadequacies at seven and six for Widnes, you can then look at (Sean) O'Loughlin, (Thomas) Leuluai and (George) Williams for Wigan. They should be too fluent for Widnes and cause a lot of problems with their attack.

I expect a better performance from Widnes but Wigan are a bigger and better team with more structure and I think they’ve got a good chance to cover even this big handicap.

Huddersfield v Wakefield (+8) – Friday, 2000 GMT

Wakefield won all three between these two last season and they didn’t play last week so will be coming in very fresh. Craig Huby and Scott Grix return to Huddersfield to face their old team.

The Giants’ right edge defence is very poor at the moment and whenever Salford needed to make metres or go for a try last week they were able to go through that right edge.

Huddersfield couldn’t finish off Salford last week – many times they had them on the rack but lacked that killer punch and that’s where they are as a team currently.

I’m going to go for Huddersfield here as I feel Wakefield will lack points. Huddersfield should be better and if they can find that knockout punch they can win and cover.

Leeds v Salford (+10) – Friday, 2000 GMT

Salford will be trying to two win games in a row in Yorkshire and over the years they haven’t had a very good record going across the Pennines.

They’ve scored 23 points per game so far in attack and conceded 23 on average too.

Leeds’ strong point in their first two games has been their defence which is averaging only 10 points against. They’ve not been fluent in attack but what’s been really good is the return of Danny McGuire and his linking with Rob Burrow and Liam Sutcliffe. Those three led them to victory over Leigh.

I think the Leeds defence will restrict Salford, who will lack points and on the back of that Leeds can win and cover in this one.

Leigh (+12) v St Helens – Friday, 2000 GMT

St Helens’ big issue is their attack is lacking Matty Smith, who is out for a period of time and they’ll miss an organising half-back until he returns. They won their first game against Leeds but only scored one try.

Leigh have had two losses but started extremely well at home last week and should have beaten Leeds.

Leigh look capable of scoring points but Saints’ defence is strong. I think the defence will win the day and there won’t be a lot of points scored.

It’s Leigh to cover but St Helens to win the game for me. They can nudge home but I like Leigh with a start of 12.

Warrington v Castleford (+4) – Friday, 2000 GMT, Sky Sports 2

Warrington won two of the three meetings last season but I was really impressed with Cas in their first game. Luke Gale was very good at half-back and they achieved 44 points which was quite outstanding in not-great conditions.

Warrington’s problem is they’ve conceded 38 points so far – 20 against Catalans and 18 against the Broncos last week.

Cas have got some really attacking outside-backs and I feel they’ve a massive chance to beat Warrington. If there are any side effects from last week’s World Club Series win over Brisbane, Cas will be too good.

I like Cas with the start. They’ve had a fortnight to prepare for the game and can continue their good start to the season.

Posted at 1500 GMT on 23/02/17.