Friday 3 January 2020 14:54, UK
Salford Red Devils and Hull FC are the latest Super League teams to get their pre-season programmes underway this weekend.
The warm-up matches ahead of the 2020 season began on Boxing Day, with Leeds Rhinos overcoming Wakefield Trinity 30-4 and Castleford Tigers losing 20-14 at home to Bradford Bulls.
This Sunday sees Grand Final runners-up Salford host Championship neighbours Swinton Lions, while Hull make the trip to last year's surprise Challenge Cup semi-finalists Halifax.
Here, we look at some talking points ahead of those games and round up some views on what has been happening in pre-season from around Super League…
Josh Jones has wasted little time in making his presence felt at Hull FC following his switch from Salford Red Devils this winter.
Jones was one of the stand-out players during Salford's run to the Super League Grand Final, earning a call-up to the Great Britain squad for their end-of-season tour on the back of his displays in 2019.
Being part of that tour, along with new Hull team-mate Jake Connor, meant a later start to pre-season training for the forward, but Black and Whites head coach Lee Radford is impressed with how quickly Jones has got up to speed.
"Josh has come in late and he's really got stuck in," Radford said. "His communication skills have been excellent, considering that he's only just been introduced to people.
"For the other new boys who have come in, it's just been a case of getting them right and teaching them the Hull FC way to play.
"I still think there is a lot of progression to be made in terms of our communication. I think we've got a really quiet collective at the moment and we are trying to promote small-talk on the field as much as we can because games are around the corner now."
Hull have their first full hit-out of pre-season on Sunday when they travel to Halifax, having already faced another Championship side, York City Knights, in a training match just before Christmas.
Among those who featured in that match was Andre Saveilo, who made just seven appearances for the club in an injury-disrupted 2019 season, and the back row is set to feature against Halifax as well.
Also worth keeping an eye on in Hull's 23-man squad for the trip to The Shay is trialist Eldon Myers, who was invited to train with the club after being spotted playing for the Royal Navy rugby union team.
When Salford lined up to play Swinton in a pre-season encounter this time last year, few could have envisaged how the 2019 Super League season would unfold for Ian Watson and his side.
Fast forward 12 months and the team's first hit-out of this year against one of their historic rivals sees a somewhat changed squad from the one which reached last year's Grand Final against the odds, only to fall to runaway league leaders St Helens.
Man of Steel Jackson Hastings, the aforementioned Jones and forward George Griffin are just some of those who have moved on to pastures new, but head coach Watson and chief executive Ian Blease have been busy with their recruitment as well.
Among the signings set to make their first appearance in Salford shirt against Swinton this weekend is half-back Kevin Brown and fellow newcomer Chris Atkin, who has joined from Hull Kingston Rovers, compared the half-back to a renowned former team-mate.
"Training with Kev's similar to being with Danny McGuire at KR," Atkin, who can operate either in the halves or at hooker, said. "It's those day-to-day standards they set.
"They work hard and having those conversations, whether it's on the field or after sessions, on the little things and how you can improve, is great. Not only for myself, but for the whole squad.
"He spent a bit of time with Connor (Jones), giving his input on what he likes to see from a nine and I can be part of those conversations and understand it from that side as well."
Former Wigan Warriors centre Dan Sarginson and ex-London Broncos trio Rhys Williams, Elliot Kear and Luke Yates are among the other new signings set to be given a run-out against the Lions, who Salford beat 52-6 in last year's encounter.
"We haven't spent that much time together so it was a little hard when you might not know their names. I was calling everyone 'mate' or 'bro', but we all had a dig and we should be proud of the young boys. Some of them are only 16, so it says a lot about what Cas are doing and working on here."
New Castleford signing Tyla Hepi on getting used to his new surroundings and playing alongside some of the Tigers' up-and-coming youngsters in their pre-season clash with Bradford.
"It is an ankle issue. I think there's some kind of break or fracture there. It looks like an indentation in his leg and he wouldn't let the medical people touch his leg. I feel sorry for the lad because up until that point I think he was probably one of our best middles."
Wakefield head coach Chris Chester has more injury woes to contend with after prop George King was taken off on a stretcher in the Boxing Day match at Leeds.
"In Galey's case, I think he's been talking himself into doing 40 or 50 minutes! He could have done the 80 with his eyes shut, really. We took him off in the end to get some other players back on and have a look at a couple of different combinations, but I thought he looked really good."
Leeds head coach Richard Agar was pleased with new signing Luke Gale on his first outing for the Rhinos in the match against Wakefield, having missed the entire 2019 season duty to injury.
