Five key questions for Super League 2022

Sky Sports rugby league expert Jon Wells picks out five talking points to watch out for when the 2022 Betfred Super League season kicks off in February...

My producer asked me recently what I thought were the key questions that needed discussion going into the 2022 Super League season.

For the purposes of this article, it turns out that "when is a party not a party?" didn't qualify and, if it was all the same, would I mind just concentrating on Super League please?

And he was right, because there is more than enough going on in our sport at the moment to get my teeth into, without resorting to the facetious.

So, here are the five discussion points which pique my interest the most ahead of our Round 1 opener on February 10, and I'm not even going to mention the distinct possibility that St Helens will make history by becoming the first team in the modern era to win four successive Grand Finals.

Pearce and the man he replaced, James Maloney, have plenty in common; both vastly experienced halves, both State of Origin regulars over the last decade and both NRL Grand Final winners in 2013, playing alongside one another for Sydney Roosters. I would imagine the latter would have recommended the former as a successor and Pearce arrives in Perpignan ready to pick up where Maloney left off.

But Maloney has left quite a mark on the Dragons over the last two seasons; this is a man who has spearheaded the repositioning of the French club at the top table, and on their way to a maiden Grand Final appearance in 2021 he single-handedly won at least three games for them. Pearce has big shoes to fill.

So, to answer the first question, does Mitchell Pearce deliver the Dragons a Grand Final in 2022? Well, not necessarily. However, that is