Allgemeines » fter Phelps turned in some rather lackluster times at the

Warrington, Widnes and Wigan have showed the best form ahead of crunch weekend but which team can gain the most? This is how Super League looks right now as we approach what is a significant Easter weekend.Warrington, Widnes and Wigan have been the best teams so far and the rest of the competition will be hoping that the bonus weekend, offering four points, can kick-start their season and spring them into the next stage with confidence. Widnes are the top try scorers with 42 so far, however, this next week will pose the toughest questions of the year. Widnes Joe Mellor has been a sensation so far this season Its worth mentioning that the team with the fewest tries are the current champions.Leeds have scored just 18 tries in six games and will be hoping that the harder pitches and warmer weather brings them out of hibernation.My prediction of Widnes not finishing in the top four could look a foolish one if the Vikings pick up four points with victories over Warrington and St Helens.Some of their success has been down to the sensational start to the season that Joe Mellor has made. Hes been absolutely brilliant to watch. Brian Carney previews the Easter weekend fixtures in Super League If he is fit, hell go head-to-head in the half-backs with Kurt Gidley and Chris Sandow at 3pm on Easter Monday, Theyve claimed most of the headlines in their recent successes for Warrington.Both have kicked tremendously and its mainly down to them that they lead the way for tries from kicks. A quarter of all Warringtons tries have featured a kick-play. Thats twice as many as other teams in the league. My prediction of Widnes not finishing in the top four could look a foolish one if the Vikings pick up four points with victories over Warrington and St Helens. Phil Clarke Its a new dimension that wasnt there last year and its proving difficult for teams to defend against.The other aspect of Kirk Gidleys game thats making a difference is his goal kicking. He leads the charge with a plus 85 per cent success rate. That is ten per cent higher than the average Super League kicker.As the competition gets closer we might start to see that this makes a significant difference.This is my favourite time of the year. Weve a lot of games on Sky Sports and I cant wait. Jeff Stellings journey to Wembley involves walking ten marathons in ten days Juts as a footnote, I did the Men United walk with Jeff Stelling, Brian Carney, Barrie McDermott and Bill Arthur this week and Ive got absolutely huge respect for Jeff Stelling. We just did one of the ten days that hes doing on his march to Wembley and it was tough enough.I wish him all the best in the remaining days. It was a pleasure to spend time with him. Phil Clarke brings you his top five Super League tries of the week Also See: Rugby League on Sky Fixtures and results Follow @SkySportsRL Pundits Royce Freeman Youth Jersey . After a first half in which he thought "the lid was on the basket," the Toronto Raptors coach watched his squad mount a second half surge to defeat the Cleveland Cavaliers 98-91. Peyton Manning Youth Jersey . Spiller left Week 3s 27-20 loss to the New York Jets with a thigh injury, but fully practiced with the team all week and expects to be ready to go on Sunday. http://www.thebroncosstoreonline.com/Youth-Gary-Zimmerman-Broncos-Jerseys/ . Coach Mike Munchak says Fokou stretched ligaments in his left knee Oct. 13 against Seattle, which could keep out up to five weeks even though the linebacker didnt need surgery. 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RIO DE JANEIRO -- When Michael Phelps arrived in Rio as a 31-year-old swimmer who retired once and endured plenty of turmoil away from the pool, everyone wondered just how many gold medals was a realistic goal.How does six sound?In his first appearance of these Summer Games, Phelps showed he is still capable of the kind of jaw-dropping, did-he-really-just-do-that? performances that already made him the most decorated Olympic athlete of them all.Going second in the 4x100-meter freestyle relay, Phelps produced the fastest split of his career and put the Americans out front for good against a powerhouse field that included defending champion France, Australia and Russia.It was a down-and-back swim that showed Phelps, as usual, is in peak form on the biggest stage and perfectly capable of winning every race he enters at his fifth Olympics.Michael usually works this way: When one thing is good, everything is pretty good, said his longtime coach, Bob Bowman. It doesnt usually work in parts. So I feel pretty good now.He has every reason.Phelps will be back at the pool Monday for the preliminaries of the 200-meter butterfly, a title he is especially eager to reclaim after an ill-timed finish let South Africas Chad le Clos snatch away the gold at the 2012 London Games.Phelps will also compete in the 100 fly and 200 individual medley, as well as two more relays.His confidence is soaring after he turned in a time of 47.12 seconds in the relay, which was faster than all but three other swimmers in the field -- all of them anchors on the medal-winning teams and specialists in the 100 free.In fact, it was faster than any of his relay splits at the last three Olympics. Yep, even faster than the one he produced at the height of his career in 2008, when he broke Mark Spitzs longstanding record with eight gold medals in the Great Haul of China.I hope thats a good sign, Phelps said. I guess well see over the next couple of days. But Im very pleased with the start.France had high hopes for defending the title it won four years ago in London, only to be doomed by another Phelps masterpiece.As fast as my teammates were, the extraterrestrial that is Phelps was faster, said Fabien Gilot, who had the unfortunate task of swimming the second leg for the now-silver medalists.Gilots time was more than a second slower than Phelps, which was essentially the deciding factor in the race. The French were faster on the first and third legs, and anchor Jeremy Stravvius was only 0.dddddddddddd14 slower than the last American swimmer, Nathan Adrian.The Australians, with plenty of big names of their own, settled for the bronze. They didnt mind being on a lower rung of the podium, considering who was on top.Its always great to see a fairytale like that unfold in a race youre a part of, James Magnussen said.Phelps showing was reminiscent of the dominance he showed last summer in San Antonio, where he competed in a low-level meet because he was banned from the world championships as part of his punishment for a second drunken-driving arrest. Thoroughly motivated, Phelps put up times that were faster than the ones winning at worlds.The DUI proved to be a turning point in Phelps life, prompting him to under six weeks of inpatient therapy, give up drinking, reconnect with his estranged father, and find a new purpose in his life away from the pool.He wound up getting engaged and becoming a father for the first time. His infant son, Boomer, was in the stands Sunday night, nuzzled in the arms of mother Nicole Johnson, the roaring crowd kept at bay by noise-canceling headphones.Still, this was all a bit of a surprise after Phelps turned in some rather lackluster times at the U.S. Olympic trials just a month before the Rio Games.About a week ago, during a final training camp in Atlanta, Phelps did a 100 free time trial. At that point, according to Bowman, his spot on the 4x100 free relay was very much in doubt.He was very much into it, Bowman said. He wanted to do it. I felt like we had to give him that chance. He hadnt really done a good 100 free in the season. I felt like after we got out of San Antonio, I knew he was so much better. So he needed to do that.As usual, Phelps came through.It was the fourth-fastest flat-start time of the year, Bowman said. That kind of automatically put him in the game.Now, its clear that Phelps has peaked at just the right time, eager to close his career on top after initially retiring four years ago coming off the London Olympics.Hes in a good place now, Bowman said. Everything Ive asked him to do, hes been really good at, way better than before trials.Suddenly, six gold medals seem very much in reach.---Follow Paul Newberry on Twitter at www.twitter.com/pnewberry1963 . His work can be found at http://bigstory.ap.org/content/paul-newberry . ' ' '