Category: Super League Rugby

As Salford and the RFL battle to see who can look the most shambolic, we answer the questions you might be asking

By No Helmets Required

Fiasco, farce, omnishambles, call it what you like – even Malcolm Tucker would struggle to put a gloss on events at Salford Red Devils and the RFL in the last few months. With their new owners repeatedly failing to lodge the funds that would guarantee the club can get through the season, Salford remain in special measures, administered by a governing body that has seen the majority of its board resign, other senior staff leave under black clouds and a former deposed leader return in a remarkable coup. As Salford and the RFL battle to see who can look the most shambolic, we answer the questions you might be asking.

How can Salford finish fourth last season and lose their first four games this time? Winning the battle of the pointless against Huddersfield on Thursday night was a rare moment of joy for Salford since bowing out of the Super League playoffs six months ago. On paper, Paul Rowley’s side should challenge for silverware. Instead, they have played like relegation fodder, their star players totally undermined by not being paid and their employers in disarray.

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‘Doing it for the town’: Super League’s all-conquering machine have a unique way of involving their community

It is Tuesday morning and there are just 48 hours to go until Wigan begin their Super League title defence against Leigh, not that you would know that when you walk into their Robin Park training complex.

To suggest the mood is relaxed would be an understatement. Some players are taking part in a cricket match on the indoor athletics track, while others are chatting to members of the public and upstairs, their head coach, Matt Peet, is relaxing with a coffee. “If someone said describe a high-performance environment, I don’t think this would be the first place you’d think of,” their former captain and assistant coach, Sean O’Loughlin, smiles.

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Wigan have no weakness, Hull face a rebuild and newcomers Wakefield will quietly fancy their chances

Super League’s 30th season gets under way on Thursday evening, with the biggest opening-night crowd in the competition’s history anticipated to watch the reigning champions, Wigan Warriors, take on their local rivals, Leigh Leopards. Matt Peet’s side completed an historic quadruple last year and have all the hallmarks of a side that could sweep aside all comers again.

Will Wigan dominate 2025 just like they did in 2024? Can the likes of Warrington, Hull KR and Leeds put up a credible challenge? And who is in a struggle to avoid finishing bottom? Here is the Guardian’s team-by-team guide to the new season.

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A showcase in Nevada and a new season imminent, but only the clubs with rich benefactors are likely to thrive in 2025

The new Super League season begins next week with a growing level of excitement around rugby league’s premier competition. Wigan Warriors face Leigh Leopards in a mouthwatering derby as they look to emulate last year’s quadruple, before the sport heads to Las Vegas next month for an historic fixture between Wigan and Warrington.

Crowds are up, interest is growing and the sport has every reason to be optimistic. But skim beneath the surface and these are fascinating times on a financial level, prompting plenty of intrigue about how things look at boardroom level.

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• Grading system means nine clubs are safe from relegation
• Expansion talks may start ‘sooner than expected’

Super League expanding to 14 teams as early as 2026 appears to be ­looming after the publication of IMG’s ­gradings on Wednesday led to Wakefield being readmitted into the competition for 2025 in place of London Broncos, who have been demoted to the Championship.

Rugby league clubs agreed last year to replace conventional promotion and relegation with a gradings system that measured clubs in a ­variety of on- and off-field metrics. The 12 clubs with the highest ranking would be admitted to Super League, with the gradings reviewed every year.

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This all-conquering team have cemented a place in the game’s folklore, but there will be no resting on their clean sweep this season

If there is one man who knows a thing or two about building a sporting dynasty, it is Sir Alex Ferguson. To that end, had we known the legendary Manchester United manager was the one to deliver Wigan Warriors’ motivational speech on the eve of the Super League Grand Final, the result would have felt like a formality before a ball had been kicked.

After all, it is not like this most outstanding of rugby league sides needs any additional help. Matt Peet’s team completed a historic quadruple with victory against Hull KR at Old Trafford on Saturday night. The first clean sweep of the Super League era and only the second in nearly a century.

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A touch of French class secured an historic Wigan win at Old Trafford

Harry Smith whomps the ball deep into Hull KR territory and we’re away!

The teams are strutting onto the field serenaded by The Lathums, an indie outfit from Wigan.

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Wigan’s last trophy was 22 days ago, Hull KR’s, over 14,000 days. Yet the Robins may still be the ones to beat the Warriors

Masters versus apprentices. History breakers versus history makers. The club that reign supreme over rugby league against the team aiming for the ultimate coup d’etat. However you dress it up, Saturday evening’s Super League Grand Final has all the ­makings of a classic and more subplots than you could ever imagine.

In the red corner, there is Wigan Warriors. Defending champions and so much more. They currently hold all four major trophies available to win: the World Club Challenge, the Challenge Cup, the League Leader’s Shield and the one they are aiming to defend on Saturday, the Super League title.

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Veteran of six Grand Final wins with Leeds seeks a fairytale finale as his current club chase a first trophy since 1985

There have been few stories in recent years quite like the rise of Hull KR from the doldrums of Super League to the sport’s biggest domestic game in only four seasons. And there are few players as eloquent, experienced and in such an ideal position to tell it quite like Ryan Hall.

Hall is not your average rugby league player. He is a qualified accountant, having completed a degree while playing at the highest level. He can solve a Rubik’s Cube in under a minute and is capable of playing several musical instruments. Plus, there is the fact that Hall has played an integral role in one of the most incredible transformations any club have seen for some time.

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Willie Peters’ side have earned their place at Old Trafford by staying true to themselves and serving the local community

To date, it’s still not entirely clear why Coldplay are coming to Craven Park. There was a certain bemusement last month when one of the world’s biggest and most unashamedly commercial bands announced that they were complementing their London residency next summer with two nights at the modest 20,000-capacity Sewell Group Craven Park, home of Hull Kingston Rovers. These, along with six nights at Wembley, are the only European shows Coldplay will play next summer. Even the city council described the news as “absolutely bonkers”.

Why Hull? Well for one thing, this is a city with a rich musical heritage in its own right, from the Housemartins to Everything But The Girl to Mick Ronson. And according to Neil Hudgell in a recent interview with The Times, the message came through that Coldplay wanted to play somewhere “northern and gritty”: authentic, out of the way, a little bit quirky. Hudgell is the owner of Rovers, and the man responsible for securing what we now have to describe as the second-hottest ticket in town.

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• Eliminator playoff: Warrington 23-22 St Helens
• George Williams’ kick sets up Hull KR semi-final

The Super League playoffs may only be 48 hours old but if this is what the remainder of the road to Old Trafford looks like, we are in for some treat: not that it will be any consolation to supporters of St Helens after this most remarkable of sudden-death ties.

For weeks, the Saints have been so brittle that many felt when they ended the year sixth – their lowest league finish since 1994 – this would be somewhat of a formality for a Warrington side who have caught the eye so much in Sam Burgess’s first season as a head coach. But anyone with even a brief history of Super League should not know you can never write the Saints off.

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Warriors have hit form at an ominous time but Hull KR, Warrington and Salford have grounds for optimism

The Super League playoffs begin on Friday but there is a very different feel this time around. Four of the six sides vying to reach Old Trafford on 12 October have yet to win a Grand Final – though to do so they will have to get past the reigning champions and undoubted favourites, Wigan Warriors.

Wigan Warriors (1st)

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Warriors are two wins away from becoming first side to win a major quadruple but unpredictable season could continue

After 27 engrossing rounds, it all came down to Frantic Friday: the night Super League’s playoff picture would be thrillingly resolved. That was how it played out too, with the lineup set after Leigh’s dramatic victory over St Helens.

But to water it all down into one night would be doing a disservice to a season full of twists and turns. For months, the suspicion was many of the big narratives would go to the wire. Now, the top six are fixed and the business end of the season begins with plenty to ponder.

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