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We should be seeing one of the games of the Super League season on Thursday night. Wigan will host Hull KR in a repeat of the 2024 and 2025 Grand Finals and a repeat of the 2026 Challenge Cup Final. These two sides have faced each other in six knockout matches since 2023 and have developed a burgeoning rivalry. Yet for the second league contest this year between the sides, we are going to get a no contest. And we all know that before a ball has been kicked. In the reverse fixture in May, Matt Peet chose to field a side of academy and reserve players to rest his first choice squad ahead of the Challenge Cup Final. Hull KR took the opposite approach and won 62-4 in a match with the intensity of a behind closed doors opposed training session.  It was a win that brought little joy for Hull KR, little despair for Wigan. This Thursday, Willie Peters has chosen to name a hugely weakened side instead.  To paraphrase Brian Noble, " we expected George Formby but got George Foreman" . W...

Around 12 months ago, it looked likely that the Super League season was building towards its natural crescendo. Hull KR v Wigan in the Grand Final. And so it proved. Such was the duopoly, I had to check who finished 3rd in 2025 (it was Leigh, if you're interested). This year feels different. Barring something very unexpected, the top 6 is settled. What is not settled is the order. Each side appears fallible and the gap between 1 and 6 feels less than in recent years. Leeds have been fantastic throughout 2026. Just 5 losses in Super League so far and the most consistent side. But in recent weeks, there have been wobbles. Firstly, throwing away a lead to lose to Castleford. And lately their perfect home record falls to Leigh. Jake Connor has reached heights in the last two years that I did not know he could reach. But it is also true that the gap between his best and his worst is stark. Leeds' impressive home record means they will feel confident of an Old Trafford return, if the...

On 18th February 2023, St Helens stood atop the Rugby League world. Four consecutive Super League titles secured. Unprecedented in the salary cap era. Three League Leaders' Shields in the previous five years. The one Challenge Cup by comparison was made to look a meagre return. As Lewis Dodd kicked a drop goal against Penrith to defeat the NRL premiers in their own back yard, St Helens had done it all. Immortality had been achieved. The 2023 Super League season was one week old and the question many were asking was how on earth are St Helens going to be stopped again this year? I was one of those who asked that very question in this 2023 blog post . One line from that post that stands out to me was the open question of how you keep a squad hungry and motivated when there was nothing left to achieve? That famous day on 18th February 2023 was the last time St Helens lifted a trophy. What has followed is a tale of gradual decline. 2023 saw a third placed finish in Super League and sem...

If you are a Huddersfield Giants fan, then you will be familiar with disappointment and dreadful performances. There is an argument that Saturday's defeat to York was as low as it got. Two late tries could not disguise what was a truly abysmal display. With the gap now at six points, Huddersfield look set to finish bottom of Super League in 2026 barring an unexpected upturn in form. An aberration in 2022 aside, Huddersfield have finished no higher than 9th in any year since 2021 and have never as much as threatened a play off push. A far cry from the Huddersfield side of the early 2010's, who were play off regulars, won a League Leaders' Shield in 2013 and came close again in 2015. Huddersfield feel as though they are in a vicious cycle. They play in front of low crowds in a soulless bowl of a stadium. It is therefore far from the most difficult away day for opponents. This is also unappealing to players and coaches when recruiting. Their results get worse and the cycle con...

When you look at contenders for the Super League title, I tend to class them as either the old guard or insurgents. With their recent record of trophy winning, Wigan come under old guard. Even though it was a few years ago now, St Helens' four titles in a row means they also come under the old guard. Meanwhile, teams who have reached the Grand Final like Hull KR, Catalans, Salford and Castleford come under the insurgent category. Leeds are currently top of the Super League table after 16 matches, losing only three times this season. I think we are now beyond the conversation of whether they are contenders; they are. But are Leeds the old guard or insurgents? I'm not sure. On the one hand, Leeds are eight time Super League champions, have won the Challenge Cup four times in the summer era. And that's without mentioning three World Club Challenges and three League Leaders' Shields. That sounds like an established winner, right? On the other, Leeds are approaching 10 years...

There are five names on the Super League trophy. St Helens, Bradford, Wigan, Leeds and Hull KR. Of those, Bradford last won in 2005. Hull KR have won one title, in 2025. What do the remaining sides have in common? The heartbeat of their title-winning sides came from their academy. Leeds' "golden generation" was based on a spine of players like Sinfield, McGuire, Burrow and Peacock. In 2022, 9 of St Helens' Grand Final winning 17 came through their academy. Wigan's title-winning teams have also been littered with home grown talent. Therefore, if we look at what is happening at academy level today, this may give us a glimpse into the future of Super League tomorrow. And at that level something remarkable is happening at Warrington.  Their academy team has not lost a competitive match since September 2024. In 2025, Warrington's academy finished the season unbeaten and went on to win the Grand Final.  It's still early days in 2026, but Warrington have a perfec...