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We saw an engaging, if not attritional, semi final last night between Leeds and Warrington. The Wire are returning to the Grand Final for the first time since 2018. Leeds are once again thinking about what might have been. Whoever Warrington play in the Grand Final next week, we saw their blueprint for how they think they can end a long wait to call themselves champions. Warrington's win last night was based on playing error-free rugby, combined with impeccable discipline.  Warrington made just seven errors and conceded just six penalties. Even players who you associate with having particularly poor discipline (such as James Bentley) pulled rank. This is quite different to Warrington sides we have seen over time. Some of those sides have been more kamikaze in nature. When things got tough, composure could drop. Not the 2026 version of Warrington though. I have seen more talented Warrington sides than this one. I have not seen one with a better attitude. There will be some questions...

We were all looking forward to Leeds v Wigan on Saturday night. It was rightly billed as a League Leaders' Shield decider. Wigan's 8-40 success sent a warning shot to anyone else challenging for the title - you'll have to stop us. Easier said than done. Let's look at Wigan's best results against top 6 rivals, this year. Wigan 54-0 Leigh Leeds 8-40 Wigan Wigan 40-10 Hull KR Wakefield 10-48 Wigan Wigan 30-18 Warrington I haven't included Wigan's 46-0 home win against Hull KR, here, due to the phony war nature of the contest. Wigan have done the double over Leeds, Leigh and Wakefield (beating the latter in the Challenge Cup too). With the exception of Warrington, on at least one occasion this season, Wigan have not only beaten their top 6 rivals; they have comprehensively routed each of them. Wigan have now won 14 consecutive Super League matches. It is 15 matches if you include the Challenge Cup Final. Their last loss was against Hull KR in the week before the...

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...