Play-offs can salvage Super League season but fresh winners needed to herald new era

[josie andrews]

As Hull FC and Catalans Dragons played out a dead rubber on the final day, few rugby league fans would have been upset to see the back of the regular season.
There were thrills and spills at the top end of Super League but too many clubs failed to come to the party.

Like or loathe a format that sees the champions crowned at the end of a play-off series, the real action begins now.

In that sense, there is a lot to be excited about as five teams set out to dethrone Wigan Warriors.

Wigan are famously one of only three current Super League clubs to have won the Grand Final, with Leeds Rhinos the most recent first-time winners way back in 2004.

Should the Warriors live up to their billing as favourites and retain the title, there would be a collective sigh from the rest of the rugby league world.

The sport is crying out for a new name on the trophy, a club to smash through the glass ceiling and show that the seemingly impossible is possible.

Wigan, Leeds and St Helens have proved unbeatable at Old Trafford over the past 20 years – except, of course, when they face each other – but all it might take is for one club to shatter that illusion.

Warrington Wolves have come closer than anyone following four Grand Final defeats, the most recent three at the hands of the Warriors.

The Wire must book a first return to Old Trafford since 2018 the hard way after being handed a home tie against 10-time champions St Helens on Saturday for the right to travel to Hull KR in the semi-finals.

Saints have looked nothing like title contenders this season but they are tricky opponents on play-off aura alone

Warrington's record of three straight wins over St Helens in 2024 is the kind the play-offs like to make a mockery of.

Saints and Hull KR bucked the trend with home victories in last season's eliminators but in the previous two campaigns the sides that finished third and fourth were defeated in front of their own fans.

Indeed, the Wolves have lost their last three home play-off games dating back to 2019.

Warrington appear to be made of stronger stuff under Sam Burgess but the pressure will be on this week and Saints have the know-how to make life uncomfortable for them.

It is probably not a reach to suggest that St Helens are the last team Wigan would want to face in next week's home semi-final.

The other alternatives for the Warriors are Salford Red Devils and Leigh Leopards, two sides that have already overachieved this season.

Salford and Leigh have no right to be rubbing shoulders with the likes of Wigan and Saints in the race to Old Trafford, yet here they are.

It has the makings of a classic at the Salford Community Stadium but there is a sense a semi-final on the road would be a game too far for the winners of Friday's eliminator.

Hull KR will be interested spectators this weekend as they wait to discover their opponents for next Friday's home semi-final.

The play-offs offer the Robins a second chance after coming agonisingly close to ending their 39-year wait for a major trophy in their battle with Wigan for the League Leaders' Shield.

Rovers have provided a blueprint for others to follow in their ascent to the upper echelons of Super League, with Castleford Tigers and Huddersfield Giants saying as much publicly.

To produce a season where KR, Salford and Leigh finish above St Helens, Catalans Dragons and Leeds, the sport must be doing something right.

But while the salary cap is working higher up the table, issues remain over standards at the bottom end.

After limping to six points apiece, Hull and London Broncos are officially Super League's worst bottom two since the inaugural season in 1996 when Paris Saint-Germain and Workington Town claimed seven and five respectively.

Those campaigns are the only instances where the bottom two have each failed to reach double figures.

To highlight the gulf between the bottom and top in 2024, the Broncos went down five years ago with 20 points.

This time around, London were robbed of any hope after being consigned to relegation before a ball had been kicked and their squad reflected that.

Although it is very early days, the scene at the bottom of Super League is not a promising start to the performance aspect of the new grading system.

It is all well and good making off-field improvements and building for the future but a strong end to the season is required to keep fans engaged.

To that end, a predictable play-off series is the last thing the sport needs.

Rovers and their fellow first-time title hopefuls have shown they can ruffle feathers but this period separates the great from the good.

If they can find a way over the next couple of weeks, they may just herald a new era of Super League.

https://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/sport/r ... nt-4799230

[moto748]

Every year we get this. Oh, isn't it awful that so few teams have won, and in the NRL more different teams have won...


Yeah, yeah, yeah. But actually, the NRL nowadays looks increasingly like a two-horse race, and SL rather less so. At the end of the day, it's up to the other teams to shape up.

[josie andrews]

Every year we get this. Oh, isn't it awful that so few teams have won, and in the NRL more different teams have won...


Yeah, yeah, yeah. But actually, the NRL nowadays looks increasingly like a two-horse race, and SL rather less so. At the end of the day, it's up to the other teams to shape up.

Exactly! And as you can see it’s the Yorkshite press again!!

[Beryl O'Neill]

Green eyed monster s just joking Jealousy
In my opinion keep it up And on Wigan

[fozzie58]

Every year we get this. Oh, isn't it awful that so few teams have won, and in the NRL more different teams have won...


Yeah, yeah, yeah. But actually, the NRL nowadays looks increasingly like a two-horse race, and SL rather less so. At the end of the day, it's up to the other teams to shape up.

Well don't let the facts spoil a good Yorkshire whinge eh but the truth is KR are this years castle ford can they sustain this run im not sure to be honest certainly at present they're the strongest side in Yorkshire but are they good enough to win the grand final I suppose if their opponents have an off day maybe but I just don't know.

Trouble is its not just the Yorkshire press either moaning about needing a new winner on the Eddie and Steve podcast they had pow wow with a few mates from sky sports all said either wire or KR will win it based on what not sure, if I remember rightly I think Stevo said "don't forget wigan"at least someone was talking sense.

As for the NRL you're right it has become a 2 horse race and in the end it is up to other teams to bring through their own players year on year and then perhaps they will sustain a title charge.

[buttmonkey2]

Should the Warriors live up to their billing as favourites and retain the title, there would be a collective sigh from the rest of the rugby league world.

The sport is crying out for a new name on the trophy, a club to smash through the glass ceiling and show that the seemingly impossible is possible.

https://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/sport/r ... nt-4799230

I can't remember this sort of whaling and moaning and gnashing of teeth from the totally unbiased media as Saints went for their "drive for five"! Why now all the fuss if Wigan retain the trophy for the first time?

[moto748]

That's a fair point.