IMG’s proposals are an admission the sport’s biggest clubs are too fragile and insecure to be left to winds of sporting chanceThe hooter sounds and Blake Ferguson sinks to his knees and in that moment everything seems to dissolve a little. The exhausted Leigh Centurions players collapse into each other’s arms; fans cling to each other in the stands; the shy and retiring Leigh owner, Derek Beaumont, reluctantly steps on to the pitch, looking genuinely dismayed that the television cameras seem to be homing in on his leopard-print shirt and extravagant dance moves.Still, everyone can be excused a little exuberance. For once more Leigh are back in Super League. Continue reading...
Channel 4 will show games on terrestrial TV for the first time, and while French newcomers will add colour last season’s heavyweights look even strongerWhisper it quietly, but for the first time in a good few years there is genuine optimism in rugby league ahead of what could be a seminal year for Super League. Few sports suffered quite like league did throughout the early stages of the pandemic, a point underlined by the publication of club accounts over the winter that showed monumental losses running into the millions for some of the biggest clubs.But, cautiously, that period appears to be behind us and Super League 2022 provides a chance to lay a positive platform for this year’s rescheduled World...
A Catalans Dragons win would be a monumental moment for a sport in desperate need of something newFor almost five years, few teams have captivated British rugby league quite like St Helens. From the brilliance – on the field, at least – of Ben Barba’s short-lived spell with the club, to the dominance they have engineered in the past two seasons, it has not been difficult as a neutral to feel some level of affinity with the Saints.But this Saturday the back-to-back Super League champions are cast very much in the role of villains. For the third time in five years a team will make their Grand Final debut when Catalans take to the field at Old Trafford. Castleford failed...
Super League has a chance to go hell for leather from the off with firmer pitches and fitter players after a longer pre-seasonThere is a long-running joke in rugby league that the only thing you can really predict with any certainty is sheer unpredictability. Never was that more evident than in 2020, as Super League finished a season many felt would be impossible to restart because of Covid-19 in the most spectacular way possible, with St Helens’ last-gasp Grand Final victory against Wigan. Oh, and throw in the ignominious expulsion of Toronto Wolfpack, and £28m in game-saving government loans, too.So just another typical year, then: followed by a typical off-season. Hours before the new season starts on Friday, there were...
The biggest signing Super League has seen for years can help Warrington challenge Wigan and St Helens for supremacyIt is the end of an era at Castleford, with Daryl Powell confirming this will be his ninth and final season in charge, though his best chance of silverware may have already passed. The Tigers have a number of talented individuals, including new recruit Niall Evalds, but they also have an ageing pack and their form at the end of last season did little to suggest they will be able to send Powell out on a high. UNBELIEVABLE! WHAT HAVE WE JUST SEEN! Welsby has scored at the death to win the Grand Final for St Helens! Live now on Sky Sports...