Super League is entering its 30th season and of course it is going to be 12 months of celebrating! Do you want to get to know the sport but aren’t sure where to start? Let us help you out…
First things first: What is Super League?
Super League is rugby league’s top-flight European competition. Starting back in 1996, the 11 clubs from the Rugby Football League’s first division plus new team Paris Saint-Germain came together to start the era of summer rugby and bring the sport into a new era.
There have been 29 editions of the competition to date, with 2025 marking a big 30th birthday for Super League.
A look back at Wigan Warriors’ route to their second straight Super League title as they won an unprecedented quadruple
To date, of the 24 clubs who have competed in Super League, ONLY FOUR have won the big prize in the Grand Final at the end of the year: Wigan Warriors (7), St Helens (9), Bradford Bulls (3), and Leeds Rhinos (8).
Talk about domination!
Previous Grand Final results
1998
Wigan Warriors 10-4 Leeds Rhinos
1999
St Helens 8-6 Bradford Bulls
2000
St Helens 29-16 Wigan Warriors
2001
Bradford Bulls 37-6 Wigan Warriors
2002
St Helens 19-18 Bradford Bulls
2003
Bradford Bulls 25-12 Wigan Warriors
2004
Leeds Rhinos 16-8 Bradford Bulls
2005
Bradford Bulls 15-6 Leeds Rhinos
2006
St Helens 26-4 Hull FC
2007
Leeds Rhinos 33-6 St Helens
2008
Leeds Rhinos 24-16 St Helens
2009
Leeds Rhinos 18-10 St Helens
2010
Wigan Warriors 22-10 St Helens
2011
Leeds Rhinos 32-16 St Helens
2012
Leeds Rhinos 26-18 Warrington Wolves
2013
Wigan Warriors 30-16 Warrington Wolves
2014
St Helens 14-6 Wigan Warriors
2015
Leeds Rhinos 22-20 Wigan Warriors
2016
Wigan Warriors 12-6 Warrington Wolves
2017
Leeds Rhinos 24-6 Castleford Tigers
2018
Wigan Warriors 12-4 Warrington Wolves
2019
St Helens 23-6 Salford Red Devils
2020
St Helens 8-4 Wigan Warriors
2021
St Helens 12-10 Catalans Dragons
2022
St Helens 24-12 Leeds Rhinos
2023
Wigan Warriors 10-2 Catalans Dragons
Get them on side: What are the key rules?
Take a look at some exclusive footage as Wigan Warriors players, staff and fans celebrate their Super League Grand Final victory over Hull KR at Old Trafford
Let’s put the sport in its simplest terms, shall we?
Rugby League is a 13 vs 13 code of rugby with each team getting six tackles to try and score before the ball is turned over to the opposing outfit. The match is 80 minutes long and split into two 40-minute halves.
Each team then has a bench of four players which can be interchanged throughout the match.
Unlike football, the clock stops for injuries, penalties, and tries.
Wigan Warriors lift the Super League trophy after their win over Hull KR in the Grand Final at Old Trafford
A try is worth four points, with the subsequent conversion an extra two points. Penalty kicks are also worth two points. A drop-goal is worth an extra one point.
Within the 13 players, there are four main roles: Forwards, backs, hooker and half-backs.
The forwards are mainly focused on driving the ball forward and gaining as many metres as possible. The backs look to attack on the edges. The hooker is there to control the play of the ball (when a player is tackled and the ball is distributed). A half-back controls the distribution of the ball.
In short: 13 players have six chances to get down the field and cross the try line. Simple, right?
Fighting for the win: How many teams are there?
Check out the top five tries from St Helens’ 2024 season
Throughout the years, there have always been 12 clubs competing in Super League and this is no different in 2025.
Castleford Tigers, Catalans Dragons, Huddersfield Giants, Hull FC, Hull KR, Leeds Rhinos, Leigh Leopards, Salford Red Devils, St Helens, Warrington Wolves, Wakefield Trinity, and Wigan Warriors will battle it out from February to be crowned champions in October.
Super League: Play-offs format
Week 1:
3rd vs 6th and 4th vs 5th
Week 2:
1st vs lowest-ranked team left and 2nd vs highest-ranked team left
Week 3:
Grand Final
Over the years, there have been another 12 clubs that had their chances in the top competition: London Broncos, Bradford Bulls, Widnes Vikings, Halifax Panthers, Sheffield Eagles, Crusaders, Oldham, Paris Saint-Germain, Gateshead Thunder, Workington Town, Toronto Wolfpack, and Toulouse Olympique.
While often touted as a northern English competition, Super League has certainly had some international reach!
Check out the top five tries from Hull KR’s 2024 season, which saw them reach the Grand Final for the first time
Knockouts? A race for points? The Super League format…
The Super League competition is almost a hybrid of a Premier League football and knockout format.
So, the 12 teams compete across 27 rounds of the regular season, with the top six then making it through to the play-offs.
George Williams sent Warrington Wolves through to the Super League play-off semi-finals with a superb drop goal against St Helens
From there, the top two teams get a rest week, with the third-placed team playing sixth and fourth playing fifth.
The lowest-ranked team from the play-off matches will then play the regular season winners, aka the League Leaders’ Shield winners, with the second-placed team playing the higher-ranked team still involved.
Hull KR fans sing ‘A little respect’ ahead of their Super League semi-final against Warrington Wolves
The winners of those two matches will then compete in the Grand Final to be crowned Super League winners.
No relegation?! Welcome to the IMG Criteria
Super League is in its (kind of) franchise era!
The teams in Super League are not determined by promotion or relegation from 2025 onwards. Instead, the 12 teams will be those who achieve the most points across a range of criteria, including fandom, on-field performance, finance, stadium and community.
Jon Wilkin gives his thoughts on Wakefield Trinity having replaced London Broncos in the Super League next year after having been awarded Grade A status as part of a restructure of the sport
The IMG gradings system has 20 points on offer for clubs. In order to be a Grade A club, you need to achieve at least 15 points and to be a Grade B club, you need 7.5 points.
The idea is that Grade A clubs are automatically in Super League, with the best-performing Grade B clubs then making up the rest of the 12 clubs in the competition.
As grading scores improve and there one day becomes more than 12 clubs with Grade A status, the top league will then expand, as happens in franchise sports such as the NRL and NFL.
Wigan Warriors’ Harry Smith and Liam Marshall take on Hull KR’s Jack Brown and Jack Broadbent in this nine-dart challenge
Big boys vs underdogs: Who are the team to beat?
There is one side that heads into 2025 with a massive bullseye on their backs: Wigan Warriors.
The Warriors absolutely dominated 2024, picking up all four major trophies on offer: Grand Final, World Club Challenge, Challenge Cup and League Leaders’ Shield.
Joe Cullen is eager to get to Las Vegas to watch Wigan stars Liam Marshall and Harry Smith, who will face Warrington Wolves at the Allegiant Stadium in 2025
The likes of St Helens, Warrington Wolves, and Grand Final runners-up Hull KR will be some of the teams looking to knock Wigan off their perch but Matt Peet’s side do not look like they are going to slow down.
In other words, Wigan are having their ‘Manchester United under Fergie’ moment, and everyone else wants to stop them firmly in their tracks.
2025 Super League – key dates and what to look out for
March 1: Wigan Warriors vs Warrington Wolves in Las Vegas
April 17-19: Round 8 – Rivals Round
May 3-4: Magic Round (St James’ Park, Newcastle)
July 24: August 31 – Round 20 – split round across two weekends
September 4-7: Round 25 – Rivals Round fixtures reversed
September 18-21: Round 27 – last round of regular season (dates and times tbc)
September 26-27: Elimination Play-Offs
October 3-4: Semi-Finals
Saturday October 11: Grand Final (Old Trafford)
Sky Sports will again show every game of the Super League live this season – including two matches in each round exclusively live, with the remaining four matches each week shown on Sky Sports+
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The post Welcome to Super League: Beginner’s guide for 2025 as rugby league’s top flight competition enters 30th season | Rugby League News first appeared on Rugby 247.
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Author : rugby-247
Publish date : 2025-01-21 21:34:42
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