THIS is our annual series that looks back at the year just gone and selects the most significant and memorable moments, whether they are triumphs or tragedies, great matches or momentous incidents, domestic or international events.
Let us know whether you agree with our selections.
Our countdown of the top 50 moments of the year began here.
30 Ryan Hall signs for 2026
At the beginning of June Leeds Rhinos announced that, at the age of 37, Ryan Hall had penned a new contract for the 2026 season, which would make him the oldest player in Super League next season.
Hall returned to the Rhinos from Hull KR at the start of the 2025 season. He made his original debut for the club at the first ever Magic Weekend in 2007 at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, and in his first spell he helped the club win seven Grand Finals, two Challenge Cups and one World Club Challenge.
He has a spell in the NRL with Sydney Roosters, before returning to the UK with the Robins. During his spell in East Yorkshire, Hall made 106 appearances and helped the club to a Challenge Cup final and a Grand Final.
In 2024 he overtook Danny McGuire to become Super League’s greatest ever try scorer and he currently stands at 264 Super League tries and after the retirement of Chris Hill he will become the oldest player in Super League next season.
“I have always said if I feel I can still do a job for the team then I would like to continue playing,” said Hall.
“This is currently my 19th season and it would be great to play a 20th. I have spoken to players who have retired and they always say that you’ll know when your time has come but I am enjoying my rugby at the moment and being part of this Leeds Rhinos squad.”
29 Jake Connor wins the Man of Steel
In October Jake Connor won the 2025 Steve Prescott MBE Man of Steel award.
The Leeds Rhinos stand-off and goalkicker was recognised for his contribution to a huge improvement in the Rhinos’ performances in 2025, climbing from eighth in the table in 2024 to a fourth-placed finish – the club’s best finishing position since 2017 – with Connor gaining significant plaudits after signing for the club prior to the start of the season.
He had been a surprise signing from Huddersfield Giants last winter, having made almost 100 appearances for the club in two stints, in addition to almost 150 in six seasons with Hull FC.
Connor was the first Leeds Rhinos player to be crowned Man of Steel since Zak Hardaker in 2015, and only the fourth in the 48 years since David Ward was the inaugural winner in 1977.
It was the last of 15 awards presented at the Rugby League Awards Night at Manchester’s Deansgate Hilton, ahead of the last fixture of the 2025 domestic season – the Super League Grand Final at Old Trafford.
28 New Zealand win the Pacific Cup
New Zealand registered a convincing 36-14 victory over Samoa in the Pacific Cup final played on Sunday 9 November at CommBank Stadium in Parramatta.
The Kiwis gave veteran playmaker Kieran Foran the perfect send-off, recovering from a 14-6 half-time deficit to storm to victory in the second half.
Playing his 34th and final Test match, Foran had a hand in everything as New Zealand forged ahead, with his halfback partner Dylan Brown playing a major role.
The Kiwis sealed their second Pacific Cup title in three seasons and Foran was delighted to secure the victory.
“I wanted it so badly for New Zealand, it has meant so much to me playing for my country,” Foran said after the match.
Earlier in the game, the sea of red-and-blue Samoan flags that packed the sold-out stadium erupted when Simi Sasagi ran away with a long-range intercept to put Samoa up 12-0 on the half-hour.
The Kiwis had edged the Samoans 24-18 in their Pacific Cup opener the previous month, thanks to brilliant Brown’s late winner.
And their victory in the final preserved their perfect record against Samoa, who have never beaten the men in black in six attempts.
27 Nigel Wood back at the RFL to head strategic review
Nigel Wood OBE returned to the RFL Board as Senior Executive Director in spring 2025, having previously spent 17 years with the governing body from 2001, and been appointed Chief Executive in 2007.
He left the RFL in January 2018 and was awarded the OBE for services to Rugby League in the Queen’s Birthday Honours of 2018.
More recently he had been the Chairman of Bradford Bulls, but he stepped back from that role after the resignation of the previous RFL Chairman Simon Johnson and his fellow directors.
Leigh Leopards owner Derek Beaumont and the then Leeds Rhinos CEO Gary Hetherington confirmed that they had appointed Wood as the head of a new strategic review panel and an executive director of the governing body, following a resolution by the clubs.
“As per the resolution we have implemented Nigel Wood OBE as the chair of the strategic review panel and by right he therefore takes the interim position as chair of the RFL,” they said.
“We will now meet with Nigel in the coming days to form the remainder of that committee to undertake the strategic review.
“The review will encompass the “whole of the game” and will solicit views from as wide a cross section as possible, engaging the views of all clubs, and to include those of our biggest assets, our partners and supporters.”
26 Steve McNamara leaves Catalans Dragons
Catalans Dragons announced the sacking of their head coach Steve McNamara at the end of June, six weeks after his last game in charge of the side.
The former England coach’s last game was the 40-0 Super League defeat by St Helens on 15 May, with Joel Tomkins then taking charge of the team, initially on an interim basis.
During his eight years in charge McNamara, 53, guided the Catalans to their first ever Challenge Cup success in 2018 and two Grand Final appearances in 2021 and 2023.
In a statement Catalans thanked McNamara for his “commitment and the success he achieved”.
“After eight years, and without questioning his qualities, Catalans Dragons have decided not to continue their collaboration with their head coach Steve McNamara – a decision that has been accepted by him,” the club said.
McNamara wasn’t out of work for very long.
In October Warrington Wolves announced that McNamara would be joining Sam Burgess’ coaching team at the Halliwell Jones Stadium.
25 ARLC reveals 2026 World Cup draw
The Australian Rugby League Commission finally released the details of the 2026 World Cup on Sunday 23 November.
The fact that the Australians would host the World Cup was announced on 24 July last year, after the French Rugby League Federation had withdrawn from its commitment to hold the World Cup in 2025.
International Rugby League (IRL) announced that the tournament would now be held in 2026, reduced from 16 to ten teams, with a number of games played in Papua New Guinea. The announcement of the draw and pools on 23 November 2025 extended the tournament hosts to include New Zealand, with the new stadium, Te Kaha in Christchurch, added to the list of venues. It will host the Kiwis against the Cook Islands, with two games being played in PNG.
The tournament will have the ten teams split into three groups, with four teams progressing to the semi-finals and the World Cup final scheduled to be played in Brisbane on 15 November.
24 Lewis Dodd leaves South Sydney to join Catalans Dragons
When Lewis Dodd left St Helens at the end of 2024 to sign a lucrative three-year contract with the NRL’s South Sydney Rabbitohs, the world looked to be at the young Englishman’s feet.
He was signed as the club’s top halfback with every prospect that a good season would see him playing for England in the Ashes series in the autumn.
But it didn’t work out for him and the young halfback played only six games for the Rabbitohs, most of them off the bench.
Rabbitohs coach Wayne Bennett made it clear he didn’t rate Dodd highly and that triggered his release after one season and his move to Catalans Dragons, where he has signed a one-year contract.
Before leaving Australia he reflected on his disappointment but made it clear that he still has ambitions to play in the NRL.
“When I first came over this outcome is not what you dream of,” he said.
“I would have changed the fact that I didn’t play as much as I wanted but I wouldn’t change much else. I have learnt a lot on and off the field. I wouldn’t change too much of it.”
But Dodd, 23, did admit that he thought Bennett hadn’t really given him a fair shot.
“That’s the only thing that I’ve got in my mind,” Dodd said.
“When I came over twelve months ago I had that same feeling. I don’t feel like that will go away until I achieve what I want to achieve or I am given that chance.
“That’s my only grievance with this year. I back my ability and I feel like if I got a fair shot I would have proved that I was good enough.”
23 Mikey Lewis wins the Rob Burrow Award
The 2025 season was a great one for Hull KR halfback Mikey Lewis.
He kicked the winning conversion in the Challenge Cup Final as Hull KR defeated Warrington Wolves 8-6.
In total, Lewis made 30 appearances for the Robins, scoring 24 tries, kicking 16 goals and two field-goals and missing only three Super League games all season.
The Robins went into the Old Trafford Grand Final against Wigan determined to avenge their 9-2 defeat from a year earlier and much attention was focussed on whether Lewis could outshine Wigan’s Bevan French and deliver the Super League title to east Hull.
Early in the game it looked as though French had opened the scoring when he appeared to touch down a Liam Marshall kick to the posts, but the video review demonstrated that he had lost the ball in a brilliant Lewis cover tackle.
And Lewis took the game by the scruff of the neck, scoring the opening try after 20 minutes as he sidestepped Wigan’s Liam Farrell before touching down under the posts.
22 Wigan win a clean sweep of trophies
There was a revolution in the Women’s Super League in 2025, with Wigan Warriors breaking the previous dominance of St Helens, York Valkyrie and Leeds Rhinos to emulate Hull KR in the men’s game by winning all three major trophies.
Under the coaching of Rugby League icon Denis Betts, the Warriors began their trophy collection by defeating St Helens 42-6 at Wembley Stadium in June to lift the Betfred Women’s Challenge Cup. The magnitude of that achievement is measured by the fact that Saints had won the cup in each of the previous four seasons.
Wigan added the League Leaders’ Shield for finishing top of the Super League table, finishing just one point ahead of St Helens.
And it was Saints who they would meet in the Grand Final at the Brick Community Stadium, where they overturned an 8-4 half-time deficit with Eva Hunter, Molly Jones and Anna Davies inspiring a stunning spell of three tries in eight minutes.
Even though Saints fought back and reduced the deficit to four points with a Phoebe Hook try, the majority of the record Grand Final 5,018 crowd cheered Wigan home with the final result being 16-12.
Wigan’s victory, in a match without a single successful conversion, ensured a fitting finish to the distinguished career of their co-captain Vicky Molyneux, who had already confirmed that she would be retiring after the match.
21 St Helens say goodbye to Paul Wellens
St Helens appointed Paul Wellens as their new head coach at the end of the 2022 season, after the departure of the hugely successful Kristian Woolf.
And Wellens duly obliged by winning the World Club Challenge against the NRL’s Penrith Panthers in his first competitive game in charge.
But then the trophies dried up and after three years the club decided it was going to look elsewhere for the 2026 season.
Saints Chairman Eamonn McManus said: “Paul’s contribution to the history of our club has been without equal.
“As a player, he won every honour available in our sport and was at the epicentre of our incredible success story during his seventeen-year playing career at the Saints.
“Who can ever forget his on-field reaction as our captain at the end of our 2014 Grand Final victory over Wigan. It epitomised his devotion to the Saints and encapsulated his lifelong passion and dedication to our club and to this town.
“As head coach, he started his career with the greatest achievement in our over 150-year history when he led us to victory over Penrith Panthers to win the World Club Challenge on Australian soil in 2023.
“He has since committed his life in every way to the club. He has always done so with professionalism, dignity, and class. He’s been a supreme ambassador to our club and to our sport.
“It has therefore been the most difficult decision to make, but we have now decided to move in a new direction and to appoint a new head coach.”
Saints would go on to appoint former Salford coach Paul Rowley as their new coach, while Wellens would join North Queensland Cowboys in the NRL.
“While I’m naturally disappointed that my time at the club will be coming to an end, I also respect that decision and would like to thank Eamonn for his honesty in what I know would have been an extremely difficult conversation,” said Wellens.
“We have developed a close working relationship for the best part of 25 years, and despite the difficult nature of such discussions, our friendship remains very much intact.”