As the new season looms into view and Sky TV gears up for its second year of broadcasting every Super League game live, we talk to their lead presenter Brian Carney about lessons learned last year, and what we can expect to see in 2025.
THE problem with only hearing half of a story, or even just a part of it, is that key points are often missed, vital information glossed over and moments that could be important to some, are dismissed as irrelevant by others.
Often what you do get is dictated by someone else’s thoughts on what is, or could be, important.
So, to understand, enjoy and appreciate the whole picture, you need access to it all – and that is something Super League fans benefitted from in 2024 when Sky Sports, along with the RFL, decided to show all 167 top-flight games, live, across their broadcasting platform.
Was there some initial uncertainty over the task ahead? Yes. Were there some behind-the-scenes teething problems to iron out as the season progressed? Yes. But was it a success? Absolutely!
And it looks like it will be again, as the broadcast giants have made the same commitment to show every second of Super League action once more in 2025.
Former Wigan star Brian Carney will continue to front the coverage of the game and believes 2025 could prove even better for the experience the whole Sky team took from the previous 12 months.
“With this being the second season of broadcasting all six games we do all have a better idea of what we’re heading into,” Carney told Rugby League World.
“It was very much going into the unknown last year.
“It took a monumental effort from the production team, more so than those of us in front of the camera or speaking into microphones. It was them who had to make sure there was the appropriate amount of cameras and staff at each of the games. Showing six live games a week was quite the undertaking, but they pulled it off.
“As with anything new, that involved new technology.
“The six-camera coverage games, compared to the enhanced, 10-camera coverage games I fronted, posed a new challenge for the teams that worked on them.
“They had to find a new way of working, which they did, and the coverage remained at a very high standard. Anybody watching at home wouldn’t have noticed any difference.
“All in all everything worked out really well and it can only get better in 2025.
“Wigan won all four trophies last year but I doubt they would say it was a season without issues, or without things they could have done better. But it was still an incredibly successful season and that is similar to our coverage.
“We’ll look back and see what lessons we can learn, what traps we fell into and what we could have done but maybe didn’t. We just want to make sure people are being told the story of the season in the best, most entertaining and compelling way possible – that’s our challenge.
“I applaud Sky Sports and RL Commercial for making that commitment to cover every game because for the first time in the competition’s history, maybe even in the game’s history, the whole story is told.
“I made the point a few years ago that when you’re only doing two games out of six you’re hoping that you’ve picked the best games to show.
“In previous years, when we were only showing a third of the games, essentially what was happening was that the other four games were quickly lost from the memories of those who weren’t actually at them. You might’ve listened to it on the radio, seen highlights or read a match report, but if what turned out to be the game of the season and it wasn’t on Sky, you wouldn’t have seen it and that’s a shame.
“That’s been rectified now, so when London turned over Catalans Dragons in London and went to Hull FC and won in games that other years wouldn’t have been a first-choice pick, people were able to see that.
“We can now tell the complete story of the season and that enhances the competition, makes it more relevant to people and gives them a greater attachment to it.
“Were we only telling a third of the story, people wouldn’t have been able to get attached to London’s story at the bottom of the league, but seeing it all they did because they could see what the Broncos were doing.
“As coverage declines in other media genres it is important that we do tell a richer and fuller story.
“2024 was a landmark year in that sense, 2025 will be no different and I think everyone’s rugby league lives are better for that.”
But just what will that story be when the season does get underway as reigning champions Wigan Warriors host local rivals Leigh Leopards on Thursday, 13th February?
Will Matt Peet’s side dominate proceedings once again, will Hull KR continue their recent charge towards the top, and how will Wakefield fare under Daryl Powell as they return to Super League?
We all know that this is rugby league so anything can happen, and for Carney, that is all part of the thrill.
“Looking at it in January, you would say that Wigan were still the team to beat and I think every other club would say that about them too,” added the former Warriors star, who also played for Gateshead, Hull and Warrington in the UK.
“Probably the only team that wouldn’t say that are Wigan themselves.
“But it rarely pans out the way you think.
“I never thought Hull KR would achieve as much as they did in 2024 – they were absolutely superb and with that comes pressure for 2025. If they finish fourth or fifth this year some would say that was disappointing given they were second, and almost first the year before. But I would say that would still be a tremendous achievement when you look at who may be competing with them up there.
“Will we see a resurgence for Leeds? Catalans had a very ordinary season in 2024 as did St Helens, relatively speaking, and many people will expect to see a lift from them.
“There is a project ongoing at Hull FC, which will be fascinating to watch, and what will Wakefield do with Powell? All of those stories interest me as much as whether Wigan will win it again.
“Hopefully that will come across in the broadcasts.”
Sky’s increased coverage, as well as a number of games appearing on the BBC, meant that more eyes than ever before were tuned in on our game. But it was still not enough to see rugby league compete with the leading sports in terms of crowds, finances and wider appeal across the whole country.
So much more needs to be done if this sport is to get to that point, a broadcast deal alone will not cut it, but this latest three-year Sky deal, struck shortly after the 2023 Grand Final, could be a strong first step toward that journey.
“We all know that the sport has wider issues,” added Carney, who after leaving Wigan in 2005 spent a season in the NRL with Newcastle Knights, scoring 16 tries in 26 games.
“By and large the players are delivering on the field so maybe it’s up to the rest of us around the game to go with that and do what we can.
“I know that the players put themselves through a tremendous amount to play what I believe to be the most ferocious field sport in the world. As well as doing it for their own financial gain, they do it for our entertainment and I respect them hugely for that.
“The minute I started playing the game I was immensely proud to follow in the footsteps of all the players that had played it before me. I then learnt a lot more about the history of the game and became prouder and prouder of it. In a sense I became an advocate for the game and I do feel it deserves to be so much more than pigeon-holed as a northern sport.
“One of the attractions of going to the NRL was that it had got itself a very strong national profile, but sadly we’re starting to go the other way here and have a shrinking national profile.
“I’m committed to trying to change that because I don’t see what the alternative is.
“If I’m right about this being the most ferocious field sport in the world what are we going to do about that? How do we leverage that, how do we turn that into a national profile that the sport is worthy of? Just telling people that it’s the greatest game in the world is not going to change it.
“There is a huge amount of work to be done.
“I do feel we are doing our bit on Sky. We’re the premier sports broadcaster in the country and we’re knocking out six live games every week across the whole season. That’s a huge amount of output and our coverage is up two-thirds on what it was before.
“That by itself will not raise the profile though and other things need to be done.
“The visibility is there, the product is certainly there but it’s not going to sell itself.”
First published in Rugby League World magazine, Issue 505 (February 2025)
