IN THE last two seasons, three major changes have been made to the Betfred Super League.

The first was the introduction of the Captain’s Challenge, whereby a team is able to appeal against a referee’s decision when it believes the match official has got it wrong. This change was, of course, copied from the NRL and introduced at the start of last season.

The second was the increase in the number of clubs in the competition from twelve to fourteen, which was implemented in 2026.

The third was the introduction of the RFL’s “live review” system for tries, again modelled on the NRL and brought in this season. It means that if the on-field referee believes a try has been scored, it is immediately awarded, and the video referee reviews it in the background without stopping the game clock. The conversion is not permitted until the review is complete.

So, at this stage of the season, the obvious question is whether each of these three changes is having a positive effect on the Super League competition.

The increase in the number of clubs has eliminated the loop fixtures that most clubs didn’t want. So, if that is the only criterion, it has been an immediate success.

But has it improved the competition in other ways?

Some observers suggested that the introduction of the three new clubs would dilute the standard of the competition, especially given that the three clubs had very little time to assemble their playing squads before the season got under way and that two of them (York and Toulouse) would receive only half the distribution of central funds received by the other twelve clubs.

The fear was that the three new clubs would receive some heavy beatings in their inaugural season and be battling for the wooden spoon.

But, by and large, that hasn’t happened.

After 22 rounds of the competition, the three new clubs have registered 20 wins between them, with Toulouse and York recording seven each, while Bradford have six. They are in ninth, tenth and 13th places respectively.

I think we can say with some confidence that they have performed better than we might have expected.

None of the three have been disgraced, even though Bradford have suffered a major injury crisis. The worst defeat any of them suffered was York’s 20-72 defeat at home to Wigan, but it’s also worth remembering that the Knights took Wigan to within one point earlier in the season at the Brick Community Stadium.

They may not be challenging for play-off spots, but they have undoubtedly enhanced the competition, as far as I’m concerned.

In my view, the two other innovations have been far more controversial.

The Captain’s Challenge has caused significant delays in several games, much more so than in the NRL. That is partly because we seem to have more of them, which is perhaps caused by Super League referees making more mistakes than their NRL counterparts. And it is partly because decisions take longer to make, which is perhaps due to the equipment used in Super League being less effective at giving suitable angles from which to make confident judgements.

Similarly, can you think of anything more frustrating than a referee awarding a try, only for it to be ruled out two minutes later by a video referee operating in a studio in Wilmslow?

All of this makes the experience for fans at the ground very frustrating.

I would like to see the Captain’s Challenge either abolished or limited to one challenge per team in each game.

And I would also do away with the live review system, which seems designed to eliminate some great tries that we would otherwise celebrate.

Let’s remember that the game is supposed to entertain, and let’s cut out the bureaucratic elements that certainly don’t entertain us.

First published in Rugby League World magazine, Issue 523 (August 2026)