Championship & League 1 2026

[The Blues Ox]

I think there are a few on here that take an interest in the lower leagues so thought it was time for a 2026 thread.

The big news for the Championship has been both Cardiff and London claiming scalps over SL opposition but the Champ and League 1 seasons kicked off properly yesterday and as always at this time there are always some strange looking results.

Warrington look to have stabilized and improved going in to this season and they had a comfortable 8-24 win over local rivals Widnes. Widnes gained promotion last season and it will be tough for them stepping up as there is a lot of competition for players around that area. Hull KR had a narrow away win against Hull 16-18, a Hull side that struggled to beat a Rochdale team that was well beaten yesterday. Sheffield put the cleaners through Oulton which I didn't really see coming, I know every season is a big ask for Oulton to stay in that league as a community club that is continuously losing players to pro teams around them and its hard to see this season any different after this defeat to what really is a pretty average looking Sheffield team on paper. The main shock was Bradford beating Cas pretty comfortably 22-8, Cas have brought a number of new players in from Fryston who have folded and had expected to do better this season but this initial result against Bradford suggests another season of struggle as I don't think Bradford are very strong at all either.

With Fax playing up at Barrow I headed over to Rochdale to watch one of my local teams Illingworth and they dominated against newly promoted Rochdale who won League 2 at a canter last season. Illingworth have had a young team for the last few years and looked to have dropped their average age again this season but they were better than Rochdale in every department and scored some good tries. Workington travelled to Leigh and won 16-24, Workington I think could be dark horses to win the league this season but a lot of that will depend on a team in the game I will mention next, as for Leigh I expect them like previous seasons to be pretty strong at home and struggle for numbers on every away trip. As mentioned before I do fancy Workington but Wakefield at the moment have to be favorites while they have access to Huddersfield's squad players, they are basically a who's who of current and ex-Giants and while that is the case you have to fancy them to win the league and they beat a Stanningley team with plenty of experience convincingly 6-30. The thing is for Wakey, them getting promoted would be pointless as the rules would not allow them to use the Giant's players as they are this season and theres a real chance they would take over from Cas as everyones easy beats.

Its worth mentioning at League 1 level, as mentioned above, Fryston have folded having lost a number of players to Cas and the U19's system which continues to play havoc with the community game. Thatto did their normal trick of asking to be demoted just the week before the season started and they now take their place in League 2 while League 1 only has 6 teams in it for a very short season. You do have to feel for Rochdale as there is two teams right there they would have competed with but now its a huge step up for them.

 

[BroncoFan]

Unfortunately London looked like they picked up injuries to two of their best forwards, I fear a bad loss to Wigan.

[The Blues Ox]

Heard today that Fev also picked up some injuries in their game, got told they finished the game with 12 but not sure how true that is.

[The Blues Ox]

Quite a few games in these two leagues yesterday. Nothing too surprising with Swinton picking up a win against Sheffield, good to see Salford been able to raise a team this week even though it ended with a large defeat to Widnes. A close game with Bradford falling short 4-12 at home to Hull KR. I am not sure if this is Hull KR dropping their standards a bit because Ive not been impressed with what I have seen of Bradford so far and would have expected more from Hull KR. Warrington continue to look like they could be around the playoffs this season with a huge win 52-0 against Oulton.

Just 2 results from League 1 with Wakefield getting a good win against Leigh Miners 28-8, as mentioned previously, how Wakefield do will very much depend on who they have each week from Huddersfield and how injury free they can stay.

I went down to watch Illingworth against Stanningley in the blazing sunshine, an exciting game which finished 8-8 with some fantastic defensive efforts from both sides and Illingworth scoring with the last play of the game to snatch a draw. of note Freya Whitehead who seems to be out of favor with Huddersfield after breaking in to the first team, turned out for Stanningley and had a pretty solid if not spectacular game.

 

[PonteBlue]

On 21/04/2026 at 21:50, The Blues Ox said:

Heard today that Fev also picked up some injuries in their game, got told they finished the game with 12 but not sure how true that is.

Made the long trip to Cardiff. Sadly true. Already had a few injured and not available. Of the new injuries a couple will need a few weeks. Next game on 16th May so fingers crossed some will return.