I DON’T want to sound as though I am repeating myself from last month but only in rugby league could we change the goalposts for next season with just a few months notice.

We’re not even talking about a minor change, we’re talking about a complete league restructure that will ultimately affect all three professional leagues, both for the end of this season and beyond.

At the time of going to press many questions were left unanswered, which is hardly ideal when clubs have already started planning budgets and squads for next season and when pre-season for 2026 gets underway in around four months.

The only thing we know for sure is that Super League will welcome at least two new faces as it is increased from 12 clubs to 14, and with it we will lose the loop fixtures that have caused much consternation and debate among fans for many years.

I have never been a huge fan of the loop fixtures, so I am not against doing away with them. Bringing two more teams into Super League seems to be the obvious way of losing them without hitting the clubs’ finances too hard, so perhaps it could be the solution.

But what I am against is the timing of it; it’s far to late in the season to make such a huge change.

Clubs across the game are already building their squads for next season, and for teams such as Bradford, York, Widnes, Toulouse, Oldham and London – all of whom have expressed a desire to become a Super League outfit sooner rather than later – that probably involved building the strongest squad possible to achieve Championship success, increase their IMG rating and gain promotion with on the field results.

Now, for perhaps more than one of these clubs, or someone else entirely, these plans will need to change, and need to change quickly.

Even if these clubs got told tomorrow that they will be in Super League in 2026 they would be behind the eight ball in terms of preparation, but if they are not going to be told before the end of the season then it’s going to be a real struggle for them. Quite simply they need more time if they are to have the best possible chance in Super League, otherwise they could find themselves trying to compete there with a sub-standard squad, be on the wrong end of the results week-in week-out, see crowds fall, get relegated and end up in a worse state financially.  

The way these clubs are going to be selected is a matter of debate as well. 

While the first 12 teams will be decided, once again, on IMG ratings points, the additional two teams will be selected by an independent panel chaired by Lord Jonathan Caine, who was recently elected as a member of the Rugby Football League Board, and the Strategic Review Sub-Committee. This panel will recommend the final two clubs to make the grade – provided there are two applications of sufficient merit against the set criteria.

Surely if IMG points were brought in to effectively rate which clubs are the best adapted for Super League, then they should be used to determine the full line up of Super League?

But, if additional criteria are going to be used to select the final two it is vital that this criteria is made public. The process of selecting the additional sides needs to be an open and transparent process to avoid any conspiracy theories among fans, some of whom will no doubt already believe that the RFL know who they want to take the spots.

These big changes for Super League leave one big question looming large for the leagues below. 

Do we even now need to bother with the planned Super Eights competition between the bottom four in the Championship and the Top Four in League One?

When this play-off structure was announced last winter is was designed as a way to level the two lower league out to have 12 teams each from 2026 onwards, as well as a 12-team Super League.

But as soon as Cornwall withdrew from the league in April that planned three leagues of 12 structure was already unobtainable. And now with two more teams being handed a spot in Super League – the numbers simply do not stack up.

Shortly after the vote was cast to up the number of teams in Super League, the Championship and League One clubs met to discuss a number a options as to how the game could look below the top flight from next season.

A three-tier conference system, a split eastern and western conference line up or a new, larger merged single league for the remaining 21 professional clubs are three options that have been discussed. But whichever format gets the go ahead, the Super Eights really does become redundant.

In an era when so much is said about player welfare, is it right to have players play another four games, potentially five, simply for the sake of it when the prize that was once on offer has been taken off the table?

I am led to believe that a move to cancel this end-of-season play-off competition was spoken about at the clubs’ meeting, but nothing had been confirmed at the time of writing, although that could easily have changed by the time you’re reading this.

But just like for the clubs getting the nod for Super League, the rest need clarity sooner rather than later so they can prepare for next season, however that might look, in the best possible way.

Whether we like it or not, we’re getting a new league structure from 2026, but this is rugby league – a sport where barely two seasons have ever gone by without some sort of change being made. 

So if this structure is not for you, just stick with it for now, because the next one is probably just around the corner!

This is just the latest in a long line of examples where decisions have been made that have huge ramifications elsewhere, so perhaps rugby league’s motto should be ‘expect the unexpected’.

First published in Rugby League World magazine, Issue 512 (September 2025)