BY MARTYN SADLER
IT was quite a dull weekend in Super League, with most of the games having predictable outcomes and very few close matches, apart from the last between Catalans and London.
The Broncos could so easily have won that game, but as it turned out the Dragons survived and still have a chance of making the top six if Leigh lose at home to St Helens this Friday night.
Leigh were particularly disappointing last Friday, being well beaten by Hull KR in a game that I had anticipated being much closer.
So the Leopards’ position in the top six is by no means guaranteed.
If we look at each game in turn in the final round of fixtures, we can see what each team may or may not be able to achieve.
On Thursday night Wigan will win the League Leaders’ Shield if they beat Salford, while the Red Devils will finish fourth or fifth, depending on St Helens’ result against Leigh on Friday night.
On the other hand, if Salford win, they will definitely finish fourth and Wigan will have to wait to see whether Leeds can then prevent Hull KR from winning the League Leaders’ Shield on Friday night with a victory over the Rhinos. Salford would then play Leigh or St Helens at home in the first round of the play-offs.
Even if Wigan do win on Thursday night, Hull KR may still need to beat Leeds to be sure of finishing in second place, with Warrington two points behind them and with a 16-points worse points difference as they face London at the Halliwell Jones Stadium.
The game at Leigh is much more critical for the Leopards than it is for St Helens, who will stay in sixth place even with a defeat because of their vastly superior points difference to the chasing Leeds and Catalans. If Leigh win that game they will go into fifth place and travel to Salford in the opening round of the play-offs.
So Leeds need to win at Hull KR and hope that Leigh can’t beat St Helens on the same night if they are going to reach sixth spot.
But if Leigh do lose to Saints, that could open the door for Catalans.
The Dragons visit Hull FC in the very last game of the regular season on Saturday, when the other ten teams will all have completed their fixtures.
If Leigh have lost to St Helens and Leeds have lost to Hull KR, the Dragons will only need to win to claim sixth place, with Leigh and Leeds both missing out.
On the other hand, if Leeds can secure victory against Hull KR, Catalans could still secure sixth place if they can reverse the 25 points difference between the two sides that currently separate them. And, given Hull’s recent form, that is by no means an impossible task.
On the other hand, if Leigh have beaten St Helens the night before, the game against Hull will become meaningless for the Dragons.
But it won’t be meaningless for Hull in their battle to avoid finishing at the bottom of the league.
Over the weekend they slipped into twelfth place with a one-point worse points difference than London Broncos.
Essentially, they need to better the Broncos’ result against Warrington the previous evening to rise back above them.
In my view after some of their performances this season they deserve to finish at the bottom of the league compared to London, who have played with spirit and great determination for most of the season.
On Sunday night Hull director of rugby Richie Myler put out a statement to the club’s supporters.
“The board hears your frustrations; believe me when I say, we cannot and will not continue in this current manner,” he wrote.
“This is not a finger pointing exercise, or a blame game towards any one individual. But clearly, certain members of our organisation are not delivering on their roles, and ultimately we need to make a change.
“A lot of talk has been that our focus is purely on 2025, and we have put the cue in the rack. I can assure you all that every day, we are working tirelessly to solve our situation. To get back to where we want this club to be, we have to change fundamentally.”
It’s obvious that major changes have to be made after several years of decline.
But the question is whether the current leaders of the club can identify what those changes should be and whether they can actively make them.
The evidence so far doesn’t give me a great deal of confidence.
Hall of Fame congratulations
WELL done to the Great Britain Lionesses of 1996 on becoming the first team, as opposed to individual players, to be inducted into the Rugby League Hall of Fame.
To fly to Australia on a largely self-funded trip and beat the Australians is an achievement well worth celebrating and I suspect that many Rugby League supporters will be far less aware of it than they would be if the same thing happened today.
And congratulations to the players whose names have been added to the Hall of Fame.
Jamie Peacock won nine Super League titles, which is still a record, and four Challenge Cups during his time with Bradford and Leeds.
He also appeared 47 times internationally for Great Britain and England, including captaining a Lions win in Australia in 2006.
Paul Sculthorpe is the only player to win the Man of Steel in successive years, after doing so in 2001 and 2002.
After beginning his career with Warrington, he won Super League, the Challenge Cup and the World Club Challenge three times each with St Helens, and earned 30 international caps.
Jane Banks played 19 times for Great Britain and was named the best player in the 2000 World Series, while Michelle Land made 16 Lionesses appearances and captained Wakefield Panthers when they dominated the women’s game.
James Lomas played for Bramley, Salford, Oldham and York in the early 20th century, and Alan Prescott starred for St Helens in the 1950s, famously breaking his arm and insisting on playing on in the Brisbane Test in the 1958 Ashes series.
They are all very worthy recipients.
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