FOR how much longer is the negotiation between the RFL and the NRL going to continue?

And what will the eventual outcome be?

We are now less than two weeks away from the Super League Grand Final and at this moment we can’t be sure about the broadcasting arrangements for Super League next season, we don’t know who will be managing the competition and we don’t know how many clubs will be in it.

It now seems that the NRL is suggesting that its financial investment in Super League depends on London Broncos being in the competition next year.

As readers of this column will no doubt be aware, that is an outcome I have strongly supported throughout the summer.

But the point surely is that the RFL should have been aware of that condition months ago and should have put into effect a plan to make it happen.

The most obvious thing to do would have been to plan for 15 clubs in the competition right from the start, although the problem for the RFL is that the existing Super League clubs have the power to decide how many teams will be in and they have not yet agreed to expand the competition.

That simply demonstrates that it is ridiculous for different groups to have decision-making powers that might come into conflict and actually damage the competition.

As you will see in this week’s League Express, Gary Hetherington has made a plea to the Super League clubs to make a decision as soon as possible to move to 15 clubs in Super League.

But whether they will do so seems to be anyone’s guess.

Goodbye Willie

IT is often said that all political careers end in failure.

And the same could be said of almost all coaching careers.

Willie Peters has spent four seasons with Hull KR and it’s fair to say that he has transformed the club in that time.

Of course the zenith was reached in late February this year, when the Robins won the World Club Challenge after having won all three major trophies in 2025.

Unfortunately, however, after that wonderful triumph against Brisbane Broncos, they would never reach the same heights again.

In fact their decline began the following week in Las Vegas, when Leeds Rhinos took them to the cleaners, winning 58-6, with Maika Sivo making his mark with four tries, and the Robins never seemed to fully recover their poise after that defeat.

That was illustrated when Wigan spanked them 40-10 in the Challenge Cup Final at Wembley.

The Robins did manage to qualify for the play-offs, but only in sixth place, and they could never quite match Warrington on Saturday, despite Joe Burgess scoring one of the tries of the season that originated deep in their own half.

Willie will now head to Papua New Guinea to prepare for the PNG Chiefs entry into the NRL competition in 2028.

I would like to wish him the very best of luck with that venture, which I’m sure will be a great success.

Former Super League coaches hit the heights

TWO former St Helens coaches – Justin Holbrook, who won the Super League Grand Final in 2019, and Kristian Woolf, who won it in three successive years from 2020 to 2022 – could face each other in the NRL Grand Final.

That’s if they can guide their respective teams – Newcastle Knights and the Dolphins – to victory against Penrith Panthers and Sydney Roosters respectively this weekend.

It would be a remarkable achievement, although at this stage the odds must be against it happening, especially given the fact that the Knights will be facing the formidable Panthers.

Nonetheless I will be keeping my fingers crossed.

Wigan lead the way again

WIGAN have recently lodged their 2025 financial report and accounts with Companies House and, although the information is very limited, they do tell an interesting story.

Unfortunately (and quite remarkably), Wigan, like every Rugby League club, are classified as a small company.

That means that they don’t have to file a profit and loss account of any form, so we have to estimate the club’s annual loss from the annual movement in the Profit and Loss account reserve.

It appears that they lost around £4.6 million in 2025, up from £2.9 million in 2024. 

Those losses were financed by an increase in borrowings from its holding company, Wigan Sporting Club Limited, which effectively means that its owner Mike Danson footed the bill for its losses.

The other requirement that a small company doesn’t have to satisfy is to submit fully audited accounts.

So the truth is that we can actually learn very little from the minimum that a small company has to lodge with Companies House.

We do know that Wigan’s total turnover must be less than £15 million because otherwise the club would have to lodge more detailed accounts.

But the fact is that Wigan are high achievers on the field but also seem to post the highest financial losses.

In a salary-capped sport I strongly believe that all our leading clubs should have to post more than the bare minimum so that we could all see more details about their income and expenditure.

Goodbye Betfred

BETFRED began its sponsorship of Super League in 2017 and since then the company has sponsored more and more elements of Rugby League, to the extent that it has effectively been the sole major sponsor of our sport.

Regardless of whether you believe that betting companies should be able to sponsor sporting competitions, in my view Betfred have been first-class commercial partners for Rugby League, always playing their part in helping to promote the competitions they sponsor.

I met their owner Fred Done several times and he struck me as someone who has a genuine empathy with Rugby League supporters, even though his first love is Manchester United, which he came close to buying some years ago.

Betfred is pulling out of Rugby League because of the increased costs it has had to cope with in recent years.

I suspect it will be difficult for RL Commercial to find a replacement sponsor to compare with Betfred, although of course I hope I’m wrong.

Championship play-off format

I’VE rarely come across a play-off format that is as complicated as the current system being used in the Championship play-offs.

It’s been difficult for the average supporter to understand how their club might progress through the play-off rounds. Or at least I assume it has been, because it’s been difficult for me.

The fact that Barrow travelled twice to Doncaster and were hammered in both matches two weeks apart, for example, looks absolutely ridiculous to me.

I hope the RFL can find a much simpler format next year.