A season’s endeavours climaxed at Old Trafford with the 2025 Grand Final between minor premiers and Challenge Cup winners Hull KR and the defending champions and Grand Final victors in the last two seasons, Wigan Warriors.

Hull KR need to go one step better than last year and beat their 2025 nemesis to become the fifth name on the trophy, joining St Helens, Wigan, Leeds and Bradford, in so doing achieve a massive treble to show their domination all season.

Despite finishing second on the table, Wigan’s Grand Final experience saw them enter the game as favourites with a four-point handicap on the coupon, but many pundits were unable to pick between the two sides as kick off approached.

The two two sides at the end of the regular season won through to the Grand Final as York RLFC Knights hosted Toulouse Olympique XII with a titanic battle on the cards to secure the trophy.

The sides had met twice during the season, the Frenchmen winning 7-6 in February, but York won the encounter in August by 16-8 and after finishing ahead of their biggest rivals on the league ladder they were small favourites with their home advantage to seal the season with a precious win.

After snatching a sensational last gasp winner last weekend against the Leeds Rhinos, Shane Wright eventually finding a way through the defensive line to break Rhinos hearts, St Helens were rewarded with a trip to east Hull to take on a Hull KR side who still have aspirations for a famous treble.

The Robins were the favourites to seal their first ever trip to Old Trafford to take on a Wigan Warriors side who defeated Leigh Leopards last night, and they were handicapped by eight points on the coupon.

KR have emerged victorious in the three previous meetings in 2025, most recently with a narrow 12-8 at the end of August when the two sides last met at Craven Park.

It was the game which almost didn’t happen due to a behind the scenes, and then very public, argument between Leopards owner Derek Beaumont and Warriors chief Executive Kris Radlinski, the elimination semi-final between second placed Wigan Warriors and the Leigh Leopards who ended the regular season just below them in third.

It was now up to the players to do their talking on the pitch with Wigan as the slight favourites, being handicapped four points on the coupon.

The winners would be gracing Old Trafford in eight days’ time against either Hull KR or St Helens, the loser would be crushed at their season ending within touching distance of the game’s showpiece event.

The fifth meeting of the season between the Leeds Rhinos and St Helens was the most crucial as the two sides were fighting for the right to travel to Craven Park and a game against the minor premiers, Hull KR, for a spot in the Grand Final in a couple of weeks’ time.

Home advantage, and a single league place, made the Rhinos four-point favourites with the bookies but with Saints having won three out of the four encounters so far in 2025 there was nothing clear cut about who would emerge victorious.

These two sides have a massive play-off pedigree and this 2025 encounter promised to be as fierce as any that had gone before, the Rhinos needing to overcome a seven-game home losing streak against the red vee going back to 2017.

 

A fourth meeting of the season between the Leigh Leopards and Wakefield Trinity would determine who would progress to within a match of Old Trafford and a date at the 2025 Super League Grand Final.

Wakefield won the first meeting of the season all the way back in round six, but Leigh triumphed in the Challenge Cup quarter final and the second league meeting at the end of June, but neither were by massive margins, which was reflected in the home side being handicapped by eight points on the coupon.

A win for Leigh would set up a meeting with near neighbours Wigan Warriors next week while a Wakefield victory would send them to Hull KR in the semi-finals.

The Salford Red Devils were simply playing for personal pride and contracts for 2026 as they had been condemned to bottom spot for a couple of weeks, if not the entire wretched season which has seen them stumble clumsily from crisis to crisis.

The Huddersfield Giants, on the other hand, were playing for tenth spot, which they are currently disputing with the Castleford Tigers and a win this afternoon would lift them two points clear of eleventh spot would send the competition to avoid second bottom into the final round of a disappointing season.

The bookies were in no doubt, tipping a comfortable home win, with the Giants handicapped by sixteen points on the coupon in a round which has seen the underdogs triumph in a couple of games.

The promise from Hull KR was that this would be a history making afternoon for the visitors as they travelled to Wakefield with a chance to clinch the minor premiership for the first time in the summer era and finishing top of the pile for the first time since the 1984-85 season.

But Daryl Powell’s Trinity were intent on spoiling the party as they needed the points to continue their push for a top six finish in their first season after promotion and they knew that a win, along with a loss for Hull FC against the Warrington Wolves, would see them attain their objective.

Wakefield were given a respectful eight-point start on the coupon and based on a five-place gap between the sides on the league ladder they thought that it would be a close game.

The maths were simple, a loss for Saints would see them finish the season in fifth spot and guarantee a top four place for the Leigh Leopards, while the revers would march us into the final week of the regular season with places from three to five still up for grabs.

Leigh were the victors the last time that the two sides locked horns in July, the 16-4 victory being the outcome of the only encounter between the two near neighbours in 2025.

The bookies didn’t have a clue what the outcome would be and handicapped the home side by just two points going into the game as the house full notices went up at the Leigh Sports Village.

With two games of the regular season remaining, the Leeds Rhinos had their eyes firmly on second spot but knew that they needed a massive points win over a Catalans Dragons side who are destined to finish the season in a very disappointing ninth place in the table.

The Dragons were given a twenty-six-point start on the coupon, the Rhinos loss of the in-form Jake Connor not concerning the bookmakers who couldn’t see anything other than a comprehensive Leeds victory.

For Leeds the win was crucial, as was improving their points difference, as depending on results over the next two weeks they could still finish as high as second, or as low as fifth in the table.

There were three motivations for the black and white side of Hull as they travelled to take on their arch rivals wearing red and white; first was to deny the Robins the league leaders trophy which would be everything but mathematically certain should they win; second was to lift themselves above Wakefield Trinity and into a play-off play place, and third was to ridicule a twenty-six point handicap start which the bookies had allocated them on the coupon.

A victory for the home side would put them four clear of Wigan with two games remaining and supporting a massive points difference advantage meaning that they would be all but mathematically impossible to catch, and meaning that a single point from their remaining two games would give them the shield.

But Hull FC’s need was seemingly greater, a win would put them up to sixth, and would mean that their play-off fate was back in their own hands.

Few games are as highly anticipated as encounters between St Helens and the Wigan Warriors, the original derby, and in terms of the race for play off positions in 2025, this match up was one of the most anticipated in recent history.

Wigan were favourites with the bookies but there was very little to choose between the two sides, Saints with just a two-point start on the coupon as there was really very little to choose between the two sides.

A win for Saints would put them fourth with two games remaining, a win for the Warriors would do their quest for a home semi-final a power of good as they would move two points clear of the Rhinos, who they face in the final round of the season.

Hull FC’s defeat against the Leeds Rhinos left the door wide open for Wakefield Trinity to step into the top six, and a coveted pay off place, should they be able to despatch the challenge of the Huddersfield Giants.

Wakefield were handicapped by twelve points on the coupon as the bookies picked them as strong favourites to win the derby.

Trinity won the game in July at a canter by 46-10 after previously knocking Huddersfield out of the Challenge Cup in March with a 22-12 score line.

A win for the Leeds Rhinos at Hull FC would lift them into third spot in the table with three rounds of the season remaining, a win for the hosts would put them three points clear of seventh placed Wakefield Trinity, and strengthen their claim for a top six spot and a place in the play-offs.

The bookies fancied a win for a resurgent Rhinos but with just a six-point handicap on the coupon they weren’t expecting them to have it all their own way, Hull FC expected to run them close.

Leeds were the winners by just two points when the sides met in May, and in a weekend of intriguing fixtures, this might just have been the most unpredictable.