Super League returns with one big question - can anyone stop Wigan?

After back-to-back titles for the Warriors, St Helens and Hull KR are striving to answer the challenge and emerge as title contenders

Wigan swept all in their path during a dominant 2023 (PA)

There were times last season, when Bevan French was in his audacious groove and Liam Marshall was scorching over the try-line with reckless abandon, that it felt like Wigan Warriors’s relentless dominance of the domestic game in the first half of the 1990s had never ended.

Such was the conviction of Matt Peet’s side as they successfully defended a Super League title they had finally wrenched from the grasp of their historic rivals St Helens the previous year, it was hard to envisage any different set of hands clutching the prestigious trophy.

Having swept the board by adding World Club and Challenge Cup success, there are no doubt those clad in cherry and white who harbour genuine expectations of Peet’s men going on to emulate the Ellery Hanley-inspired aces who reeled off seven straight titles in the pre-Super League era.

Bevan French will lead Wigan’s defence of their Super League crown (PA)

Having added only former Oldham forward George Hirst to their roster for the 2025 campaign, which they kick off on 13 February against neighbours Leigh, the message emanating from the Brick Community Stadium is clear to their vanquished rivals: come and have a go if you think you’re hard enough.

While it would be wrong to accuse Peet’s men of complacency – indeed, for the majority of the 2024 campaign it was impossible to identify any position in which they came up short – their potential problem is that their closest rivals, specifically Saints and Hull KR, have shown every sign of answering the challenge.

Saints, shaken by a torrid 2024 in which head coach Paul Wellens sometimes looked in danger of losing his job, have responded with the hugely eye-catching additions of NRL stars Tristan Sailor and Kyle Feldt, more than adequate replacements for departing pair Tommy Makinson and Lewis Dodd.

For all the depths their 2024 campaign occasionally plumbed, there were flickers of life – not least in their thrilling play-off near-miss to Warrington – that suggested it would not take much of an upgrade for them to get back on toe-to-toe terms with their historic rivals.

Paul Wellens has made a number of eye-catching signings at St Helens (PA)

Rovers, too, were not far away, and have built on their first Grand Final appearance with the high-profile addition of decorated former Sydney Roosters prop Jared Waerea-Hargreaves (Sydney Roosters), as well as the likes of Michael McIlorum and Tom Davies from Catalans, and Leeds centre Rhyse Martin.

It seems inconceivable that such additions on the part of both Saints and Rovers will not at least bridge the gap to the defending champions, and it points to the new Super League season being one of the most engrossing in recent years.

Sam Burgess continues at the helm with Warrington (PA)

Sam Burgess’ Warrington will doubtless be solidifying another play-off push while some big-name introductions at both Catalans and Leeds suggest that both the latter clubs, stung by missing out on the post-season in 2024, have reacted in a way that will ensure they do not make the same mistake again.

Under new head coach John Cartwright, Hull FC have also made some notable acquisitions as they look to erase the memory of a traumatic 2024 campaign, while Leigh – who have lost Zak Hardaker and the talismanic John Asiata to the Black and Whites – have also done well to plug their quite considerable gaps.

A second Super League season without automatic relegation denies the competition a potentially thrilling dogfight at the bottom of the table, with newly-promoted Wakefield clearly not there to make up the numbers, and clear improvements made by Danny McGuire’s Castleford in the close-season.

Wakefield are back in the top flight (PA)

Financially-stricken Salford have defied the odds so many times in recent years under Paul Rowley but it is getting increasingly difficult to avoid a season of struggle, while a torrid pre-season does not bode well for Luke Robinson’s Huddersfield.

The spectre of the IMG points system – and the very real possibility of the likes of Toulouse and Bradford Bulls making the Super League grade for 2026 – adds off-field uncertainty to a campaign which promises plenty of strength in depth – and possibly new hands lifting the Grand Final trophy in October.

PA