Round 1 Winners and Losers

 Not a surprise for Rugby League, we have 7 winners and 7 losers and no draws. 

1. Winners - York Knights - on a fantastic opening night, York managed one of the greatest upsets in 30 years of Super League, beating the treble winners of 2025, Hull KR.

2. Losers - Hull KR - on the flip side of the opening night, the Robins expected an easy victory on the way to 2 frantic weeks, with the World Club Championship and a Super League match in Las Vegas against the Leeds Rhinos. Hull KR have a week to turn around the disappointment of the opening night and face the formidable Brisbane Broncos. Brisbane is taking this match very seriously and wants to win the trophy for Australia, after a recent period of dominance by the English clubs. Little Willie Peters has a tough job to turn around the season before it goes off the rails, before it has really started.

3. Winner - Ata Hingano apparently slotted home his first-ever drop goal. The precision and coolness of the night were a thing of rare beauty.

4. Winner - Warrington Wolves - totally unfancied after last year's drop down the table. All the talk was of Paul Rowley, Jackson Hastings, triumphant return and a treble for St Helens. Instead, Warrington won the game in the first half with a magnificent display by the young Cai Taylor-Wray. The loss of Matt Dufty is on nobody's lips in Warrington.

5. Losers - St Helens - for all the reasons above and huge expectations of this club, this was a bad night. The bad news continued the next day with the public beheading of CEO Mike Rush, who was blamed for the handling of club legend Paul Wellens sacking. James Roby, another club legend, walked away, and now Mark Percival's signed contract has mysteriously vanished. Club Captain, Matty Lees is out for 10 weeks, and now it is believed Jack Welsby will join him on the sidelines. A club in turmoil after only one week.

6. Loser - Jack Welsby - after missing a large chunk of the 2025 season, Welsby has been trying to regain the form that made him the best full-back in Super League. A relatively poor end to the season was capped by a flaccid performance in the Ashes series. A shoulder injury that will potentially see him in rehab for up to 10 weeks.

7. Losers - Leeds Rhinos - After an impressive 4-game domination of the Leigh Leopards, Leigh finally got their revenge. Much will be made of the Rhinos' weakened team and the absence of the current Man-of-Steel. It may only be the first round, but games against the teams likely to be in your vicinity come the end of the season may come back to haunt you. Without Jake Connor, Leeds failed to find any real creative spark.

8. Winner - Will Pryce - After returning from a disappointing spell in Australia, Will Pryce looks poised to take Super League 2026 by storm. A fantastic running Full-back, he just needs to remain fit and healthy for the full season.

9. Winners - Bradford Bulls - They may have lost narrowly to Hull FC, but Bradford have come away with a great deal of credit. Of course, they will not be happy until they break the duck, like all the other promoted teams have managed. Joe Mellor and Waqa Blake are the stand-outs in a losing team.

10. Winners - Toulouse Olympique - on their return to Super League pulled of one of the shocks of the round beating the much fancied Wakefield Trinity. Special mention goes to Olly Ashall-Bott, who has become a veteran at Toulouse since finding himself surplus to requirements at Huddersfield. A two try haul was just enough to get Toulouse Olympique over the line after Cesar Rouge kept hitting the woodwork with his conversions.

Dirty Leeds

 

Dirty Leeds

"The phrase is widely traced back to 1964, during a notoriously aggressive match between Leeds United and Everton at Goodison Park. The game was so physical that the referee walked off before halftime, players clashed repeatedly, and even the crowd got involved. The Football Association labelled Leeds “Dirty Leeds” because of the team’s on‑pitch conduct, and the name stuck."

I am not trying to liken the Leeds Rhinos to Leeds United of the 1964 vintage, but for a big club, they like to recruit their fair share of "Dickheads". If you think about their current squad and previous years, you might be thinking, who are you talking about? The main protagonist is normally Jake Connor, an odious man who has caused chaos and mayhem wherever he has plied his trade, but in this case I would like to present Exhibit A, Harry James Newman, the manchild from Huddersfield. Google his name, and you will be confronted with a litany of on-field exploits, designed to intimidate and rile up the opposition over the years.He is not a good loser and an even worse winner. Matt Peet a man not known for saying bad things about the opposition. Matt Peet said of Newman, "Some players you’re just not surprised when they’re involved in incidents, are you? I don’t think anyone will be surprised.”He added: “Some players carry on when they win and some don’t. Normally the ones that win often don’t.”

If this is not usual behaviour from Matt Peet, it is even more unusual for your coach highlight your flaws publicly. Arthur described Newman as “immature” when he first arrived at Leeds", but stressed that the “penny has dropped and that the centre has undergone a real transformation in attitude and professionalism." 

Has Harry Newman changed? I am guessing the fact that I am writing about him suggests not. Dispite being picked by Shaun Wane for the final Ashes match at Headingley, I would like to highlight the two Super League matches either side of the International. The Super League Play-off eliminator in which Leeds were defeated in the now famous "Right to Wright", the Sky cameras zoomed in on Newman crying with his mother. Tristan Sailor saught to console him and pat him on the back, Newman's response was to spit "F*&# Off" as Sailor turned away. 

Harry Newman was yellow‑carded in the second half of Leeds’ 26–14 loss to Leigh Leopards. Both he and Leigh’s Matt Davis were sent to the bin after a flare‑up that followed a high‑tackle penalty against Leeds.

• Newman was described as “clearly mystified” as he left the field.

From the reporting, here’s what stands out:

1. Involved in the flare‑up that triggered the cards

The confrontation after the high‑tackle penalty is what led to the double sin‑bin. Newman was one of the central figures in that exchange.

2. Visible frustration

Newman’s reaction — looking baffled and irritated as he left the field — was noted in match reports. This fits the pattern of him being an emotionally charged player, though nothing beyond the flare‑up was reported.

What the report does not highlight was that he was constantly picking a fight with his opposite number Tesi Niu. The Sin-binning was due to Newman letting the confrontations build up to that point.

It looks like this is an overspill from the season before. The report states:

1. Repeated dissent toward the referee

Multiple match reports noted that Newman was visibly frustrated, particularly in the second half. He was spoken to by the referee more than once for:

• Arguing decisions
• Gesturing after calls
• Continuing to complain after being told to move away

This didn’t lead to a card, but it did contribute to the narrative that he needed to control his emotions better.

2. A confrontation with Leigh players

Late in the game, Newman became involved in a minor confrontation after a tackle. It didn’t escalate into anything serious, but it was enough for commentators to remark that he was “boiling over” and needed to calm down.

If this is the more mature Harry Newman, then I for one can't wait for him to join the Perth Bears next season.

Predictions are Like Arseholes. Everybody Has Got One

 

Aaron Bower has managed to get two articles in The Guardian on the eve of the start of Super League XXX nod to the Super Bowl). Super League returns and, 30 years on, it’s going back to the future | Super League | The Guardian and Super League 2026: team-by-team guide to the new season | Super League | The Guardian. I am a fan of Aaron, especially when he gets a few column inches in a daily newspaper. Below is his prediction for the Leigh Leopards:

Leigh Leopards

Had it not been for Hull KR’s treble, Leigh would have been the story of 2025. A Championship club as recently as 2022, the Leopards secured their highest finish last season, falling just short of a maiden Grand Final. They should make the top six again, but their squad looks slightly light in a couple of key areas. Injuries could leave them in trouble.

Coach Adrian Lam Captain Lachlan Lam Key player Lachlan Lam Last season 3rd Prediction 6th

Leigh, having finished 5th, 4th and 3rd and ranked the 3rd best in the competition by IMG ratings over the the 3 year period, is going to go into reverse and finish in the last slot in the play-offs. Funnily enough Aaron Bower in Love Rugby League on the 10th February - Super League predictions: Our writers tip Leeds Rhinos for title predicted that Leigh would drop out of the play-off race and finish 7th. Aaron either does not keep a tab on his own predictions, or he has changed his mind in the last 2 days. Aaron's big argument is: "They should make the top six again, but their squad looks slightly light in a couple of key areas. Injuries could leave them in trouble." The reality is Leigh has suffered injuries to key players over the last 2 seasons and still managed to find themselves in the top 4. In my opinion, the depth of the squad is much greater than that of some of their nearest rivals. Wigan, Warrington and Leeds have filled the high numbers in their squads with academy players. Leigh, on the other hand, has Super League experience down to 26. Nathan Wilde has 12 games under his belt.

Aaron Bower – Love Rugby League
1. Hull KR
2. Leeds Rhinos
3. Wigan Warriors
4. St Helens
5. Hull FC
6. Wakefield Trinity
7. Leigh Leopards
8. Catalans Dragons
9. Castleford Tigers
10. Warrington Wolves
11. Huddersfield Giants
12. York Knights
13. Toulouse Olympique
14. Bradford Bulls

Aaron Bower – Guardian
1. Hull KR
2. Leeds Rhinos
3. Wigan Warriors
4. St Helens
5. Hull FC
6. Leigh Leopards
7. Wakefield Trinity
8. Catalans Dragons
9. Castleford Tigers
10. Warrington Wolves
11. Huddersfield Giants
12. York Knights
13. Toulouse Olympique
14. Bradford Bulls

Matt Shaw – Love Rugby League
1. Leigh Leopards
2. Leeds Rhinos
3. Hull KR
4. Wigan Warriors
5. Hull FC
6. Wakefield Trinity
7. St Helens
8. Warrington Wolves
9. Catalans Dragons
10. Huddersfield Giants
11. Castleford Tigers
12. Toulouse Olympique
13. Bradford Bulls
14. York Knights

Ben Olawumi – Love Rugby League
1. Wigan Warriors
2. Leeds Rhinos
3. Hull KR
4. St Helens
5. Hull FC
6. Leigh Leopards
7. Warrington Wolves
8. Wakefield Trinity
9. Catalans Dragons
10. Castleford Tigers
11. Bradford Bulls
12. Toulouse Olympique
13. York Knights
14. Huddersfield Giants

Louis Chapman-Coombe – Love Rugby League
1. Hull KR
2. Leeds Rhinos
3. Wigan Warriors
4. St Helens
5. Wakefield Trinity
6. Leigh Leopards
7. Hull FC
8. Warrington Wolves
9. Catalans Dragons
10. Castleford Tigers
11. Huddersfield Giants
12. York Knights
13. Bradford Bulls
14. Toulouse Olympique

Will Jackson – SARL
1. Wigan Warriors
2. Hull KR
3. St Helens
4. Leeds Rhinos
5. Hull FC
6. Leigh Leopards
7. Warrington Wolves
8. Wakefield Trinity
9. Huddersfield Giants
10. Catalans Dragons
11. Castleford Tigers
12. York Knights
13. Bradford Bulls
14. Toulouse Olympique

Sam Brocksam - SARL
1. Wigan Warriors
2. ⁠Leigh Leopards
3. ⁠Hull KR
4. ⁠Leeds Rhinos
5. ⁠St Helens
6. ⁠Catalans Dragons
7. ⁠Hull FC
8. ⁠Warrington Wolves
9. ⁠Wakefield Trinity
10. ⁠Castleford Tigers
11. ⁠York Knights
12. ⁠Huddersfield Giants
13. ⁠Toulouse Olympique
14. ⁠Bradford Bulls

Sam Cook – SARL
1: Leigh Leopards
2: Wigan Warriors
3: Hull KR
4: St Helens
5: Hull FC
6: Leeds Rhinos
7: Warrington Wolves
8: Catalans Dragons
9: Wakefield Trinity
10: Huddersfield Giants
11: Castleford Tigers:
12: York Knights
13: Toulouse Olympique
14: Bradford Bulls

All Out Rugby League chickened out of full predictions.

Leigh Leopards v Leeds Rhinos - Round 1 Super League 2026

 

If Adrian Lam invites you over for Poker night, I would recommend that you politely decline. A week on from the 4th Round of the Challenge Cup, when Lammy stated that he only had 19 players available to choose from. The injured players have risen one by one like Lazarus, to create an almost 1st choice 21 man squad for the first game of the season. At first look it is an almost complete consecutive numbers down to about 19. Missing is the most obvious David Armstrong at Full-back, but Leigh fans have grown used to seeing Bailey Hodgson fill in that role. The mysterious Issac Liu returns, some believe he has been out of the country and only returned today. The Iceman is a welcome return if he is match fit, this will push the attack out +1. Ipape-Liu-Cook-Lam and suddenly the focus is on the edges. At centre Umyla Hanley has been named. The 2025 Dream Team member was expected to be out for 4 weeks, but instead he is named after only one week off.

Matt Davis and Liam Horne return to the squad after injuries. Davis was expected to return after receiving stiches at the Warrington friendly, and Horne has served his HIA protocol after being dazed and confused in the same game. Question marks still remain over Mulhern, Liu and Hanley, and it is not beyond Lammy to add them into the 21 man squad, just to give Brad Arthur something to think about.

1. Bailey Hodgson
2. Keanan Brand
3. Umyla Hanley
4. Tesi Niu
5. Josh Charnley
6. Adam Cook
7. Lochlan Lam
8. Joe Ofahengaue
9. Edwin Ipape
10. Owen Trout
11. Frankie Halton
12. Jacob Alick-Wiencke
13. Issac Liu
14. Liam Horne
15. Robbie Mulhern
16. Andrew Badrock
17. Matt Davis
18. Jack Hughes

Brad Arthur already has plenty to think about. Top of the pops, is reigning Man-of-Steel, Jake Connor, who took a knock to his knee in training, and is expected to just miss one game. prop forward Mikolaj Oledzki, who picked up a rib injury in Saturday's Challenge Cup tie at Widnes Vikings. Elsewhere, Cameron Smith is also absent after picking up a knock against Widnes. Middle forwards Keenan Palasaia and Jeremiah Mata'utia remain sidelined, while outside backs Ash Handley and Maika Sivo are still out, with long-term absentees Alfie Edgell and Max Simpson missing.

I questioned whether the Leeds squad had enough depth to it, and already we are looking at 5 players who do not currently have squad numbers. Make your own call, but the Rhinos look like a patched up side at the start of the season, even before a huge game in Las Vegas for round 3.

Where is Issac Liu?

 

Not a murder mystery, but as usual, Adrian Lam has been quite cryptic. Here is where the confusion arises, Adrian Lam said last week, "Of our 30-man squad, there are 11 unavailable and only 19 available" So far so good. "We’ve only got 19 to choose from for this week; there are ten players out."

From that conversation, we know the 19-man squad that was named for the trip to Colwyn Bay:

1. Bailey Hodgson
2. Innes Senior 
3. Tesi Niu 
4. Keanan Brand
5. Josh Charnley
6. Adam Cook 
7. Lachlan Lam
8. Robbie Mulhern
9. Edwin Ipape
10. Owen Trout
11. Frankie Halton
12. Jacob Alick-Wiencke
13. Jack Hughes
14. Andrew Badrock
15. Ben McNamara 
16. Nathan Wilde
17. Gareth O’Brien
18. AJ Towse
19. Ryan Brown

On top of that, we have the 4 injured against Warrington the week before:

1. Umyal Hanley (Rotator Cuff)
2. Joe Ofahengaue (3 teeth and HIA)
3. Liam Horne (HIA)
4. Matt Davis (Gash on leg with stitches)

Already missing from the friendly against Warrington:

1. Aaron Pene
2. Issac Liu
3. Louis Brogan (Injured)
4. David Armstrong (Injured - ACL)

Status Unknown:

1. Kavan Rothwell
2. Will Brough
3. Oliver Polec

The finger appears to be pointing at Aaron Pene or Issac Liu. The final piece of the jigsaw was the clue on the Leopards website, and the men's team photos.

Everybody has a photo, with the exception of Issac. If Issac has gone back to Australia, Samoa or New Zealand for personal reasons, then what is the big issue? The public have no right to know why, but if a star player is not available we should have some idea in which round to expect him back. Not because we are nosy we just want to see the strongest team available at the start of the season, especially as we face Leeds, St Helens and Wigan as the first 3 games.

Headhunters (and not the PNG variety)

 

Two weeks until the start of the 2026 season, we are still dealing with recruitment and retention for 2027. Leopards are Massive: Salary Cap, Retention & Recruitment written less than two weeks ago is already out of date.

Players and agents have a full year to negotiate the next move or new contract. Most of the current activity is based around Leeds and Leigh, two clubs that finished in the top 4 last season. Leeds have seen James McDonnell and Harry Newman get NRL booty calls from the newly formed Perth Bears. Former Leeds captain Cam Smith is going to the slightly less glamorous Wakefield Trinity. In previous years, you might have expected these kinds of players to see out their playing days at a large club like Leeds. The Rhinos are no longer exempt from having players headhunted.

Leigh Leopards are a few weeks behind the curve, although they did see Ethan O'Neill choose Headingley for the new season despite still having a year left on his contract. Rumours suggest a falling out, and  Lammy can be just as ruthless as Willie Peters if people are not toeing the line. Leigh have had to deal with survival uncertainty since being promoted. Contracts of two years became the norm, with neither club nor player wanting to commit to longer deals. With security comes longer contracts; the best example is Edwin Ipape, who signed with Leigh until the end of the 2031 season. Wigan have mitigated against the NRL clubs raiding all their young talent, including Brad O'Neill, Jake Wardle Kaide Ellis, Sam Walters and in much demand Junior Nsemba.

Leigh have managed to secure Umyla Hanley, but lost Robbie Mulhern to the Castleford Tigers. Chris Chester, with his insider knowledge manged to secure Mulhern. From the outside, the deciding factors would appear to be a return to West Yorkshire and a lengthy contract at 3 years. This will take Robbie to his 35th birthday, and a date with destiny as to whether to retire or continue. Leigh have often chosen the safer option with contract lengths when players are in their thirties. John Asiata, when aged 31, was offered a 3-year contract with Hull FC or a 2-year contract at Leigh. John has missed chunks of the last two seasons, and it remains to be seen whether Leigh or Hull FC got that call right.

Owen Trout appeared to have agreed terms with Leigh 2 weeks ago. The contract remains unsigned, and interest has come from both the NRL and Super League. Gut feeling suggests he is probably heading to the Southern Hemisphere for next year, with Cronulla Sharks and Perth Bears both expressing an interest. 

Lammy remains relatively chilled about the situation, as he did when Leigh lost Tom Amone, Kai O'Donnell, Zak Hardaker and John Asiata. The policy is to bring young talent under the age of 25, from the Australian Cup competitions. Leeds, by contrast, will look to the academy to blood some more youngsters.

Official Leigh Leopards Squad 2026

 

It has been a long wait for Leigh Leopards to issue the squad numbers and away strip. Three weeks ago, I took a stab at the squad Leopards are Massive: Leigh Leopards Squad 2026.

It was not too bad a stab as it turns out, with numbers 1-15 all present and correct. The first divergence is at 16, I predicted the goal-kicking genius Gaz O'Brien would be wearing that shirt instead; it is the utility forward Matt "The Axe" Davis.

It is in fact Jack Hughes and Gaz O'Brien that have been squeezed down the pecking order, coming in at 21 and 22. As veterans Lammy will have no issue utilising this pair, and in some respects shows the depth in the Leigh squad with players all the way down to 25. Louis Brogan having had a reasonable amount of game time. Compare this with Wigan who only have regulars down to 22. Tom Forber or Leeds with 23. Danny Levi marking the end of the experienced squad.