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.

WTF!

 

Super League 2026 goes off with a bang. Some people are suggesting it is the biggest shock in 30 years of Super League - York Knights 19-18 Hull KR. There are some horrible rumours that the Robins asked for the RFL for this fixture as an easy start to the new campaign. If that is the case, then I am even more delighted for York, because it is utterly derogatory, and worse still, it backfired spectacularly. In all honesty, this is the best result for Super League, and will generate a mound of interest like the 0-1 Wigan defeat last season.

10 days ago, I wrote the article Leopards are Massive: Is This the End of the Big Bopper? from that post I wrote " I was struck by how Hull KR adapted the old interpretation of the rules to their benefit. Four men in the tackle, fast advancing defence, and the slowest play-the-balls against them, due to the time to untangle 4 players from the ball-carrier. Four-man tackles will regularly get pinged with the new interpretation, and with faster play-the-balls, the Hull KR defence will get beaten out of shape. On the flip-side Litten and Lewis will love the chaos created by defences that have not had time to get set." 

Hull KR did not commit 4 men into tackles, but still compressed the defensive line and made 3 man tackles. Kyle Amor reckoned that KR got pinged at least 9 times in the first half for ruck infringements. What made it worse was that the players looked incredulous when penalised. Rhyse Martin protested, saying he had his hands up, whilst loitering behind the play-the-ball (a little hint you are supposed to be 10 metres away and not interfering with play). On the flip side, Jeremy Litten enjoyed the extra time to pinch easy metres when receiving quick ball. The same cannot be said for Mikey Lewis, who was largely anonymous for most of the game. Lewis did, however, make headlines for all the wrong reasons with a petulant trip on his opposite number Liam Harris. In the old days, tripping was a red card offence. This act ultimately changed the course of the game, and at 6-18, York went on to dominate the last quarter of the game, before Ata Hingano slotted through a beautiful drop goal.

Rugby League players are not renowned for great intellectual prowess, and if you doubt me, I suggest you take a look at The Bench Podcast Jake Connor and Mikey Lewis talk Man of Steel and Vegas! | The Bench

Needless to say, little Willie Peters was not impressed with Mikey costing Hull KR the game. “You get what you deserve in this game - and we certainly did,” head coach Peters said.“Mikey, doing what he did, let his team-mates down and he’s got to learn from it, that’s for sure. It’s about actions now. He needs to make sure he doesn’t let his team-mates down like that again and learns from this.It was a silly play. It’s something we’ll make sure he gets out of his game. People have got away with that before, but you make your bed and you’ve got to lie in it.”

The next few weeks do not get any easier for Hull KR, and they need to learn quickly or face the season going off the rails before it even gets started.