A relegation play off against the Swinton Lions awaited the victory of a League One play off match between the Keighley Cougars and Hunslet in a West Yorkshire to derby to earn the chance to join Oldham and be playing their rugby in the Championship in the 2025 season.

The home side were big favourites with the bookies to win the game, but Hunslet have sprung a few surprises in 2024 including a win at Cougar Park in May by 26-18.

What was certain was that neither side would die wondering.

The pinnacle of the game for many, the Australian Grand Final, pitted Melbourne Storm against the Penrith Panthers in a rerun of the 2020 final which saw Melbourne the victors before three consecutive wins for Penrith as they have dominated the game in recent seasons.

Melbourne had been installed as slight favourites with the bookies but with just a two-point handicap on the coupon there was clearly very little to choose between the sides who finished first and second at the end of the regular season.

The Accor Stadium in Sydney was the venue for the encounter, almost a home game for the Penrith side and their supporters, as Australia ground to a standstill for a Sunday evening of high entertainment.

A place at Old Trafford against last night’s controversial victors, Hull KR, awaited the winners of the Borough Derby as league leaders Wigan Warriors faced a resurgent Leigh Leopards in a crucial eighty minutes which could have ended in ‘business as usual’ or herald the dawn of a new order at the top of the game.

Wigan were clear favourites with the bookies after sweeping aside the challenge of Hull KR for the minor premiership but despite a ten-point handicap on the coupon they took the field under few illusions that the Leigh side, under their former coach Adrian Lam, would be massive in opposition.

The Brick was a sea of red and white as the crowd reached fever pitch ahead of kick off.

A place at Old Trafford awaited the victors as Hull Kingston Rovers looked to achieve their first ever Grand Final against a Warrington Wolves side who have made it through to the showpiece game on four previous occasions but who have never lifted the trophy.

The two teams had already met on three occasions in Super League 2024, Warrington winning the first two meetings by 22-20 and 20-8 while the most recent encounter saw Hull KR triumphant by the scoreline of 22-4.

The home side were slight favourites with the bookies going into the game and they were handicapped by four points on the coupon, it was an indication that in all reality the game was too close to call and the stage was set for a great game of knockout rugby.

St Helens only made the play-off by virtue of a better points difference than the Catalans Dragons which meant that after a poor season by their very high standards they were the favourites with the bookies to drop out of the race for Old Trafford at the first hurdle as they took on a Warrington Wolves side who were still smarting from not making the top two.

Should Warrington meet expectations and secure the victory then they would set up a visit to Hull KR next weekend, whereas as win for St Helens would see them travel to Wigan to face the old enemy, the Warriors, for a place in the Grand Final.

It promised to be an intense battle.

Forget the regular season, forget previous games, this was the end of season play-offs as fourth placed Salford Red Devils looked to progress after a great season as they took on a Leigh Leopards side who have cast aside all those in front of them after a terrible start to the season to end up in fifth place.

Despite finishing the season lower in the table, the bookies made the visitors slight favourites as they came into the game on the back of an excellent run of form and handicapped them by two points on the coupon.

Salford won the first 2024 meeting between the two sides back in March by ten points, but have since being thrashed twice by the Leopards, most recently at the Magic Weekend when they lost by 26-0.

It was now just a pride thing for both Hull FC and the Catalans Dragons as they brought down the final curtain on the 2024 regular season with a game which the Dragons needed to win by a margin of sixteen points to finish ahead of the Rhinos in seventh spot, while Hull FC needed to win, draw or lose by less that fifty-four points to avoid the ignominy of finishing at the bottom of the pile.

The Airlie Birds have been woeful in recent weeks and the likelihood was of them conceding another cricket score, but the Dragons form of late has also been poor and has seen them drop outside the top six, and out of the play-offs.

There was impossible scenario of a Dragons win by 182 or more points which would see them push St Helens out of the six on a superior points difference, but not even the 2024 Hull FC are that bad.

The aims for both Hull KR and the Leeds Rhinos were clear as they went into their round twenty-seven encounter at opposite ends of the play-off zone.

Hull KR knew that a win would be enough to guarantee them second spot and a weekend off before a home game in the play-off eliminator while nothing less than a victory would suffice for the Leeds Rhinos who needed the two points to lift them above the Leigh Leopards and into sixth spot should the Leopards not be able to secure a victory over St Helens in a game kicking off at the same time.

Hull KR were the massive favourites with the bookies, the Rhinos not given a hope of taking the points and extending their season.

In beating Hull KR a couple of weeks ago, Wigan knew that the league leader’s trophy was theirs to lose and that they were masters of their own destinies, but tonight was the day that they would be crowned as their opponents, the Salford Red Devils, had raised the white flag.

Salford have already cemented their place in the play-off’s and the only issue to settle is whether they will be at home, or away, to St Helens in the opening week so Paul Rowley elected to make wholesale changes to his seventeen to rest his key squad members ahead of that clash next weekend.

Salford were such outsiders for the win, with no less than eight debutants named, that they were given a forty-point start on the coupon as the Wigan fans licked their lips at the likelihood of a cricket score for their boys with a trophy lifting at the end of it.

With the Championship title already secured, Wakefield were looking to hone their play-off strategy as the faced one of the sides which they might come up against in the end of season jamboree when it starts in a few weeks’ time, York RLFC Knights.

York still have aspirations of a top four finish and a home tie in the play-offs but they would need to beat the side who destroyed them by 50-6 in the league earlier in the season and who knocked them out of the AB Sundecks with a 40-4 scoreline.

It was Trinity who were the massive favourites for the win with York being given a twenty-two-point start on the coupon.

Thanks to this afternoons Salford Red Devils win over a hapless Hull FC, London Broncos came into tonight’s penultimate round fixture out of the bottom position in Super League for the first time this season, thanks to a slightly better points difference.

There could be no better motivation for a fourth win of the year but they were up against a Catalans Dragons side who needed the two points themselves to keep their slim hopes of a top six finish alive going into the last weekend of the season.

The Dragons were massive favourites with the bookies, the visitors seemingly without a hope.

A victory over Hull FC would confirm Salford Red Devils in the top six play-offs for the end of season jamboree and would also lift them up to fourth in the table, two points clear of St Helens with one game of the regular season to play.

Hull FC, on the other hand, were still looking to avoid the wooden spoon and a win on the road would be only their four victory in a woeful season but would see them favourites to avoid finishing in twelfth spot.

Salford were massive favourites with the bookies, the Airlie Birds given no chance of scraping the win and embarrassing their hosts, the Red Devils expected to rack up a big winning margin.

The Wigan Warriors knew that a win would strengthen their claim to the 2024 minor premiership and win in their final game of the season would then guarantee that they would finish in top spot but they were up against a Leeds Rhinos side who beat them comprehensively just a few weeks ago and who themselves needed the win to keep their outside hopes of a play-off place alive.

Wigan were strong favourites with the bookies for the win, despite the Leeds 30-4 victory just five games ago, the smart money on the Rhinos challenge for the six going by the wayside at The Brick.

But these two old adversaries often throw up an intriguing fixture, but it would be a bad Friday the thirteenth for someone.

London Broncos coach, Mike Eccles, will have circled the trip to the Huddersfield Giants as a potential red letter day for his side as they headed north looking for the two points which would lift them above a woeful Hull FC and into eleventh spot with just two games remaining and further embarrass the Black & Whites who are guaranteed Super League rugby in 2025 under the IMG criteria.

The Huddersfield Giants have their own problems as they try to guard their ninth spot from a late charge from the Castleford Tigers who lie just a point behind on the league table, but the bookies believed that this would be a Giants win as they were handicapped by fourteen points on the coupon.

It was London with seemingly more to play for.

A Saturday evening shoot out in Salford saw the Red Devils and Catalans Dragons lock horns for what was, essentially, a decider for the top six and a play-off spot as both sides started the game outside the six but in the knowledge that a win for Salford would lift them into fourth while a Dragons victory would put them into seventh behind the Rhinos on points difference only.

Sam Tomkins was back on the bench for the Dragons who are in free fall in recent weeks and who were the underdogs with the bookies against a Salford side who had only won once in their last four outings after a great season which had seen them a permanent fixture in the top six.

One side would be very disappointed at the end of the eighty minutes.

If there was a trophy for most improved side throughout the 2024 season then it would already be safely on display in the Leigh Leopards trophy cabinet as the continued their increasingly likely drive for a top six finish with a trip to struggling Castleford Tigers, their eyes firmly on fourth spot in the table.

Leigh have only lost two games in the last two months and both of those were to defending Champions, the Wigan Warriors, after losing their opening three fixtures of the season and looking like they would be struggling at the bottom with London, Hull and tonight’s opponents Castleford.

The season had been over for weeks for the hosts and they were simply playing for pride and the possibility of finishing the season in ninth place.

The Brad Arthur revolution at Leeds Rhinos is in full swing with the announcement of a number of end of season departures during the week and in round twenty-five they looked to keep alive their slender hopes of a top six finish with a home game against 2024 strugglers, Hull FC who themselves were looking for the win to avoid the ignominy of wooden spoon.

The bookies could only see one winner with the Rhinos named as massive favourites and a decent Headingley crowd were in attendance with the belief that this would be a chance to improve the all-important points difference column and jump inside the top six for the first time in 2024 with two games of the regular season remaining.

With three games of the regular season remaining the game of the round, and probably the game of the season, was a Friday night game from The Brick as second placed Wigan Warriors faced the league leading Hull KR in what was essentially a shoot-out for the minor premiership.

Wigan were favourites with the bookies and had been handicapped by six points on the coupon but try telling that to the masses who had made the journey from the east coast to cheer their side to what they hoped would be a famous victory.

It promised to be a magical night for one of these sides as their laid claim to the top of the table.

England Head Coach Shaun Wane has named a 31-strong performance squad ahead of this autumn’s two-game series against Samoa, with the selected players set to meet for an off-field session on Monday 16 September.

Wigan Warriors breakout star Junior Nsemba is the newest name included – and the youngest player in the squad, after turning 20 in June - after some standout performances for the reigning Betfred Super League, Challenge Cup and World Club Challenge champions.

  Nsemba’s Wigan team-mate Liam Marshall is the only other uncapped player included with the Warriors flyer leading the try-scoring charts in the Betfred Super League with 22 tries: five more than his nearest challenger*.

The Rhinos travelled to a much-improved London Broncos in the hope of registering a cricket score to improve their chances of making the play-offs should the final reckoning come down to points difference with a win by twelve enough to take them above the Catalans Dragons and into seventh spot.

But London were likely to prove stern opposition as they came into the game knowing that a win would lift them off the bottom for the first time in 2024 and above Hull FC who lost their round twenty-four game to Castleford yesterday.

London were given a twenty-eight point start on the coupon, the bookies in no doubt that this would be a big win for the visitors as they maintained the feintest of hopes of a play-off place.