Sorting out Super League's fixtures: Is it fair?

BBC News

5 days ago

When St Helens welcome Leigh Leopards to the Totally Wicked Stadium on Thursday, there is slightly more context to the match than just a game between Super League rivals battling for a play-off spot.Despite the end-of-season run-in sneaking up, it will be the first time the two teams have met in 2025.Some sides have taken each other on as many as three times already, and yet Paul Wellens' Saints and Adrian Lam's Leopards have yet to do so.So why does this happen? How is each season's schedule drawn up? What makes Super League's fixture list unique? What are 'loop fixtures' and why are these so divisive? BBC Sport set out to find out why Super League's crowded schedule is so skewed and whether that matters.
What are loop fixtures?
Super League's current fixtures structure ensures every team plays 27 games over the course of a regular season, not including the end-of-season play-offs.Of those 27 matches, 11 are played at home, 11 away, one at Magic Weekend at a neutral venue and the other four are so-called 'loop' fixtures.Those four games are decided based on league placings from the previous season.Clubs which finished in even-number positions in the Super League table in the previous campaign face additional fixtures against teams that did likewise, with odd facing odd.In the case of St Helens, for example, they finished sixth last season, meaning their loop fixtures in 2025 are second-placed Hull KR, fourth-placed Salford, 10th-placed Castleford and newly-promoted Wakefield Trinity.Meanwhile, Saints took on eighth-placed Leeds Rhinos at Magic Weekend in May.Loop fixtures fill the gap from when Super League was reduced from 14 teams to 12 for the 2015 season.Previously, a late-season split structure operated under which clubs would play 23 games and then be divided into three pools of eight, involving the 24 teams making up Super League and the Championship.The top 'Super 8s' group played seven further games, with the top four at that stage progressing to contest places in the Super League Grand Final.However, that format was ended ahead of the 2019 campaign which saw each top-flight team play a total of 29 regular season fixtures, including six additional loop games.In 2022, after two Covid-affected seasons, that was reduced to the 27-game format currently in use.All clear so far?
Quirks of the 2025 season
St Helens, on the face of it, seem to have prospered from having a lopsided 2025 schedule, with two of the wins in their recent five-game streak coming home and away against beleaguered Salford Red Devils.Their meetings with the financially-challenged Red Devils have been something of a free-hit for Wellens' side, who have scored a cumulative 182 points in the three games this term, while conceding only four.It has helped Saints boost their points difference in the Super League table to 285 - the third-highest in the league and 246 more than Leigh, who are directly above them. It has taken 18 rounds for Saints and Leigh to finally meet, yet they will take each other on again in the penultimate round of fixtures on 12 September - a second meeting in the final nine games before the play-offs.Of course, league position at any given point of a season cannot be predicted in advance, but Warrington have had a difficult run-in so far in 2025.Not only have the Challenge Cup finalists faced significant injury challenges, their meeting with Salford on 4 July was only the fourth time they had faced an opponent in the bottom four of Super League.
Juggling the schedule
When the RFL compile the following season's fixtures late in the preceding year, there are more obstacles to getting the list in order than appear on the surface.Maximising television audiences, stadium availability and pitch resurfacing can all impact when teams play and who they will face, with the latter sometimes having a prolonged influence on some teams' schedules.Wigan played six away games in a row due to work being undertaken on the pitch at the Brick Community Stadium home they share with football club Wigan Athletic, whose season came to an end in May.Similarly, Warrington's win against Salford began a run of four consecutive away games with work under way on their pitch, external at the Halliwell Jones Stadium.Other clubs who groundshare with other sports, like St Helens, Salford, Huddersfield and Hull FC, have similar challenges fitting their home games around when their stadiums are in use or having essential maintenance.Changes can be made at relatively short notice during the season, with Huddersfield announcing on Tuesday, external that three of their upcoming games would move dates due to stadium availability at the Accu Stadium, which they share with football team Huddersfield Town.Meanwhile, Leeds cannot play at Headingley, which adjoins the cricket ground of the same name, if there is an England Test match or a Yorkshire T20 Blast game taking place on the same day.In a statement issued to BBC Sport, the RFL said: "The development of the fixture list is a complex and time intensive project by several people, as well as a leading software programme."A competition of 12 teams, with a season length of 27 rounds, to include loop fixtures, and over 100 requests from the clubs, means it will never be perfect, but every attempt is made to ensure it is the best version it can be."
'I'm a stickler for the old school'
Leigh boss Adrian Lam is not a fan of a mixed-up schedule packed with loop fixtures.His side have taken on last season's quadruple winners, and borough rivals, Wigan three times - one of those being a loop fixture.However, on paper, what might be seen as a disadvantage has given his side the opportunity to test themselves against the best, coming out on the winning side twice, including their comeback victory at Leigh Sport Village earlier this month.Despite this, Lam would prefer to a more traditional fixtures line-up, with the opportunity to beat the best in the play-offs at the end of the campaign."I don't get it. I'm a stickler for old school," he told BBC Radio Manchester in June after taking on Catalans for a third time."I think we should play each other once, I think we should play each other twice and then play the last group at the very end."That's how you get an even ladder. We've played Catalans three times before we've played Leeds once. How does that make sense?"I know there are bigger things to worry about with the RFL, but if you look at the ladder and a fair competition, it only makes sense that you play everyone once and then everyone twice before you play someone three times. Not the other way round. That is just common sense."But is this viewpoint shared by Lam's counterpart across the borough?"It's none of my business, to be honest," Wigan Warriors boss Matt Peet told BBC Radio Manchester when asked about his thoughts on loop fixtures."The game's got plenty on its plate at the moment."I think everyone ideally would be in a competition where we all play the same games equally and they were fair but that's not to be."