Super League storylines to follow in 2025: Wigan Warriors still on top? Leeds Rhinos the next Manchester United? Warrington Wolves finally make it their year?

Season tickets have arrived, new shirts have been bought, and probably a matching hat and scarf too with the Super League season starting in the middle of a freezing February.

Fans of the 12 clubs will be waiting with eager anticipation for the competition to get under way, spending their evenings and weekends analysing their squads, predicting which teams will be hot and which will not, and dreaming of a run to Old Trafford for the Grand Final come October.

From the middle of February, the focus for the next eight or so months becomes your side’s prospects. Your week revolves around following your side home and away and a big circle in the calendar goes around those matches with your local rivals.

With cup of tea, coffee, or maybe a cheeky beer or bovril in hand, you will take a seat or stand in the terraces, ready for 27 rounds of ecstasy and agony. There will be peaks, there will be troughs, but you will do it over and over again because the love for your club outweighs any rough patch.

While your focus might be on your own team, storylines will ebb and flow throughout the season for all 12 clubs, some becoming integral to the competition while others fade away.

But what are the storylines underpinning the start of the season? Let’s take a look…

The top of the mountain: Can anyone knock Wigan off their perch?

The problem with being the top dogs is that everybody wants to knock you off your perch and that is exactly what Wigan Warriors will be facing in 2025.

The Warriors won everything on offer in 2024 and have a trophy-laden cabinet, with the Grand Final, Challenge Cup, League Leaders’ Shield, and World Club Challenge all heading home with Matt Peet’s side.

Their historic quadruple also saw them crowned BBC Sports Personality Team of the Year and with their squad looking as strong as it has ever been, plus the drive within that side palpable, it is tough to see the Warriors slowing down.

It is always their year: But is 2025 actually the year of the Wolf?

There has only ever been four teams, yes four, who have managed to win the Grand Final in the 29 seasons of Super League played. They are Wigan Warriors, St Helens, Leeds Rhinos, and Bradford Bulls.

Lots of teams have got all the way to the big dance but been unable to make it count at the Theatre of Dreams. One of those is Warrington Wolves.

Sam Burgess’ side finished third in Super League in 2024, making it all the way to the Challenge Cup final before being beaten by Wigan and were beaten in the semi-finals of Super League by Hull KR.

Opposition fans love to sing ‘It is always your year’ at the Wolves, who are one of the top teams who are always so close but yet so far, and the fans who adorn the Halliwell Jones terraces each week will be believing again that 2025 could truly be their year.

They have the head coach, they have the star power in the ranks. Now, they have to turn it into trophies.

Since 1985: Time to open up the Hull KR trophy cabinet?

While Hull KR have not always been competing at the top of Super League, their 2024 season under head coach Willie Peters showed why they are now a force to be feared and will be another team hoping that heir wait for a trophy is finally over.

The Robins have not won a trophy since 1985 but made it all the way to Old Trafford back in October and finished second in the regular season.

They have reigning Man of Steel Mikey Lewis in their ranks plus new big signings like Jared Waraea-Hargreaves.

The task will be whether they can continue on the trajectory they are on. To do it once is hard, twice is monumental.

Rhinos resurgence or the Man United effect?

“But it is Manchester United,” is the overly-used phrase when referring to the once standard-bearers of the Premier League.

Pundits and fans cannot separate the current state of the club from the halcyon days of old and are often left bewildered, despite it being a build up over a decade, at the current state of Ruben Amorim’s side.

When a rugby league fan thinks of Leeds Rhinos, their brain may quickly go to the iconic days of Kevin Sinfield, Jamie Peaock, Jamie Jones-Buchanan, and the late great Rob Burrow, when Grand Final winners’ rings were a yearly occurrence and trophy cabinets were packed to the brim.

However, that is not the Leeds Rhinos of today. Since 2017 when a raft of legends departed, the Rhinos have been trying to find their new identity and have struggled to match their iconic name on the pitch.

They have moments of sparkle, such as reaching the Grand Final in 2022, but there is no consistency and the task of head coach Brad Arthur is to ensure that Leeds Rhinos are heading back towards competing with the clubs they have for so long, not missing out on the play-offs.

“But it is Leeds Rhinos” is a phrase that the Headingley faithful do not want to become accustomed to.

Salford on the brink: Can the underdogs do it again?

‘They will finish near the bottom’, ‘they don’t have the star power’, ‘they don’t have the depth to do it over a season’ are predictions made about Salford Red Devils in the past that they have shown to be embarrassingly inaccurate time and time again.

Paul Rowley’s side have become the giant slayers, making the best out of the strong squad they have and playing a style of rugby that lends itself to chaos.

But, with financial issues rife again and the future of the club continually up in the air, 2025 feels like one of Salford’s toughest years yet.

If they can defy all the odds once again, there is truly something special in the water over at the Salford Community stadium.

Change at the top: Will Briers and O’Carroll change Saints’ fortunes?

It is fair to say that by St Helens’ standards, 2024 was an exceptionally tough year.

With injuries plaguing their season, they just about scraped into the play-offs and then were beaten by a Warrington drop goal in a dramatic golden point extra time Eliminator match.

With that, they had another trophy-less season, something the Saints fans are unaccustomed too after their side winning the Grand Final four times in a row from 2019-2022.

Paul Wellens, who was shown faith by the club, made changes in the off season and has brought in new assistant coaches for himself, with Lee Briers in as attack coach and Eamonn O’Carroll as defence.

Briers joins from Brisbane Broncos and also worked with Wigan while O’Carroll was the top boss at Championship side Bradford Bulls.

It is reported that these changes have brought a new lease of life to the Saints and it will be intriguing to see how this translates to their on-pitch performance, St Helens of late being known for being strong in defence but struggling for excitement in attack.

Will it be the return of ‘The Entertainers’?

No more excuses: Do or die for Hull FC

The only way is up for Hull FC. The Black and Whites finished second bottom in 2024 and have rang in the changes for 2025, bringing the likes of former Leigh Leopards stars Zak Hardaker and John Asiata to the club.

Hull FC brought through a lot of young blood last season but simply, if they don’t improve in 2025, the questions will only get louder and louder.

Their director of rugby Richie Myler admitted that their performances last season were unacceptable and now new head coach John Cartwright will be tasked with rewarding their fans for their loyalty during their recent decline.

Shakey Wakey: Can Trinity build a solid foundation?

Wakefield Trinity return to Super League after one season in the Championship and have been doing the work both on and off the field to ensure they are a permanent fixture in the top flight.

Trinity were awarded a Grade A under the new grading structure which takes effect for Super League in 2025 and will be aiming to show all 11 clubs just why.

Their new look stadium will be visited for the first time by other Super League clubs since the changes and they will want a trip to Wakefield to be one that other teams do not think of as a guaranteed result.

The Catalans Class of 2025: Experience to pay dividends?

One of the most exciting prospects for Catalans Dragons in 2025 is how Luke Keary will perform in Super League.

Keary shocked the NRL when he announced he would retire at the end of the 2024 season but since, the Dragons have convinced the Roosters legend to take the reigns for them on the field in 2025.

Keary spent 12 years running the plays in the NRL and will be a force to be reckoned with for the Dragons.

They also welcome Tommy Makinson, who joins Steve McNamara’s side after 14 years with St Helens.

Makinson is one of the most deadly finishers in the competition and will be quite the moment seeing him in Dragons colours.

The making of McGuire: Can Castleford enter a new era?

The Danny McGuire era at Castleford has arrived. Although McGuire has been at the club for a while, the Leeds Rhinos legend is now tasked with figuring out how to get the Tigers competing.

In recent years, after Castleford reached the dizzying heights of the Challenge Cup final in 2021, they have been perennially at the lower end of the table and out of contention.

He has quite the task ahead of him but with the support of majority shareholder and chairman Martin Jepson, Castleford will be optimistic that they are on the up.

Little old Leigh: How far can the Leopards go?

Two seasons back in Super League and a Challenge Cup win in the bag, life back in the top flight has not been too bad for the Leigh Leopards.

Since returning to the top flight in 2023, the Leopards have gone from strength to strength and despite some trickier patches shown they are a side to be taken very seriously.

They have set the blueprint of how to return to Super League and not struggle and it is one which Wakefield will study if they re looking to come back and not be a side sitting in those lower spots.

Owner Derek Beaumont is continuously pushing the club to strive for more and with new big sponsor Jet2 and their kit made by big brand Reebok, they re giving all the signals that their trajectory towards being a club that is a mainstay in the top six come the end of the season is going to continue.

A Giant task: Time to find the Huddersfield mojo

The Huddersfield Giants are quite the puzzle heading into 2025. After a difficult season in 2024, they will want to show that the Giants bring more to the competition than just being the birthplace of the sport.

Head coach Luke Robinson has been at the club long enough to know what culture he wants to breed and with statement signings such as Tom Burgess in their rankings, breeding a strong mentality is going to be at the top of the list of tasks.

The belief always seems to be there in the Huddersfield ranks, now they have to devise a way to work as one and turn it into results.

They have done it before and there is no reason why they can’t do it again.

2025 Super League – key dates and what to look out for

March 1: Wigan Warriors vs Warrington Wolves in Las Vegas
April 17-19: Round 8 – Rivals Round
May 3-4: Magic Round (St James’ Park, Newcastle)
July 24: August 31 – Round 20 – split round across two weekends
September 4-7: Round 25 – Rivals Round fixtures reversed
September 18-21: Round 27 – last round of regular season (dates and times tbc)
September 26-27: Elimination Play-Offs
October 3-4: Semi-Finals
Saturday October 11: Grand Final (Old Trafford)

Sky Sports will again show every game of the Super League live this season – including two matches in each round exclusively live, with the remaining four matches each week shown on Sky Sports+