Wigan head to St Helens for the start of the Super League season on Thursday night but the reigning champions will begin their title defence under a cloud after being deducted two points for a breach of the salary cap.
An independent tribunal found Wigan guilty of breaking the rules in 2017 in relation to six separate payments totalling £14,700. The Warriors will appeal against the points deduction, arguing the breach was because of an administrative error which led them to being at “less than 101%” of the cap limit.
“I take full responsibility for an admitted breach by Wigan and apologise unreservedly for the error and accept a fine is justified,” their chairman, Ian Lenagan, said. “However, a points deduction is the last resort as a sanction for a significant level of breach. Wigan will appeal against that aspect of the penalty.”
The news overshadows the beginning of a campaign Robert Elstone has likely dreaded and anticipated in equal measure. Last September, only minutes after the Super League chief executive pushed through changes to the domestic league structure for the 2019 season, he declared: “The hard work starts now.”
On Thursday the fruits of Elstone’s labour over the first six months of his time in charge will be on display for the first time. Since the end of last season, Super League has introduced new rules, big-name signings and an all-round approach to revitalise the competition’s profile both in and beyond the game’s heartlands.
Elstone’s manifesto for change has many components but key is an acknowledgment that Super League has failed to make household names of its stars in recent years. Hoping to buck that trend is Tom Davies.
Three years ago, the Wigan winger was tending the pitch at Leigh Centurions, having been let go as an apprentice by the lower-league club. Now he is a Super League winner at 22 and undoubtedly a future England player, a story made all the more impressive by his arduous journey to the top.
With the Super 8s system now scrapped following a vote last September, the Super League season is now more straightforward.
Main season
12 teams play home and away.
An additional round of fixtures takes place at Magic Weekend on 25 & 26 May, with Anfield hosting six matches across the two days this season.
The top Super League team wins the League Leaders' Shield.
Promotion and relegation is simply a case of one down from Super League, one up from the Championship.
Play-offs
The race to the Grand Final now takes in the top five.
The League Leaders' Shield winners move straight into the semi-finals, but the 2nd or 3rd place team can lose their first play-off match and still have a chance of winning the final.
Round 1
Elimination final: 4th v 5th
Qualifying final: 2nd v 3rd
Round 2
Semi-final 1: Qualifying final loser v Elimination final winner
Semi-final 2: 1st v Qualifying final winner
Final
SF1 winner v SF2 winner
“I came to terms with the fact I wasn’t going to make it,” said Davies. “I was going to play amateur rugby and get a job, and even switched to rugby union. I went to play union for Fylde and was called back to my old league team, Wigan St Patricks, because they were short of players. I played there, Wigan were watching and offered me a trial with the under-19s just before my 19th birthday. It’s been a bit mad since. Leigh sacked me off and I was happy working at the stadium cleaning the pitch and changing the posts, but I’m happier now.”
The staging of three significant games back-to-back over the opening weekend is designed to capture the public’s attention. Friday the Hull clubs, FC and KR, do battle. Then, 24 hours later, Warrington host Leeds in a game that showcases another of Elstone’s key Super League revamps: the influx of big-money imports.
Among them are Leeds’ trio of big names, who are headlined by the Tongan Konrad Hurrell. “It feels like an exciting time to join the competition,” said Hurrell, who took up league only seven years ago after failing to earn a contract as a union player in New Zealand. Now he arrives in England as one of the biggest stars in league.
“I asked New Zealand Warriors for a trial, they gave me one and I got my foot in the door. I’d played union my whole life in Tonga until I was 18. I didn’t really know anything about league but everything happens for a reason. I know they’ve signed me for a reason, and it’s a challenge I’m excited about.”
As well as making stars of its players, Super League wants to create more standalone events. The Magic Weekend is heading for Anfield in May, while Wigan will play Catalans at Barcelona’s Camp Nou in the same month, with the goal of a record regular-season attendance the target.
