Championship coach calls on rugby league to ‘make its mind up’ after Super League expansion

Featherstone Rovers head coach Paul Cooke says rugby league needs to ‘make its mind up’ on what Super League’s make-up looks like in 2026 and reveal sooner rather than later who will be in the competition next year.

Super League will expand to 14 teams in 2026 after clubs approved a proposal to increase the size of the competition next year.

There will be no definitive decision on who those 14 teams will be until the end of the season, with IMG gradings dictating the top 12 and an independent panel selecting two more.

However, Cooke insisted that while he and Featherstone will get behind the decision, he does believe there needs to be clarity as soon as possible; not just on 2026, but on the years beyond that, too.

He told BBC Radio Leeds: “Make your mind up. Put it out there because budgets and finances for next season are all being spent.. is there any promotion and relegation? Is there anything you can go for 2026, 2027 or 2028?

“When can you be promoted? The game has got to make a decision on what we’re doing. We’ve decided it’s 14 teams, so tell us who they are. Is it 12 plus two. Is it 11 plus three if Salford are going to be coming down. What is it?

“Once we know, we can plan. But you can’t make any plans other than spend your budget and spending a high budget when there’s no high carrot at the end of it is ludicrous. Whatever the game decides, we’ve all got to get behind it. The sooner we make a choice, the better.”

When asked if he felt Featherstone had a chance of being in the mix for Super League, Cooke said: “We’ll find out at the end of the season. I think the way we’ve started the season, I don’t think we’re in the mix.

“We want something at the end of it, whether that’s this season or next season. But we just need a decision on when that will be. If we can’t go up this year or next year, when can we go up? And what can we do to plan strategically. It doesn’t just happen.”