Grading every Super League club’s start to 2025: Hull KR A, Warrington C+..

We’re now four rounds into the 2025 Super League season, or circa 15% of the way through the regular campaign, so we thought it was about time for the first Love Rugby League gradings of the year.

We’ve given each of the 12 top flight teams a grading, almost like an early term school assessment, based upon how they’ve performed over the opening month or so.

Each club has played four Super League games, and their grading is balanced out by pre-season expectations against what they’ve delivered so far.

Assessed alphabetically, find out how we grade your team below…

Castleford Tigers: C-

Expectations surrounding Castleford weren’t sky high before a ball had been kicked, but the Tigers have been incredibly underwhelming so far. Having already been dumped out of the Challenge Cup by Bradford Bulls, they opened the campaign up with three Super League defeats, only really performing well in Round 1 when they were pipped in Golden Point at Hull KR.

Friday night’s victory against Salford has saved their bacon a little in terms of their grade here, with Danny McGuire’s side just looking light up top at the moment.

Catalans Dragons: D-

Like most, we’ve been incredibly disappointed by Catalans so far. On the back of a 2024 which saw them fail to reach the play-offs, Steve McNamara went big with his recruitment – signing some real big guns from other Super League clubs as well as bringing in some recognisable names from the NRL.

Very few have come off so far, and they’ve really delivered one decent performance – as they were beaten at Warrington in Round 2. The Dragons got their first victory of the season at home against Leeds on Saturday, 11-0 winners in a game no one will remember in a few years’ time. Much, much more needed from the French side.

Huddersfield Giants: D

Only two Super League sides have lost their first four games – and one of those is Huddersfield. Remarkably, had every game ended at half-time, they’d have won all four! The Giants just can’t seem to string a full 80-minute performance together.

We feel for Luke Robinson as he has been absolutely plagued by injuries since pre-season began, but the longer this run without a win goes on, the more you wonder how bad this year is going to end up being for them.

Hull FC: B+

We’ll gold our hands up. We did not think we’d be dishing out a B+ to Hull at this stage of the season, so praise has to go the way of new boss John Cartwright. The Australian has come in and transformed FC to the point they’re almost unrecognisable from the side we saw last season.

Recruitment has been good on the whole, and where the Airlie Birds have lacked, they’ve already dipped into the market to bolster their ranks. One defeat in four games tells you all you need to know – they’re hard to beat. That’s the sign of a good team, so more of the same will be what Cartwright is demanding now.

Hull KR: A

KR are top of the class, they get the best grade of any Super League side at this stage from us. Given they’re top of the table, that might seem an obvious choice, but we’ve been impressed with how the Robins have just picked up from where they left off last year.

Up until their win at St Helens in Round 4, performances haven’t been of the highest order, but Willie Peters’ side have dug in to get the job done. There’s so much quality in this KR side that when you pair it with a resilience like theirs, they’re always going to be a threat. Could this be the year they finally end that long, long wait for a major honour of some description? We think so.

Leeds Rhinos: B-

Leeds are one of three Super League clubs to have won two and lost two in the opening four, but they’re undoubtedly the most difficult for us to hand a grade to here. To start with, nobody really knew what to expect from the Rhinos before a ball was kicked, and the issue is we still don’t really know – they’re inconsistent.

When Brad Arthur’s side have been on it, they’ve really been on it – demolishing both Salford and Castleford with ease. But against Wakefield and most recently Catalans, they were miles off the mark. We thought a C was too harsh, so we’ve pushed them into the Bs, just.

Leigh Leopards: A-

Adrian Lam will be gutted that Leigh didn’t come away from Hull FC with a win on Thursday night, but the Leopards remain unbeaten having won three and drawn one in their opening four games of the year. This is their best-ever start to a Super League season, and up until that trip to the MKM Stadium, they’d looked pretty darn good.

New recruits have settled well, and settled much quicker than most would have anticipated. David Armstrong in particular looks an absolute menace, and Lam has already blooded some youngsters into his side. He and they will be pleased with their start overall.

Salford Red Devils: U

Salford fans, put the pitch forks away. Overall, this season has been an utter shambles so far – and yes, it’s because of what’s going on off the field. Rightly or wrongly, Paul Rowley sent a reserves side out at St Helens in Round 1 and got absolutely tonked to nobody’s surprise.

The Red Devils have pretty much been at full strength since then despite everything going on in the background, and haven’t managed to deliver a good performance. We, like the majority of people connected to the game, hope everything is ironed out soon – but until it is and until things improve, we’re not sure our grading here can be argued with.

St Helens: B

It was all going swimmingly for Saints until Hull KR turned up last Friday night and beat them quite comfortably. Paul Wellens’ side had impressed across the opening three rounds of the campaign, albeit against opposition who were either too young to compete or are expected to be at the bottom end of the division.

We liked what we’d seen from those donning the Red V, and their grade hasn’t been too hampered by last Friday night’s showing, but they were pretty dire for the most part against the Robins. If forced to put our money where our mouth is, we’d still expect Saints to fare much better this year than last given what we’ve seen so far.

Wakefield Trinity: B-

Wakefield have won two and lost two of their opening four games, but upon their return to Super League, plenty of praise deserves to go their way. They’ve been well in three of those four games, only being denied a shot at Golden Point against Hull KR by a missed conversion in the last knockings.

Trinity’s recruitment has proven pretty spot on so far, with a good blend of youth and experience in Daryl Powell’s side – youth product Oli Pratt and new skipper Mike McMeeken being the perfect examples of that. Powell will want his side to start making home advantage count now having lost both games at Belle Vue so far this term. If that becomes a fortress, they become a danger.

Warrington Wolves: C+

We ummed and ahhed over our Wire grading for quite some time, but having reflected, we think it’s pretty spot on. The Wolves won their first two games before heading to Las Vegas, but we weren’t overly impressed with what they delivered against either Huddersfield or Catalans, and boss Sam Burgess wasn’t either.

He’ll have been appalled with what his side delivered in Sin City, with the scoreline probably flattering them despite losing by 24 points. And then as they returned to action against Wakefield on Sunday, Warrington were abysmal – lacking defensive effort and attacking structure. Those two wins have saved this grading – much better needed after the success they enjoyed in 2024.

Wigan Warriors: A-

It takes a very good performance to beat Wigan, and that’s exactly what Leigh delivered at The Brick Community Stadium on the opening night, with very little to actually pick holes in after that game from a Warriors perspective. Since then, Matt Peet’s side have been terrific really.

The first half against Huddersfield on Sunday wasn’t great viewing, but they recovered and were very comfortable winners in the end. Expectations surrounding the reigning champions pre-season were obviously sky high, and there’s no reason those expectations should be tempered by any means from what we’ve seen so far. When they’re on form, no one touches them.

TUESDAY’S READS ON LRL

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