How the Championship Grand Final COULD decide promotion to Super League

The Championship’s top two sides will meet in York on Sunday afternoon to decide who the champions of the second tier are for 2025: and there is a lot on the line.

League leaders York Knights and second-placed Toulouse square off for the right to be crowned title winners, with Mark Applegarth’s Knights in pursuit of an historic treble, having already won the 1895 Cup and the League Leaders’ Shield.

But as well as the trophy and the right to be regarded as champions of the Championship, there is an even bigger and arguably more important prize up for grabs: 0.25 IMG points.

It may sound insignificant, and last year, that proved to be the case as Wakefield Trinity would have been comfortably in the top 12 of the gradings even without their victory over Toulouse.

But this year, it could quite literally be the difference between promotion through the IMG gradings or not.

Three clubs have been quietly confident that they are going to be very close to 12th spot in the gradings, with the assumption that Salford will fall out. They are York, Toulouse and Bradford – who have all been speaking with a level of confidence behind the scenes about where they will fall come mid-October.

But all three knew that for all the off-field box ticking that comes with success in the IMG system, delivering on the field was just as important this year. York had actually made a big deal of it privately from the start of pre-season; with the acceptance that if they could get 0.1 points for winning the 1895 Cup and 0.25 for the league, it could change everything.

As it stands right now, York are already set for a jump of 0.2143 points in the performance score from this time 12 months ago. That will double to almost 0.5 points if they get the job done on Sunday in the Grand Final. They were 1.55 points behind Salford last year in 12th, but the Knights have made huge improvements to their gradings score in other aspects.

They will be close: as will Toulouse. They were only 0.39 points behind the Red Devils last year, and their score is expected to dip. That tells you everything you need to know about how important 0.25 bonus points could be this weekend – especially when current modelling suggests their performance score will remain exactly the same without victory on Sunday.

Bradford had also earmarked the title for similar reasons; because they believe they will be close to 12th, and that every point is going to be significant. You will likely be able to throw a blanket over several clubs just inside and outside the 12 on the gradings this year.

So when the celebrations are ongoing on Sunday afternoon from whichever side has won the Grand Final, don’t be surprised if they are equally wild reactions from inside the winning boardroom, too. They know that this weekend, victory could be game-changing in terms of what happens for 2026.

MONDAY’S READS ON LRL

👉🏻 11 Conclusions: Paul Wellens contract, Lachlan Lam ban and Jake Connor’s England chances

👉🏻 Super League injury room: St Helens nursing key duo ahead of Hull KR clash

👉🏻 Super League attendance watch: Leeds record new low as play-offs get underway

👉🏻 Super League Team of the Week: Leigh dominate picks after thumping play-off win