Salford struggles are exposing Super League’s loop fixture fiasco

The most important caveat to make in an assessment like this should come first. None of this is the fault of Salford Red Devils’ players, staff or supporters.

They have been failed by poor ownership, financial mismanagement and by the sport’s administrators for too long now. The time will come, hopefully soon when the club can stabilise given the arrival of a multi-million pound bridging loan, to ask how we got to this position.

It is to the immense credit of Paul Rowley, his staff and every single player who turns out for the Red Devils that they are doing this week upon week, getting paid late almost every month and still putting their bodies on the line.

But in and amongst the crisis at Salford, this issue is magnifying a wider problem that many clubs are keen to get rid of, and have been for some time: loop fixtures.

It’s one of the main reasons many clubs are now favouring a 14-team competition as early as 2026. Super League has a responsibility to deliver a certain amount of games to its lead broadcaster every year, and the only way to do that is with 27 rounds of fixtures.

At present, that means loop fixtures: but at best, they are a nuisance. At worst, they can seriously damage the integrity of the competition – and that is what we are seeing this year.

It was hard not to be reminded of that on Sunday afternoon as St Helens racked up another heavy win against the Red Devils, the third this season to strengthen their position inside the play-offs.

None of this is St Helens’ fault either, by the way. But they are one of four clubs at an immense advantage here due to the fact that there is a side in Super League that are some way behind the rest due to circumstances beyond the control of the players and the staff at Salford.

Loop fixtures are dictated every year from the league positions the previous season. As Salford finished fourth last year, their loop games were against the teams who finished sixth, eighth, tenth and the newly-promoted team, in effect 12th.

Those teams are St Helens, Leeds Rhinos, Castleford Tigers and Wakefield Trinity. Incidentally, the loops also decide the Magic Weekend fixtures, with Hull KR the other side who get to play Salford three times this year.

But in terms of the four loop fixture games, it’s not unreasonable to imagine that you look at the league table in September and see that some of those clubs have had a distinct advantage in where they finish.

Leeds and St Helens are both pushing for the top four – the Rhinos could yet mount a push for second. Wakefield are going to be right in the mix for the play-offs, while Castleford’s season will probably fizzle out.

Were one of those sides to finish in a better position than a team who hasn’t had the fortune to play Salford three times by a point or two, it wouldn’t be unreasonable to question the validity of loop fixtures and how they are seriously damaging Super League’s integrity as a competition.

Again, none of this is Salford’s fault. But if the competition goes to 14 next year, it will at least eliminate the farce that is loop fixtures and how, if a situation like this one with the Red Devils arises again, it can lead to real questions over an imbalanced fixture list.