Barrie McDermott’s Super League round two preview and storylines: Luke Littler, Salford Red Devils, and more upsets? | Rugby League News
Following a hugely eventful opening weekend in the Super League, Sky Sports Rugby League’s Barrie McDermott dissects the main talking points – and offers previews the storylines to follow for round two…
I have kicked off my 34th season being involved in the best sport on the planet. Rugby league has given me so much – friendships, unforgettable moments, and the chance to be part of something truly special. I’m a lucky man.
Here’s to another season of passion, hard work, and growing the game we all love! Who else is buzzing for 2025?
Rugby league isn’t just a sport. It’s a way of life. It’s blood, sweat, and sacrifice. It’s loyalty, community, and heart. It’s standing shoulder to shoulder with your mates, through every high and every low.
The greatest game of all? Damn right it is. Bring it on!”
If you remove the St Helens vs Salford Red Devils scoreline, round one 2025 was the lowest scoring regular season round in the last three seasons. So teams look to have focused on defence massively in the off-season.
It truly was a brilliant opening weekend and Thursday was spectacular in every aspect, even without a try scored I was enthralled. It was great to see The Brick Community Stadium so full. Leigh were also awesome! I had them outside the top 6 but on that evidence, they could prove everybody wrong.
Interestingly, out of the six matches, four of the wins came away from home with Castleford Tigers coming so close against Hull KR too before that agonising golden point drop goal from Mikey Lewis.
Danny McGuire’s men deserve a lot of credit for pushing HKR close after their humiliating defeat to Bradford Bulls in the Challenge Cup.
Wakefield were my dark horses and they proved to be just that. Head coach Daryl Powell has a proven track record for making his teams genuinely hard to beat and Trinity look like they are on that path too.
Then, Hull had the most difficult start to go to Catalans and they outplayed the Dragons at home. Fans of the black and whites can be cautiously optimistic.
Overall, though, my highlight from round one was the legendary Michael Buffer. I’m a big boxing fan anyway but his intro was a fitting start to what was an out-and-out slug-fest.
So, why is that 1-0 so interesting…
The first 1-0 in Super League history! Why is it so epic?
A 1-0 scoreline is an anomaly for us because you can pretty much guarantee when you go and watch a game of rugby league, you’re going to see some tries, you’re going to see some fast, quick players running into space, running into gaps and scoring tries.
It’s not basketball, it’s not happening every 30-40 seconds, but with rugby league, most of the time you can turn up expecting that, but Friday was something different.
Both sets of players had had enough time in the pre-season to set out a plan for their opposition, but at this time of year, every team is very much focusing on themselves.
I thought we saw an amazing defensive display from both sides, and I thought we saw a will and a desire that if both teams go into that next week, they’ve got a good chance of beating whoever they play.
What can we expect from round two?
Thursday February 20: Wakefield Trinity vs Hull KR, Sky Sports Action (8pm KO)
Wakefield will go into the game full of confidence. They played exceptionally well against their West Yorkshire rivals Leeds Rhinos to get the win in round one and Hull KR weren’t at their best but just managed to do enough against Castleford Tigers.
So this is an intriguing game, one well worth a watch and if anybody hasn’t been to the Wakefield stadium and seen just how improved it is, they can watch it on TV for themselves.
Friday February 21: Hull FC vs Wigan Warriors. Sky Sports+ (8pm KO)
Hull FC had a tricky start to the season bearing in mind they finished second bottom in 2024 but there’s been a big upheaval in the ranks at Hull. John Cartwright has come in, laid down what he expects from everybody and the new owners, the new optimism, certainly carried them on the plane to a stunning victory.
By all accounts, season tickets have gone well at Hull, so the one thing that drives any team home is a strong home record and atmospheres add to that. A full stadium will certainly lend some weight to the momentum that the team’s got already.
Wigan will be stinging, there’s no doubt about that. They would have expected to win, but a bit like Warrington on Sunday, you can understand why things aren’t quite as they should be for both Wigan and Warrington. With Vegas around the corner, no player wants to miss out, so that does alter your mindset.
Friday February 21: Warrington Wolves vs Catalans Dragons, Sky Sports Action (8pm KO)
On Friday, Warrington will be renaming their stadium after Luke Littler to honour his World Darts Championship win. It is a great initiative. I believe it came from a conversation between Wolves CEO Karl Fitzpatrick and our own Brian Carney.
Who knew that Brian could come up with great ideas like that? He’s certainly never given me any great ideas!
But I think that the progressive thinking of Warrington, and particularly Fitzpatrick, is something that other clubs should take a look at.
I believe it will be a good game. Catalans will be determined to right the wrongs of last week, and Warrington, as I said, will be getting ready for round three in Las Vegas but the players will want to put in a strong performance to make sure they make the side in Sin City.
Saturday February 22: Salford Red Devils vs Leeds Rhinos, Sky Sports+ (3pm KO)
I will start by saying about the Salford situation that, at this stage, it doesn’t matter whose fault it is, it’s a horrible look for the sport and needs to be sorted ASAP. As well as the young lads on Saturday, the fans, spectators and viewers all suffer.
The kids that played against St Helens were massively overwhelmed. They were out of their depth by some distance and Saints put them through the ringer. Paul Rowley is a great coach, I’ve always been a fan of the way that Rowley’s teams play, and if anybody can harness that ‘everybody’s against us’ spirit and attitude, then it’s him.
Leeds were bitterly disappointed with the way that they play. I’m putting myself in the mind of Brad Arthur and I suspect he has said to them that it looked nothing like what we’ve done in the off-season. They’ll be determined to get two points and every team at this point of the year wants to get at least the first win wrapped up as soon as possible.
Saturday February 22: Castleford Tigers vs St Helens, Sky Sports+ (8pm KO)
Danny McGuire did a remarkable job to turn his team around after a humiliating loss in the Challenge Cup. I think he did a really good job of getting his team mentally and physically in a place where they were competitive against Hull KR. They are always difficult to beat on their own patch.
St Helens turn up after a performance in second gear against a young Salford side so the challenge for them will be to keep those standards high and to keep that momentum going.
My take-home from the game is the most exciting player from round one is Tristan Sailor and he looks like he’s going to be a real break-out star. He has got an almost Bevan French-like ability to be on the ball and whenever that line is broken, whenever there’s a break, or whenever there’s a slight opportunity, he’s sniffing out there and he wants the ball.
I played with and against his dad, Wendell Sailor, who was exactly the same – always the main event!
Sunday February 23: Leigh Leopards vs Huddersfield Giants, Sky Sports+ (2.30pm KO)
Leigh were brilliant against Wigan but they’ve got to get over the whitewash, get some points posted and their work this week, I suspect, will be on attack.
Huddersfield Giants put up a good performance, a stoic performance and Luke Robinson said after the game that he was disappointed with the loss – but he was proud of the effort that his players put in. So that looks like a decent contest.
Three storylines to follow in round two:
Salford’s takeover…
I just believe the sooner we get it sorted out, the better. It should have been sorted before the ball was kicked at the start of the Super League. And then the disappointment that we all felt watching that game at the weekend wouldn’t have been there.
The Littler effect…
It will be a brilliant night celebrating Littler on Friday and he’s a great kid as well. You can see a mile off, he’s been brought up well, he comes across as somebody with good values, good principles and that’s something that’s aligned with our game completely.
Those darts players and the experience that everybody has when they go and watch a darts match is something that we’re trying to tap into as a sport.
There is Michael Smith, Stephen Bunting, and Dave Chisnall from St Helens so a lot of darts players have as much apprecition for us as we do for them. I hope that that association and that relationship grows stronger.
I’m just looking forward to a bouncing atmosphere.
A healthy competition…
The sign of healthy competition is close scorelines and shock upsets and round one certainly had that.
Something that Jon Wilkin said I really like and I completely agree with him is that we are getting everybody to raise their standards and raise their levels instead of dropping the bar to catch those low achieving clubs.
That’s something we’ve got to strive to do.
Overall, last year there were a lot of races and a lot of things that were always in the balance until the end of the season.That’s what we’ve got to strive for.
We can’t just have four names on that Super League trophy. Hopefully there’s a different one at the end of the year.
Sky Sports will again show every game of the Super League live this season – including two matches in each round exclusively live, with the remaining four matches each week shown on Sky Sports+
