England Women Head Coach, Stuart Barrow, has selected a 31-player strong train-on squad ahead of their historic clash against the Australia Jillaroos in Las Vegas (March 1) with a brand-new name included for the first time – Georgie Dagger (nee Hetherington), the reigning Betfred Women's Super League Woman of Steel.

The 27-year-old returns to the international set up following her wedding to York Knights full-back Will Dagger which took place on the same day as England’s 82-0 defeat of Wales on November 2.

The utility made her England debut in the mid-season international against France and was crowned 2024 Woman of Steel after a stunning season which ended with a Player-of-the-Match performance in the Valkyrie’s BWSL Grand Final triumph against St Helens.

Brian Noble’s second stint as head coach of Bradford Bulls will begin with a home game against London Broncos in Round One of the 2025 Betfred Championship, while Oldham and Hunslet each have attractive home openers following their promotion from Betfred League One.

Oldham will host Mark Applegarth’s York Knights at Boundary Park in Round One on Sunday February 16, while Hunslet kick off at Barrow Raiders before they welcome the Bulls to the South Leeds Stadium in Round Two on February 23.

The Championship has been reduced to 13 teams in 2025 as part of the process of producing three 12-team divisions from 2026, which means each team will play 24 fixtures spread over 26 rounds from February to September.

Betfred Super League will have its most streamlined fixture list for the competition’s 30th season in 2025, with more Thursday, Saturday and Sunday fixtures – kicking off with Wigan Warriors launching their bid for a third consecutive title at home to local rivals Leigh Leopards on Thursday February 13, exclusively live on Sky Sports.

For a huge year of Rugby League which includes an historic fixture between Wigan and Warrington Wolves in Las Vegas on March 1, and is set to end with the first Ashes series since 2003, Rugby League Commercial and the RFL have worked with the clubs and broadcast partners to deliver a greater spread of matches across each weekend.

Thursday night fixtures have been confirmed through until the penultimate round in September, including Wakefield Trinity hosting Castleford Tigers in the first match of Rivals Round across the Easter weekend from April 17-19, and two Thursday night games in Round 20 which is split across two weekends from July 24 to August 1.

Super League’s Magic Weekend is heading back to Newcastle next May – and fans have two weeks to snap up tickets at a special early rate to take their pick of the six fixtures at St James’ Park.

On top of the 50% discount on tickets for all season ticket holders when they purchase through their clubs, anyone can take advantage of a 40% discount across all ticketing categories until midnight 2nd December 2024 (Cyber Monday).

Magic Weekend will celebrate its 18th birthday in 2025, and will return to the first May Bank Holiday, just as when it was launched in Cardiff in 2007 as a trailblazing concept for Rugby League and for British sport.

After a big loss last weekend, it was likely that Samoa would prove much tougher opposition for England in the second test match at Headingley Stadium in Leeds as they looked to put into action an extra week of training and build up and ask England some harsher questions.

Shaun Wane made a few changes to last week’s winning side with Liam Marshall into the side for Dom Young and Junior Nsemba being brought into the starting line-up while Samoa also made a couple of changes including Leeds Rhinos bound Keenan Palasia being given a start off the bench.

England were big favourites with the bookies to make it a second win of the two-match series and exact a little more revenge for that exit at the semi-final stage in the last World Cup.

Headingley Stadium was the venue for a top-drawer double-header which started with England’s women taking on the Welsh in the fourth test match between the two nations, England with big wins in all previous meetings.

England were massive favourites as they start their preparation for a three-test match encounter against Australia in 2025, a run out before a true test of England’s women and their current international standing.

Stuart Barrow had some selection problems for a variety of reason and selected a young squad of players hungry to establish themselves on the national stage.

Shaun Wane’s England entered a mouthwatering two game test series against a Samoan side who knocked the hosts out of the World Cup at the semi-final stage in 2022 as the two sides did battle at the Brick Community Stadium in Wigan.

England are unbeaten since that loss but are against a Samoan side containing only two of the players who made it to the World Cup final.

It promised to be a big challenge for England as they looked for a modicum of revenge for the heartbreak of two years ago, the scene was set for an explosive opening in the first ever test series between the two nations.

Following a Rugby Football League compliance investigation, an independent Operational Rules Tribunal was convened on October 17 to consider alleged breaches in March 2024 by Mark Aston and Mick Heys, who were respectively head coach and head physiotherapist at Sheffield Eagles.



The alleged breaches concerned the appearance of Matty Marsh for the Eagles in their Betfred Challenge Cup tie at Wigan Warriors on March 22, 13 days after he had suffered a head injury during a Betfred Championship fixture against Swinton Lions, and without having received the necessary medical clearance to return.

St Helens have earned the highest score in the first official club gradings which are today published as part of Rugby League’s long-term strategic partnership with IMG – and which determine membership of the Betfred Super League in 2025.

Saints have scored 17,02 points out of the maximum of 20 available to clubs across five pillars – Fandom, Finance, Stadium, Community and On-Field Performance.

They are one of nine clubs who have secured an A grading which guarantees a place in Super League.

The others include Wakefield Trinity, who were relegated from the Super League in 2023 and received a B grade in the illustrative gradings that were released last autumn.

The top two sides in the Championship took the field to play out the final game of the domestic season as they met in the Play-off final to determine the top side in the competition.

IMG and the RFL were praying for a Wakefield win to ensure that the winners would replace the London Broncos in the top flight next season while the mischievous neutrals were hoping for a Toulouse win to ‘put the cat amongst the pigeons’.

The bookies strongly fancied Trinity for the win.

Championship rugby for 2025 was at stake for the Swinton Lions and Hunslet as they met in the promotion/relegation play off for an eighty-minute showdown to determine whether the home side would maintain their status or whether the side from West Yorkshire would replace them.

The gulf between the second and third tiers of British rugby league meant that the Lions were strong favourites for the win, it would take a Herculean effort from Hunslet to upset the Championship side and take the prize.

A Sunday evening game, under the glare of the floodlights, promised plenty of needle and an exciting encounter.

In normal times the end of season Championship play-off game between Wakefield Trinity and York RLFC Knights would be a fight to the death for a place in the Million Pound Game and a chance for a tilt at Super League rugby in 2025, but these are not normal times.

With next year’s topflight line up to be decided by a desk exercise in the hands of the RFL’s consultants, IMG, what was to play for today was IMG success points, with Wakefield Trinity already guaranteed promotion.

Wakefield were strong favourites with the bookies, and it would have taken a brave man to back the visitors after Trinity romped to big wins in all of the games that the two sides have played in the 2024 season.

The final game of the 2024 Super League season pitched the top two sides over the regular season against one another in the Grand Final at Old Trafford as defending champions Wigan Warriors looked for back-to-back trophies against a Hull KR side appearing their first ever flagship event.

Traditional Grand Final day weather greeted the sides, rain pouring onto an already sodden turf, in a stadium adorned with red and white and cherry and white as the Robins looked to upset the formbook and the bookies odds and become only the fifth name to be etched onto the trophy.

The Warriors were handicapped by six points on the coupon, but many pundits thought that the gap would be wide in Wigan’s favour after two wins in the three meetings between the two sides this season, although only four points separated the sides the last time that they met at the beginning of September.

York Valkyrie were seeking back to back Grand Final wins as they took on a St Helens side who had only lost one game in a season which saw them crowned as minor premiers at the Totally Wicked Stadium.

St Helens were favourites to lift their first Grand Final trophy since 2021 and were handicapped by ten points on the coupon despite losing one of the three encounters between the sides earlier in the season.

It promised to be a tough encounter between the two best sides in the game.

A relegation play off against the Swinton Lions awaited the victory of a League One play off match between the Keighley Cougars and Hunslet in a West Yorkshire to derby to earn the chance to join Oldham and be playing their rugby in the Championship in the 2025 season.

The home side were big favourites with the bookies to win the game, but Hunslet have sprung a few surprises in 2024 including a win at Cougar Park in May by 26-18.

What was certain was that neither side would die wondering.

The pinnacle of the game for many, the Australian Grand Final, pitted Melbourne Storm against the Penrith Panthers in a rerun of the 2020 final which saw Melbourne the victors before three consecutive wins for Penrith as they have dominated the game in recent seasons.

Melbourne had been installed as slight favourites with the bookies but with just a two-point handicap on the coupon there was clearly very little to choose between the sides who finished first and second at the end of the regular season.

The Accor Stadium in Sydney was the venue for the encounter, almost a home game for the Penrith side and their supporters, as Australia ground to a standstill for a Sunday evening of high entertainment.

A place at Old Trafford against last night’s controversial victors, Hull KR, awaited the winners of the Borough Derby as league leaders Wigan Warriors faced a resurgent Leigh Leopards in a crucial eighty minutes which could have ended in ‘business as usual’ or herald the dawn of a new order at the top of the game.

Wigan were clear favourites with the bookies after sweeping aside the challenge of Hull KR for the minor premiership but despite a ten-point handicap on the coupon they took the field under few illusions that the Leigh side, under their former coach Adrian Lam, would be massive in opposition.

The Brick was a sea of red and white as the crowd reached fever pitch ahead of kick off.

A place at Old Trafford awaited the victors as Hull Kingston Rovers looked to achieve their first ever Grand Final against a Warrington Wolves side who have made it through to the showpiece game on four previous occasions but who have never lifted the trophy.

The two teams had already met on three occasions in Super League 2024, Warrington winning the first two meetings by 22-20 and 20-8 while the most recent encounter saw Hull KR triumphant by the scoreline of 22-4.

The home side were slight favourites with the bookies going into the game and they were handicapped by four points on the coupon, it was an indication that in all reality the game was too close to call and the stage was set for a great game of knockout rugby.

St Helens only made the play-off by virtue of a better points difference than the Catalans Dragons which meant that after a poor season by their very high standards they were the favourites with the bookies to drop out of the race for Old Trafford at the first hurdle as they took on a Warrington Wolves side who were still smarting from not making the top two.

Should Warrington meet expectations and secure the victory then they would set up a visit to Hull KR next weekend, whereas as win for St Helens would see them travel to Wigan to face the old enemy, the Warriors, for a place in the Grand Final.

It promised to be an intense battle.

Forget the regular season, forget previous games, this was the end of season play-offs as fourth placed Salford Red Devils looked to progress after a great season as they took on a Leigh Leopards side who have cast aside all those in front of them after a terrible start to the season to end up in fifth place.

Despite finishing the season lower in the table, the bookies made the visitors slight favourites as they came into the game on the back of an excellent run of form and handicapped them by two points on the coupon.

Salford won the first 2024 meeting between the two sides back in March by ten points, but have since being thrashed twice by the Leopards, most recently at the Magic Weekend when they lost by 26-0.