Super League expansion to 14 teams nears as Wakefield replace Broncos

Super League expanding to 14 teams as early as 2026 appears to be looming after the publication of IMG’s gradings led to Wakefield Trinity being readmitted into the competition for 2025 in place of London Broncos, who have been demoted to the Championship.

Rugby league clubs agreed last year to replace conventional promotion and relegation with a gradings system that measured clubs in a variety of on and off-field metrics. Only the 12 clubs with the highest ranking would be given admission to Super League on an annual basis, with the gradings to be reviewed every year.

However, the initial rollout of the system has already created several talking points. Chief among them is the return of Wakefield, who are back in Super League after a solitary season away after securing the necessary grading points to be readmitted to the competition. They replace the Broncos, who drop back into the Championship, in the only change to the 2024 lineup.

“It’s a great achievement by everybody at the club,” Wakefield’s owner Matt Ellis, said. “We’ve bounced back and the score we’ve received is the icing on the cake. However, three-quarters of the competition including Trinity have secured the highest ranking, Grade A, after they scored in excess of 15 points out of the maximum of 20 on offer.

St Helens were ranked 1st with 17.02 points just ahead of the Super League champions, Wigan. Previously, the Rugby Football League and IMG admitted expansion would only be considered when all 12 Super League sides achieved Grade A status.

That prospect now appears likely to happen much sooner than expected and Rhodri Jones, the chief executive of Rugby League Commercial, admitted talks related to expansion will have to be pulled forward. “I think based on there being nine Grade As that conversation starts sooner than expected,” Jones said.

“There is a chance that we could have 12 Grade As next year and that will definitely quicken that conversation in a what-if scenario, because it could be 2026. I think there’s a broader conversation to be had around the 14 teams, it’s not a new conversation, but we always said once we get to 12 Grade As we will review the structure in the top division and that’s what we’ll do.”

Any expansion to 14 would put four teams in contention for admission. Toulouse, London, York and Bradford are the four highest-ranked teams outside of Super League in the gradings, and they look to be in the mix for promotion should they sufficiently improve their own grading over the next year. The Broncos improved their ranking from 24th last season to 14th in the newly announced grandings.

Any club with Grade A status is immune from relegation, meaning that the likes of Trinity, Castleford and Leigh, who all scored 15 or more, are safe. The three Grade B clubs in Super League are Hull FC, Huddersfield and Salford. The Red Devils, who finished fourth on-field in 2024 but were ranked 12th by IMG, called for further clarity on the system’s nuances.

The club said: “We believe that additional due diligence within the reporting system may be necessary to maintain a level playing field. As a community-owned club, we cannot rely on private equity to improve certain criteria, therefore achieving a Grade A status is critical to the future of the club, as well as the City of Salford.”