RL Today: Legal wrangle, attendance trends and early Easter team news

James Gordon
Rivals Round

Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWpix.com

It’s the quiet before the storm as anticipation rises ahead of the Easter weekend and a Rivals Round, which will hopefully gain the attention it deserves after the traditional double header weekend was dropped.

Clubs have been busy holding their pre-match build-up, with all six games being televised live on Sky Sports, including Warrington’s trip to Catalans.

The Dragons have erected a temporary stand to help house the Wolves fans, as well as visitors from St Helens later in the month, due to the ongoing renovation works at the Stade Gilbert Brutus.

Easter team news

It’s perhaps a bit early in the season for a relegation four-pointer, but the Easter Thursday derby between Wakefield and Castleford is as close to it as you could get.

Both sides are desperate for points, particularly Wakefield, who would be left stranded even further at the bottom of the table with a defeat.

Mark Applegarth’s side has at least been boosted by some returnees, as well as three recent loan signings.

Meanwhile, Castleford will welcome back Niall Evalds, but Gareth Widdop misses out after sitting out the defeat at Catalans through illness.

Top talent sidelined

The Good Friday between Wigan and St Helens, the first at the DW Stadium since 2019, promises to be a cracker.

Unfortunately, two of the key men will be missing – with Wigan flier Jai Field facing a spell on the sidelines and St Helens prop Alex Walmsley out with a hamstring injury that saw him go off the field within minutes of kick-off last weekend.

The Easter weekend is likely to boost even further an encouraging start to the season in terms of attendances.

MORE: Thursday night Super League: Surprising trend with early attendances

Legal wrangle

It’s a story that will come around every couple of months now until a resolution is found.

The latest update on the legal action being pursued by former players has now swelled to 100 ex-rugby league players, and there are now greater fears than ever before that costs will spiral out of control.

One club chairman has spoken out about the damage it is doing to modern day rugby league.

MORE: Past players’ legal action has ‘zero consideration’ on impact to future of the sport

Fixture quirks

Interesting point raised by The Tryline on Twitter, with the forthcoming ‘Rivals Round’ clash between Leigh and Salford being a replica of a match we’ve already seen this season.

The Leopards took on the Red Devils in their opening match of the Super League season, less than two months ago.

It’s a consequence of loop fixtures, which will hopefully be a thing of the past come the IMG revolution in 2025.

Huddersfield’s recent match against St Helens in round six was the reverse fixture to the round one scheduled meeting, postponed of course due to St Helens’ involvement in the World Club Challenge Down Under.

Adding the extras

Speaking of Saints’ World Club Challenge success, they held a celebration dinner at the weekend with players from their 2001, 2007 and 2023 world champion sides.

Coach Paul Wellens was involved in all three, the first two as a player. The likes of Paul Newlove, Chris Joynt, Paul Sculthorpe and Sean Long were also present.

Unsurprisingly Paul Vaughan – no longer invisible after the Super League website finally got his stats published – was named Warrington’s Player of the Month for the second successive month after his fine start to life with the Wolves.

The RFL’s Try of the Week shortlist is below. Abbas Miski gets my vote.

Don’t forget to keep up with all the latest by downloading the free Love Rugby League mobile app, available on iOS and Android.