Ranking EVERY club’s IMG performance score with Wakefield Trinity among big winners

Aaron Bower 21 Oct 2024 10:55 AM

Wednesday is a momentous day in the rugby league calendar, with every club in the professional structure set to discover their IMG gradings score as the system officially goes live for the first time.

All 35 clubs who competed throughout 2024 in Super League, Championship and League 1 will find out where they sit on the gradings – with the 12 top sides making the cut for Super League in 2025.

And one of the key components of the grading is the performance aspect of the criteria. Clubs can secure up to 5 points – 25 per cent of the total – in this part of the grading, making it perhaps the most essential thing, given how it covers on-field performance.

Here is how all 35 clubs will score in this part of the grading this week: but first of all, an explainer on how it all works.

The methodology

Clubs are graded on their last three league finishes – with progression in the play-offs in each division factored into the equation – before an average score of those three finishes is produced. The club with the lowest average secured 4.0000 points, the second-highest 3.8857 and so on, with a sliding scale going all the way down to the club in 35th place, who get just 0.1143 points.

As mentioned, for any club who finishes in the play-off places in their respective league, it is how far they get in the play-offs, not their actual league finish, which produces their score.

For example, in Super League, the clubs’ finishes are awarded by the following:

1st: Super League Grand Final winners
2nd: Super League Grand Final runners-up
3rd: Highest-ranked losing semi-finalist
4th: Lowest-ranked losing semi-finalist
5th: Highest-ranked losing eliminator side
6th: Lowest-ranked losing eliminator side

So this year, the finishes of 1st to 6th would go, in order: Wigan, Hull KR, Warrington, Leigh, Salford, St Helens. The same methodology applies in Championship and League 1. The clubs who don’t make the play-offs are scored on their league finish so, for example, London Broncos would secure 12th on the rankings this year after coming 12th in Super League.

13th would then be given to the Championship Grand Final winners, 14th the Grand Final runners-up, and so on. The finishes from 2022, 2023 and 2024 are added together and divided to produce the average for the 2025 gradings.

Bonus Points

There are also bonus points on offer, with success in the following competitions securing the following points:

Super League Grand Final winners: 0.75 points
Challenge Cup winners: 0.25 points
Championship Grand Final winner: 0.25 points
1895 Cup winners: 0.1 points
League 1 champions: 0.1 points

The bonus points are only awarded for the winners of those competitions in the current season, though – so in this case, the 2024 trophy winners.

All clear? Good. Here’s how everyone ranks – and the points they’ll get out of a maximum of 5, in reverse order.

35th-31st: Cornwall (0.1143), Midlands (0.2286), North Wales (0.3429), Rochdale (0.4571), Hunslet (0.5714)

There aren’t too many surprises with the bottom five sides in this bracket, given how they’ve been in League 1 for the entirety of the three-year qualifying period.

Hunslet, though, will get a big boost next year no matter what after promotion this season. They’ll replace a finish of third-bottom in League 1 in 2022 with wherever they come in 2025.

30th-26th: Workington (0.6857), Oldham (0.9000), Newcastle (0.9143), Keighley (1.0286), Dewsbury (1.1429)

Oldham’s league position average gives them a points score of 0.8000 – but there is a bonus 0.1 awarded to them for winning League 1.

25th-21st: Doncaster (1.2571), Swinton (1.3714), Whitehaven (1.4857), Barrow (1.6000), Halifax (1.7143)

Things now start to get interesting from hereon out, with some ambitious clubs hovering around the mid-point of the rankings.

Halifax and Widnes have a matching average: but whoever ranked higher in the most recent season gets awarded the higher amount of points. So Halifax take 1.7143 which means..

20th-16th: Widnes (1.8286), Batley (1.9429), Sheffield (2.0571), Bradford (2.1714), York (2.2857)

Two clubs in particular stand out here, given their bold Super League aspirations: Bradford and York. The Bulls are actually primed for a further jump on this grading next year you would assume; they have a grading of 21st from three years ago which they will lose next time around.

Batley and Sheffield’s league average is the same, but Sheffield rank higher due to a better 2024.

15th-13th: Featherstone (2.4000), London (2.5143), Toulouse (2.6286)

Another three ambitious clubs sit just outside the top 12. London finished 23rd on the pyramid three seasons ago so barring any major mishaps in 2025, they’ll surge up this list next year. As with Batley and Sheffield, London and Featherstone have a matching average – London get the nod because of 2024.

12th-10th: Hull FC (2.8571), Castleford (2.9714), Huddersfield 3.0857)

Into the 12 clubs that many expect will be in Super League next year – and a worrying sign of Hull’s recent fortunes that they sit 12th out of that group.

They’re defending a ninth-placed finish from 2022 next year, too. Huddersfield are defending a fifth-placed finish and, you would expect, could lose more points in this part of the grading in 2025.

9th-7th: Wakefield (3.0929), Leigh (3.2000), Warrington (3.3143)

Although relegation seemed like a disappointment at the time, it’s turned out well for Wakefield Trinity: because their bonus points see them outscore a number of Super League sides from 2024.

They’ve got 0.35 points added onto their score of 2.7429 they got for being 12th in the average league finishes over the last three seasons to go ahead of Hull, Castleford and Huddersfield.

Leigh and Warrington will be hopeful of major climb in the rankings next year: they will lose league finishes of 13th (Championship winners) and 11th respectively at the end of next year, with that replaced by wherever they come in 2025.

6th-4th: Leeds (3.4286), Salford (3.5429), Catalans (3.6571)

The Rhinos are defending a 2nd-placed finish next year after coming runners-up in the 2022 Grand Final, so they could drop down further on this list. Salford and Catalans are the first two sides to score above 3.5 points.

3rd: Hull KR (3.7714)

With finishes of 8th, 4th and 2nd in the last three years, Rovers have an average league finish of 4.67 which puts them behind just two clubs.

2nd: St Helens (3.8857)

The Saints have league finishes of 1st, 3rd and 6th in the last three seasons, giving them a very healthy total in this part of the grading.

1st: Wigan (5.0000)

That’s right: the Warriors pick up MAXIMUM points from IMG in this aspect of the criteria. Their league finishes of 3rd, 1st and 1st after back-to-back Grand Final triumphs gives them the best average league finish of any club, meaning 4.0000 points.

But with 0.75 for the Grand Final and 0.25 for the Challenge Cup, Wigan have swept the board.

Championship IMG

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The methodology

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