2024 Super League Grand Final: Kick-off time, TV coverage, Team News

Wigan Warriors and Hull KR will do battle at Old Trafford in the Super League Grand Final on Saturday, October 12. Here’s everything you need to know ahead of the showpiece…

Kick-off time

Saturday’s Grand Final at the Theatre of Dreams will kick off at 6pm (BST).

TV coverage

As always, Super League‘s main broadcast partner Sky Sports will provide coverage of the Grand Final.

Their coverage will come via the ‘Sky Sports+’ channel, formerly recognised as ‘Sky Sports Arena’.

The coverage will begin at 5pm (BST), exactly an hour prior to kick-off.

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Team News

Wigan and Hull KR’s 21-man squads were announced on Thursday afternoon.

The only change to either squad from their respective semi-final victories is the return of Robins captain Elliot Minchella, who takes the place of Oliver Gildart.

Minchella sat out KR‘s last game of the regular season against Leeds Rhinos and their semi-final victory against Warrington Wolves due to suspension.

Gildart meanwhile, who featured 143 times for Wigan at the start of his career, has not featured for the Robins since their Round 26 victory at Leigh Leopards on September 13 due to a rib injury.

When asked at Monday’s pre-Grand Final press conference, KR boss Willie Peters insisted the centre would be ‘eligible for selection’ having come through a fitness test, but that hasn’t proven to be the case.

Wigan’s 21-man squad is unchanged from their semi-final win against Leigh Leopards, with, Cherry and Whites skipper Liam Farrell included despite a question mark remaining over his fitness.

He missed that semi-final triumph against Leigh due to a virus, with Sam Walters replacing him. Should Farrell fail to recover in time for Saturday’s Grand Final, the likelihood is that Walters will keep his spot in the side.

Both teams’ 21-man squads for the Grand Final can be seen below…

Wigan: Field, Miski, Keighran, Wardle, Marshall, French, Smith, Havard, Byrne, Farrell, Ellis, Mago, Thompson, Leeming, Dupree, Hill, Nsemba, Walters, Eckersley, Forber, Farrimond

Hull KR: Hiku, Evalds, Opacic, Hall, Lewis, Sue, Litten, King, Hadley, Batchelor, Minchella, Parcell, Luckley, Whitbread, Storton, Tanginoa, May, Burgess, Broadbent, Brown, Richardson

The Rob Burrow Award

Since the Grand Final’s inception in 1998, the man of the match in each showpiece has been awarded the Harry Sunderland Trophy. The winner is decided by a vote of the media in attendance at the event.

This year, that accolade has been renamed as the ‘Rob Burrow Award’ in honour of the late, great Leeds Rhinos legend who lost his battle with MND at the age of 41 back in June.

During his playing career, Burrow was the first-ever player to win the Harry Sunderland Trophy twice, in 2007 and 2011.

The latter saw him become the first player to receive every single vote from the media in 2011 for his display in Leeds’ triumph against St Helens.

Of the players potentially involved in this year’s Grand Final, Wigan trio Luke Thompson, Jake Wardle and Liam Farrell are the only players to have earned the accolade previously.

Thompson did so as a St Helens player for his display in their 2019 triumph against Salford Red Devils, while Wardle received the honour for his performance in the Warriors’ win against Catalans last October.

Farrell’s man of the match display came in 2016 as Wigan beat Warrington Wolves.

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Other notable facts and figures

• This will be the 27th Super League Grand Final, with all bar one of the previous 26 taking place at Old Trafford.
• The only exception came in 2020 during the COVID-19 Pandemic when St Helens beat Wigan at Hull FC’s MKM Stadium behind closed doors.
• On Saturday, Wigan go in search of their seventh Super League title, with this their 13th involvement in the Grand Final.
• Hull KR have never featured in a Super League Grand Final, and were last crowned champions of England in 1985.
• The Robins will become the 10th different Super League club to make an appearance at Old Trafford.
• KR have previously featured at Old Trafford in the Second Division Premiership Final, narrowly losing out to Oldham in 1990.
• Only four clubs have ever won the Grand Final: St Helens (9), Leeds Rhinos (8), Wigan (6) and Bradford Bulls (3)
• The five clubs to have featured in at least one Grand Final without ever winning one are: Hull FC, Catalans, Salford Red Devils, Castleford Tigers and Warrington Wolves