Hull KR among the big winners with Hull FC BOTTOM in Super League table since Ian Watson’s sacking
How would the Super League table look since Ian Watson's sacking?
As the 2024 regular season draws to a close, it’s fair to say that Huddersfield Giants’ chances of competing for success this season faded away a long, long time ago.
Despite a fairly promising start under Ian Watson and a couple of notable victories – winning away at Catalans in the Challenge Cup, for one – the writing felt on the wall for Watson as summer approached and he was ultimately sacked in mid-July by the club.
Watson was replaced by Luke Robinson, first on an interim basis, before Robinson then stepped into the breach on a permanent basis earlier this month. He will be tasked with turning around the club’s fortunes in 2025.
But how have the Giants – and all 11 other Super League clubs – fared in the time since Watson left the club? The table during that time makes for interesting reading.
Excluding the final round of the season – which was yet to be completed at the time of writing – there have been 10 rounds of action, with Leigh Leopards and Wigan Warriors each playing 11 due to their game in hand.
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And here’s how things look in that time period (before Round 27 got underway)..
As you can see, there are some big winners – and indeed some pretty hefty losers.
Huddersfield themselves are in a not too dissimilar position to where they find themselves going into Round 27; level on points with Castleford Tigers, ahead of the bottom two and adrift of the rest. But the story is significantly different for some other clubs.
The big winners
Hull KR immediately jump out as a side who’ve been impressive in the ten games since Watson was sacked. The Robins have won nine of those ten matches, their only defeat coming away at reigning champions Wigan Warriors.
Leigh Leopards are another side who’ve peaked in the final months of the season; they sit second on this table with nine wins from 11 games. Their two losses were against Wigan in that game in hand and last week, against Hull KR.
It’s a sign of the turnaround under Brad Arthur that Leeds Rhinos find themselves in the top six here, too. They’re actually joint-fifth with Salford Red Devils – with both sides having five wins and five losses from their last ten.
The big losers
They could still yet finish bottom at the end of Round 27 but things look even more bleak for Hull FC in the table since Watson’s dismissal. They’re two points adrift of 11th-placed London Broncos with a points difference of -268: almost 200 worse than the Broncos.
A sign of St Helens‘ late-season slump is also underlined here – with Paul Wellens’ side eighth over the last ten rounds of action. They have just four wins from those ten games in total.
And although they’re top going into the final round, Wigan Warriors are fourth on this table, two points adrift of Rovers having played a game more in that time period.
