Hull KR, Wigan Warriors and Halifax Panthers all found the ingredients to dominate the men’s, women’s and wheelchair games respectively in 2025.
CHRISTMAS is a time for giving, but for the rest of this year there has been little of that spirit in Rugby League.
That’s because in the men’s, women’s and wheelchair game, the top prizes have all been hoovered by the same clubs.
Alongside Hull KR’s treble, Wigan Warriors’ women and the wheelchair stars of Halifax Panthers have swept all before them.
In each section of the game, the available trophies reward different qualities. The Challenge Cup needs a team to win when it matters, the League Leaders’ Shield must be won through consistency, and the Grand Final requires endurance to still be strong at the end of a gruelling campaign.
Three teams were all of those things in 2025.
Who’d have thought it?
There was nothing inevitable about those teams enjoying such success, or any success at all. In fact, none of the three won any silverware in the preceding season.
Hull KR had been edging in that direction, losing the Challenge Cup Final in 2023 and Grand Final in 2024, although they hadn’t won a trophy in 40 years.
Halifax also came into the season as losing Grand Finalists, having not won a trophy since the Super League crown in 2022.
But Wigan had lost five semi-finals in a row across league and cup, not reaching a final since lifting the first Super League title in 2018.
Rugby League World’s predictions for the season correctly called only Halifax’s ascent. Wigan were tipped to finish third, while Hull KR were slated to come only fourth.
All made significant strides before the campaign began. For Halifax that meant bringing back England star Jack Brown from Australia, while Hull KR added crucial experience themselves in Jared Waerea-Hargreaves, Rhyse Martin and Michael McIlorum.
To make the biggest step up, Wigan made – or rather continued – the biggest set of changes, signing established names but also backing a generation of young talent being produced by the club. Theirs was a rise that happened gradually, then suddenly.
Their former NRLW star Shaniah Power said: “Even early on, I really felt like we were going to do something good this season.
“I had seen the quality that the girls produced against those (top) sides and how the determination of our young ones and the experience of our old ones were mixing together, and I felt very confident.
“I believed in the girls, and the girls believed in themselves. The club and coaching staff backed us, so we had such a healthy environment around us.”
Rocky roads to success
No season is ever perfect, but perfection is the aim and these three clubs got pretty close.
Halifax were the only ones to go the season unbeaten, with their sole hiccup coming in round one of Super League as they drew at London Roosters, a week after beating the same opposition in the Challenge Cup Final.
They only claimed the League Leaders’ Shield thanks to their superior points difference over London after both won five from six, going on to win all three games in the following play-off series as well.
Over a longer campaign, both Hull KR and Wigan had peaks and troughs to ride.
The Warriors, so dominant early on – including a 42-6 thrashing of St Helens at Wembley – saw others rise to the challenge as the season progressed.
After 10 successive wins, Saints held them to a draw, and then York Knights inflicted their sole defeat – 32-10, no less – in Newcastle.
That meant Wigan had to find another gear to come out on top in the play-offs.
So too did Hull KR, after winning 20 of their first 21 games. Back-to-back defeats against Leeds Rhinos and Leigh Leopards were followed in the final month by reversals to Leeds again, and Wakefield Trinity.
Their patchy late-season form was such that, despite claiming the Shield, Hull KR weren’t considered the favourites to then win the Grand Final.
But what both the Warriors and Robins, in their respective competitions, had was the experience of winning in a big game already, thanks to the Challenge Cup. That undoubtedly helped both secure the league titles.
“People recognised that we were a strong team going into 2025, but the narrative was that we still hadn’t won a trophy for 40 years. So we needed to get that monkey off our back,” said Hull KR chief executive Paul Lakin.
“I think the players grew in stature after that (Wembley) result. We’ve got a really strong spine of players that have been with us and have grown, but we needed to win that trophy.
“Having done it, all the players felt, and certainly Willie (Peters, coach) felt, that that feeling of winning was something that they wanted to have again and again.
“It’s what serial winners say – it truly is addictive.”
Holding your nerve
Being the dominant side all season does not guarantee a triumph at the end – just ask York Knights, who would also have been in the treble-winning tent but came unstuck at the last to Toulouse Olympique.
It’s to Hull KR’s immense credit that, after scraping past Warrington Wolves in both the Challenge Cup Final – thanks to a dramatic late Tom Davies try and Mikey Lewis goal – and then in the last league round to take the Shield, they produced an immense performance to so decisively win the Grand Final, 24-6 over Wigan.
More typically, the last game is the hardest to win, and so it was for the others.
Wigan won not one but two epics against great rivals Saints, the first a 24-20 comeback victory for the League Leaders’ which displayed the same admirable nervelessness as Hull KR back at Wembley.
Then came another wonderful derby at The Brick Community Stadium, requiring another second-half turnaround to triumph 16-12 and win the title.
Halifax also had a dogged foe, London following them every step of the way. The Grand Final (42-32) was a much closer affair than the Challenge Cup Final (46-24) but once again they found a way to beat top-quality opposition.
“This team is so well connected,” said Panthers star Rob Hawkins.
“It’s great to see the love is there and because we love each other so much, we play so well together.
“We’ve faced challenges as well so we’re happy with what we came away with, but we want to go back for a treble for a second year in a row.”
Three of the best
Connection, hunger and of course top talent both new and old – all crucial ingredients to enjoy such a run.
Perhaps one final factor – a little bit of luck.
Hull KR’s winning Wembley score came from a tragic Warrington error. Without it, no treble and maybe no trophies at all.
And for Halifax, they avoided the cup and league holders, Catalans Dragons and Leeds Rhinos respectively, when both were thrown out of the competitions. How things would have otherwise unfolded, we’ll never know.
That’s not to diminish the achievements of either. A treble is a treble, truly remarkable and never to be taken away.
It does, along with the manner of their rise, perhaps elevate Wigan’s season to the most impressive of them all – plus they in fact won a ‘quadruple’, with the Women’s Nines factored in.
There’s no need to compare, however. All were special in their own way, and all go down as truly exceptional sides.