2025 is officially drawing to a close \u2013 so it\u2019s time for us to look back at the rugby league year that was.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s everything that stood out for us: the good, the bad, the ugly and the downright pure rugby league. It\u2019s the Love Rugby League end of year awards!<\/p>\n
Best player<\/p>\n
Jake Connor. He won the Man of Steel so he\u2019s an obvious pick but he was, at times, single-handedly dragging Leeds out of the mire. His renaissance under Brad Arthur was one of the stories of 2025.<\/p>\n
Best young player<\/p>\n
Lewis Martin. It was a toss-up between him or Harry Robertson but the Hull FC winger was absolutely sensational all season long, showing consistency and maturity within his game way beyond his years. A star in the making for sure, and an England international of the future.<\/p>\n
Signing of the year<\/p>\n
We\u2019re going with a tie: Leigh Leopards\u2019 capture of Tesi Niu was a masterstroke piece of business and he already looks like one of the best players in Super League. But Leeds\u2019 decision to bring Kallum Watkins back to Headingley was also a sensational piece of business in hindsight.<\/p>\n
Best coach<\/p>\n
A few contenders here. Daryl Powell is worthy of a mention for taking Wakefield to the top six. Willie Peters obviously is in the conversation: somewhere near the top.<\/p>\n
But we\u2019ll go for a left-field one; Leigh Leopards boss Adrian Lam. Yes, they didn\u2019t win anything, we know. But goodness, they were a great watch in 2025 and Lam has been instrumental in making them a Super League force.<\/p>\n
Best game<\/p>\n
There are a fair few to go at. Wigan Warriors 0-1 Leigh Leopards springs immediately to mind back in February for the sheer ludicrous nature of it, and the nail-biting drama that engulfed it throughout. There won\u2019t be many better season launches.<\/p>\n
Wakefield\u2019s thrilling win over Leeds Rhinos under the lights thanks to Mason Lino\u2019s drop goal is also up there \u2013 but we\u2019ve just gone for St Helens\u2019 win at Leeds in the play-offs. That ending alone makes it the best.<\/p>\n
Biggest disappointment<\/p>\n
Take your pick.. but on the field, we\u2019re going to go for the Ashes. It promised so much, but England\u2019s performances really didn\u2019t live up to the billing at all. It\u2019s hard not to think the Australians were there for the taking to an extent, too. A real missed opportunity \u2013 and a sign of how low the national team is valued by those at the top of the sport that the build-up was so minimal.<\/p>\n
It shouldn\u2019t be repeated in 2026.. but we all know it will be.<\/p>\n
Biggest moan<\/p>\n
The handling of the Salford Red Devils situation: from everyone. From the RFL for waving through the owners to start with, their own deplorable treatment of Red Devils players, staff and supporters and the fact it was allowed to drag on until a miserable end just so they fulfilled their fixtures.<\/p>\n
You could argue it was necessary for Super League\u2019s integrity: but was it worth it?<\/p>\n
Owner of the year<\/p>\n
There\u2019s a few to go at \u2013 we\u2019re blessed in the game really outside of the odd handful \u2013 but Wakefield\u2019s Matt Ellis. His investment into the club has seen Trinity become a real force in the sport, something that has felt long overdue. Passionate as they come, Ellis has set Wakefield up for a bright future for sure.<\/p>\n
The \u2018you shouldn\u2019t have said that\u2019 award<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t even know who picked the Man of Steel, I don\u2019t know what goes into it. The Dream Team, I don\u2019t even know who\u2019s in the Dream Team, so that never comes into my reckoning.\u201d<\/p>\n
Shaun Wane\u2019s comments on Jake Connor ahead of the Ashes. It just didn\u2019t feel great the England coach shutting down the most prestigious individual honour in the game to justify a selection that he was well within his rights to make. It stood out for all the wrong reasons.<\/p>\n
The \u2018Only in Rugby League\u2019 award<\/p>\n
Phwoar: take your pick here. It\u2019s almost a daily occurrence that something happens in this sport that couldn\u2019t be repeated anywhere else.<\/p>\n
We have a three-way tie: the Rugby League World Cup team publishing the fixtures on their own hospitality website before they were officially announced, Jake Connor\u2019s Man of Steel win going online in a scheduled post before it was announced in the room or the true chaos that engulfed the move to 14 teams and its handling. Choose whichever one you like.<\/p>\n
Main hope for 2026<\/p>\n
No talk of restructures or boardroom coups. It\u2019s that simple. Let\u2019s let the players dominate the headlines.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"2025 is officially drawing to a close \u2013 so it\u2019s time for us to look back at the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":382013,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-382012","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-rugby","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/382012","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=382012"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/382012\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/382013"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=382012"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=382012"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=382012"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}