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It is fast becoming a story we are well versed with. For the third consecutive season, Hull KR and Wigan Warriors square off in a major final, with an historic first meeting in the Challenge Cup decider on Saturday afternoon at Wembley the latest chapter in a generational rivalry. The record is one win each, with Wigan triumphing in the 2024 Super League Grand Final and Rovers exacting revenge last year at Old Trafford.
They are the two most recent champions not just of Super League but the world, having both beaten NRL opposition in the World Club Challenge. This final marks a moment in time for one of them to solidify a position as one of the modern era’s truly great teams. For once, it is Wigan who are arguably the underdogs.
Hull KR’s rise to the pinnacle of rugby league for the first time since the 1980s culminated in their historic treble last year. In order to go back-to-back at Wembley, they must deny the Warriors a record-extending 22nd Challenge Cup final victory; Rovers, by comparison, have won it twice. Wigan, as they have always done, will give youth a chance on Saturday, a theme that has been a talking point leading into the game.
Yes, the usual superstars such as Hull KR’s Mikey Lewis and Wigan’s Jai Field will be on show at Wembley. The Warriors’ talismanic half-back, Bevan French, may also be there after he was a surprise inclusion in their 21-man squad a month ahead of schedule after a hamstring tear. But the story bubbling underneath is that of two of Wigan’s next big stars.
There could be as many as 10 academy products in Wigan’s 17, including the 20-year-olds Noah Hodkinson and Jack Farrimond; the former will make just his eighth senior appearance for the club. But Super League’s salary cap rules mean the pair could dominate the sport’s biggest game while earning, in relative terms, a pittance.
The rules dictate that any player under 21 earning £30,000 or under does not count on the £2.1m limit. In effect it means that in order to spend the cap on high-profile talent elsewhere, clubs are forced into underpaying their best young players and, when they turn 22, a decision has to be made on whether to keep them or let them go.
Wigan face that problem regularly and their chief executive, Kris Radlinski, believes the scale of what at least one player in that bracket could achieve on Saturday should highlight the need for change. “It’s an impossible challenge,” he says. “Noah could get man-of-the-match but there’s nothing within the rules to allow me to pay him any more money.”
For context, any player in the 30-man squad of teams in Australia’s National Rugby League must be paid a minimum of AUS$135,000 (currently about £70,000), irrespective of age. Super League has long struggled with its best players going to the NRL but the cap rules mean younger, unproven players are now taking a chance and moving too – or, worse, walking away from the sport altogether.
“You can go and work at Costa Coffee and earn a similar wage to some players, and that can’t be a good look for our sport when we’ve got elite players playing at Wembley choosing which of those careers they want,” Radlinski says.
Another story to follow is the journey of the opposition. Bottom of Super League six years ago, Hull KR are the world champions, the favourites going into this final and in a different position as the hunted rather than the hunters.
Despite winning their first trophies in 40 years last season, their hunger has not waned. “We’ve only done it for one year and clubs like Wigan have done it for decades,” their CEO, Paul Lakin, says. “Good teams do it once; great teams do it multiple times and we’re aware of that.
“There’s only been one trophy to win this year, the World Club Challenge, and we won it. This is the second one and we want the lot again. But everyone wants to stop us. I think we’re more relaxed in that respect but we’re going for the double here in terms of Wembley wins.”
Rarely has there been a cup final with two teams at the peak of their powers quite like this. It has come at an opportune time, with Super League aiming to sell itself to not just the NRL but potential broadcasters with a new TV deal for 2027 still in negotiation, and two of the game’s current heavyweights doing battle at Wembley.
Scratch beneath the surface and there are narratives and talking points aplenty. But even just on face value, this has the makings of an all-time Wembley classic.
Wigan Field; Eckersley, Keighran, Wardle, Hodkinson; Farrimond, Smith; Havard, O’Neill, Thompson, Nsemba, Walters, Partington. Interchange Mago, Farrell, Ellis, French.
Hull KR Broadbent; Davies, Hiku, Gildart, Burgess; Lewis, May; Sue, Lawton, Amone, Hadley, Batchelor, Minchella. Interchange Whitbread, Litten, Luckley, Martin.
Referee L Moore.
