So St Helens are Champions. Good luck to them. They've won it whilst facing plenty of adversary this season.

However as we end the 19th season of Super League we find ourselves with just four different clubs having won it. When will we see someone other than the previous winners winning it?

I know the likes of Hull at the start of every season think they could be in with a shout of the silverware "our new signings could the final pieces in the jigsaw" etc etc before sinking down the table without trace, and, of course Warrington fans tell us every bleedin season that it's the so-called 'year of the wolf' (it never is).

I would be nice for a change to next season get new Grand Finalists and new winners instead of the usual mobs pitching up at Old Trafford.

It's up to the other clubs to get the business done when it matters. I don't think it will be long before warrington finally do it. They've won trophies, they've made a cuople of grand finals and have been mixing it with the big boys in the playoffs for years now, they have a coach who's done it before. They will surely be the 5th name on the trophy

2018 ,Leigh 19-18 extra time drop goal against Wigin

Warrington and Catalans would be the best bet on paper next season

We seem to get closer each year, with the likes of Warrington and Huddersfield often being the teams to beat, but then end up with the same names in the final. It's a shame.

I thought Wire we're going to beat us in the semi this year and with one eye on that I was thinking it would be great if Catalans made it. Would have been a new final, so to speak, with a guaranteed new name on the cup.

Hopefully we will get a new name soon (although I obviously wouldn't complain if we won it again), least not because the 4 is now a 3 with Bradford the way they are. We've only had 3 different winners in the last 9 years.

The only two clubs who have ever looked capable are Hull who really should have kicked on after 2006 but have since been poorly managed, and Warrington. Huddersfield have come a long way in recent years but have never really looked capable of winning when it really matters, the same goes for Cas this season.

As Flexwheeler says Warrington are the most likely. Catalans could do it, but they need to address their away form. Huddersfield might kick on. Salford could do it in a few years time if Koucash keeps investing and as a Hull fan I live in hope that we might just find a winning formulae one year.

On the flip side Bradford aren't going to be winning it again any time soon, and whilst Leeds will still be a top side I don't see them dominating like they have over the last 10 years. So in short it's only a matter of time imo.

Super League is a stacked deck backed by a salary cap deliberately set at a level which makes it almost impossible for other clubs outside of the big four members club winning the competition. Any other team which threatens that status quo even momentarily shall face the consequences of their best players being signed up by one or more of the big four members club.

The biggest indictment of the competition is the list of teams who have reached the Grand Final... Leeds, Wigan, St Helens, Bradford, Warrington, Hull and absolutely nobody else within cooee. This compares unfavourably with the NRL/ARL competition down under which has seen 10 different winners and 13 out of 16 teams reach the Grand Final over the same period of time.

The same clubs keep winning it because they know how to ...the others, as good as they seem, don't.

I think we're seeing a real levelling of the playing field with the lower salary cap year on year relative to the NRL and Union. This could make it possible for a team to make far bigger strides in a short period of time than was previously possible. I'd agree with the poster above who said Warrington aren't far off. They will win one soon enough. Salford are another possibility when they've got Koukash's money. All they need IMO is someone with some squad building acumen to actually guide his chequebook rather than just letting him spray it around everywhere.

Having said that, I think the new play off format will exclude most clubs outside of Saints, Leeds, Wigan and Wire from ever getting to a GF. With the cap so low, the sides with the best youth systems have a huge advantage and the new playoffs will be like the CL in football. It will keep the other sides out while the top 4 become stronger and stronger.

is the OP post a general question or just a pot shot at hull fc? if the latter he needs to look at all the trophies and finals his own players talk about in the hull daily mail! their trophy cabinet must be full of paper trophies by now!

if its a genuine question, i cant see anything changing for a few seasons, we may get the odd different team in the final, even fc in a few seasons, until then it will be the same old same old, even with the new format!

It's played at Old Trafford, not Fantasy Island

Paranoid. Not to mention obsessed. Get a life.

If anyone out of the current top four win ie Wigan/Leeds/Saints/Warrington then we will get a thread saying it was the worst Superleague ever and proof the salary cap is too low.

Wonder what the odds would be that next year's final will be Saints v Wigan.

I certainly wouldn't bet against it.

..... I always enjoy the sly digs at Wire and their fans - Let's be honest here, outside of the trophy winning trio already named (Saints, Wigan & Leeds), most clubs would LOVE to be in Wire's position and the seasons we have supposedly endured since Tony Smith took over in 2009.

Financially stable, a modern stadium, which is filled to reasonable numbers most weeks, a competitive side, more trophies than any other side, apart from Wigan & Leeds, since 2009.

In truth, while we would love to claim a SL title, I'd imagine being a Wire fan is a far more satisfying experience than being a Huddersfield fan in their empty stadium, or a Wakefield, Hull or Hull KR with their seasons usually over by May, or a Bradford fan with their skint club, or indeed any other side outside the SL trophy winning trio....

The over-confident loudmouth Wire fans instance that every season was the 'year of the wolf' is what gave birth to that "it's always your year" chant that everyone in Super League sings at Warrington fans thesedays.

You gotta dream

Despite the regular arguments about the play off structure etc. There is a knack of doing well in the play offs and the clubs that are involved most regularly (especially at the semi final stage) generally fear better than the teams that haven't.
Also, the clubs that have won the GF in recent years have stronger squads and know how to manage them in order to make the final (notwithstanding the fact that Saints have played a good chunk of the season without a decent half back pairing).

The all new league structure will change the nature of the play offs, as it will be the top 4 who contest the play off series, which will certainly help the less experienced clubs, if they can secure a top 4 finish.

Having said that, they would still need to win the final

So is 3 Challenge Cups, 1 top of the table finish, and 2 GF appearances in the last 6 seasons and a style of rugby which is lauded by most within the game, a total failure then??

Of course, we would love to win the Super League title, but I think its fair to say most clubs, bar Wigan and Leeds, would swap their last 6 seasons for ours?

You and me both

*If* the only concern was how to get a new name on the trophy as quickly as possible, your best shot would be to completely eliminate the cap - provided you assume that Koukash has, in Rugby terms, a more-or-less 'infinite' budget - thus making Salford a likely candidate. Not saying a complete free-for-all is a good idea, just that eliminating the cap would probably get you a new name on the trophy faster than lowering it. This would not have been true pre-Koukash.

What is it with you and the asterisk?

The might *look* like asterisks but really they're *stars*

Why dont you just use "these"?

I'd love for our name to be the 5th on the trophy but I never have or ever will state "this is our year". I find the Wire fans claiming this are either:

a) being sarcastic

or

b) are the same idiots who moan about everything and blame "the club" for Thursday night games & rant about ticket prices etc. In short, armchair / fair weather fans.

I'd say we are considered part of the top 4 as Bradford have fallen, they still have more silverware than us in the SL era, but we are up there now.

On a side note, I find the "it's always your year" chant quite amusing tbh.