If there was a trophy for most improved side throughout the 2024 season then it would already be safely on display in the Leigh Leopards trophy cabinet as the continued their increasingly likely drive for a top six finish with a trip to struggling Castleford Tigers, their eyes firmly on fourth spot in the table.

Leigh have only lost two games in the last two months and both of those were to defending Champions, the Wigan Warriors, after losing their opening three fixtures of the season and looking like they would be struggling at the bottom with London, Hull and tonight’s opponents Castleford.

The season had been over for weeks for the hosts and they were simply playing for pride and the possibility of finishing the season in ninth place.

The Brad Arthur revolution at Leeds Rhinos is in full swing with the announcement of a number of end of season departures during the week and in round twenty-five they looked to keep alive their slender hopes of a top six finish with a home game against 2024 strugglers, Hull FC who themselves were looking for the win to avoid the ignominy of wooden spoon.

The bookies could only see one winner with the Rhinos named as massive favourites and a decent Headingley crowd were in attendance with the belief that this would be a chance to improve the all-important points difference column and jump inside the top six for the first time in 2024 with two games of the regular season remaining.

With three games of the regular season remaining the game of the round, and probably the game of the season, was a Friday night game from The Brick as second placed Wigan Warriors faced the league leading Hull KR in what was essentially a shoot-out for the minor premiership.

Wigan were favourites with the bookies and had been handicapped by six points on the coupon but try telling that to the masses who had made the journey from the east coast to cheer their side to what they hoped would be a famous victory.

It promised to be a magical night for one of these sides as their laid claim to the top of the table.

England Head Coach Shaun Wane has named a 31-strong performance squad ahead of this autumn’s two-game series against Samoa, with the selected players set to meet for an off-field session on Monday 16 September.

Wigan Warriors breakout star Junior Nsemba is the newest name included – and the youngest player in the squad, after turning 20 in June - after some standout performances for the reigning Betfred Super League, Challenge Cup and World Club Challenge champions.

  Nsemba’s Wigan team-mate Liam Marshall is the only other uncapped player included with the Warriors flyer leading the try-scoring charts in the Betfred Super League with 22 tries: five more than his nearest challenger*.

The Rhinos travelled to a much-improved London Broncos in the hope of registering a cricket score to improve their chances of making the play-offs should the final reckoning come down to points difference with a win by twelve enough to take them above the Catalans Dragons and into seventh spot.

But London were likely to prove stern opposition as they came into the game knowing that a win would lift them off the bottom for the first time in 2024 and above Hull FC who lost their round twenty-four game to Castleford yesterday.

London were given a twenty-eight point start on the coupon, the bookies in no doubt that this would be a big win for the visitors as they maintained the feintest of hopes of a play-off place.

Wigan needed a highly unlikely ninety-three-point victory over the Catalans Dragons to return to the top of the Super League table with three rounds of the competition remaining while the Dragons needed a win of any description to go ahead of the Leigh Leopards and St Helens to regain their place in the top six and the play-off places.

It was a 2023 Grand Final rematch with almost as much at stake and the bookies thought that it would be a third consecutive loss for the Dragons with Wigan handicapped by fourteen points on the coupon, Wigan tipped to draw level with Hull KR on points at the top of the table.

It was the tie of the round, fought out in the evening heat of the south of France.

While the Castleford Tigers are safely away from being in any danger of picking up the 2024 wooden spoon, they have only pride to play for in their remaining four games as they are almost certain to end the season in tenth spot after a difficult start which has seem them manage just six wins in their fourteen outings.

Hull FC, on the other hand, are still in danger of the ignominy of finishing the season in bottom spot and ending round twenty-seven below last season’s promoted Championship side the London Broncos who had failed to recruit pre-season in the full knowledge that the IMG grading system would mean that they would be relegated regardless of how they performed on the field in 2024.

The crowd entered the MKM Stadium more in hope than expectation of a decent game.

Super League’s form team, Leigh Leopards, had their eye on a place in the top six and they would achieve it with a victory over tonight’s opponents Warrington Wolves who themselves were looking to make it into the top two in a bid for a home tie in the play-offs.

Should the Leopards secure the points then they would go above St Helens and Catalans into fifth spot, ahead of those sides playing their round twenty-four matches.

There was nothing to choose between the sides, the bookies making the home side the slight favourites and handicapping them by two points on the coupon.

After what feels like it has been a lightning fast season, there are just four rounds of the regular Super League season remaining with two clear races still ongoing.

The battle for the minor premiership is between three sides with Hull KR, Wigan Warriors and the Warrington Wolves all with a chance of securing top spot but perhaps a more intriguing battle is the one just behind them as five clubs battle for the remaining three places in the play-offs, the dividing line between a successful and failed season.

Salford are in the best position, two points clear of their nearest rivals for the places in St Helens and the Catalans Dragons, both of whom have had a big dip in their recent form, while the Leigh Leopards and Leeds Rhinos are ready to pounce should any of those sides above them slip up on the run in.

We take a look at the remaining fixtures and make our get as to the sides making the top six spots on the night of the 20th September.

Leigh Leopards have a laser like focus on just one thing in 2024, and that is to unseat either the Catalans Dragons, St Helens or their nearest neighbours Salford Red Devils and secure a place a the end of season play offs.

What stood in their way today was a London Broncos side who have shown some improvement in form throughout the 2024 season and who knew a win was likely to lift them away from bottom spot in the table and plunge Hull FC into further turmoil with just four games of the regular season to go.

The visitors were strong favourites with the bookies, London having been given a twenty-two-point start on the coupon, and seventh place in the table beckoned as the Leopards looked to be positioned just a point adrift of their competitors for the last of the six places.

While the Huddersfield are playing for nothing more than pride on 2024, the would take great pleasure in plunging the Salford Red Devils deeper into angst about whether they would make the top six at the end of the season as they try to hold their spot with the weakest of the points differences amongst the five sides competing for three berths.

Both sides have lost three of their last five games and the Red Devils were handicapped by just four points on the coupon illustrating the difficulty that the bookies were having picking out a winner.

The early evening sun welcomed the two sides to the field for an interesting fixture.

Hull Kingston Rovers were massive bookies favourites for the win as the league leaders travelled to the Totally Wicked Stadium to take on Paul Wellens St Helens side who were kept scoreless by arch-rivals Wigan Warriors last weekend and who have only registered two win in their last eight outings.

Hull KR are top of the table and a win would almost certainly mean that they would end the weekend ahead of the rest of the field whereas a loss for Saints would plunge them further into crisis and drag them deeper into the fight for a play off place with four other sides.

There was plenty to play for in the sunshine on Merseyside.

Leeds Rhinos have been on the verge of dropping out of the top six play-off race for the last few weeks but an encounter at Headingley in round twenty-three really was the Rhinos last opportunity to make the six as they came up against one of the sides in danger of dropping out of the play off places, an out of form Catalans Dragons.

A win would lift the Rhinos back within two points of the Dragons with four regular rounds remaining, a win for the Dragons would come close to guaranteeing them a spot in the end of season knock-out competition.

The Dragons were without the recently un-retired Sam Tomkins who had picked up an injury and with the securing of Brad Arthur as coach until the end of the 2025 season the bookies had made the home side favourites with an eight-point handicap on the coupon.

The side which no coach wanted to face in round twenty-two, a buoyant Leeds Rhinos under the coaching of Brad Arthur who took the scalp of the Champions last weekend, became the task of Sam Burgess and his high-flying Warrington Wolves as they continue their quest for a top two finish and a home tie in the playoffs.

The two points could lift the Wolves into second, should the winning margin be large enough, but if the Leeds Rhinos were to make it back-to-back victories, then they would get themselves within two points of a play-off place and a shot at Old Trafford in five rounds time.

Warrington were slight favourites with the bookies, the Rhinos given a six-point start by the handicappers, but Burgess was sending his troops into battle with no illusions that this would be a simple victory.

The original derby, Wigan versus St Helens, was the second game of the Magic Weekend and there was plenty at stake for a Warriors side looking to bounce back from last weeks drubbing at the hands of Leeds Rhinos and return to the top of the table against a Saints side who needed the win to further their case for the top six.

Wigan were without Harry Smith who picked up a three-game suspension last week with Adam Keighran moving into the halves, but it was a Saints side which has been decimated by injuries and who came into the game looking very under strength.

Wigan were slight favourites with the bookies, but St Helens were only given a four-point start on the coupon, it promised to be a close game.

First up for a magical weekend of rugby league at Elland Road in Leeds  was a desperate basement battle between current bottom side the London Broncos and the side just two points ahead of them in eleventh place, Hull FC.

Even a massive London win would not be sufficient to lift the Broncos above the Airlie Birds due to the chasm between the two teams’ points difference, and it was the Black and Whites who were handicapped by eight points on the coupon with the bookies expecting them to brin home the points and double the lead over their closest rivals for the wooden spoon.

With any potential relegation being determined by IMG and not table position, the only thing to play for was pride, and who would want the win enough to take the points.

You can guarantee that Adrian Lam’s Leigh Leopards will not give up on a play-off place until it is mathematically impossible for them to achieve a top six finish and with seven rounds to play they are still in the game as they hosted a forlorn Hull FC side who are anxiously looking over their shoulders at the London Broncos and last spot.

The visitors were given a twenty-two-point start on the handicap coupon illustrating that the bookies believed that they had little to no chance of grabbing the win and breaking Leigh hearts but after the Rhinos big victory over Wigan last night there was nothing certain about any outcome in the closing rounds of Super League 2024.

After their comprehensive win over the Leigh Leopards on Tuesday night in the delayed round two fixture, a buoyant and table topping Wigan Warriors travelled to Leeds for their first encounter of 2024 with a Rhinos side who all but saw their chances of making the play-offs disappear last night when the Catalans Dragons scraped a narrow win against the Giants.

The Rhinos are now six points adrift of the play-off places with just seven games of the regular season remaining while Wigan trail Hull KR on points difference after the Robins big win over the Castleford Tigers last night.

The bookies predicted one-way traffic with the Rhinos given a very stingy six points start on the handicap coupon as they looked to salvage some pride from a dreadful season, and to make things even worse for the Rhinos, Jai Field was back in the Warriors starting thirteen.

By the yardstick of their recent seasons, the Catalans Dragons are having a stinker of a season as they sit in sixth place in the table looking anxiously at the sides below them including tonight’s hosts the Huddersfield Giants whose push for the top six is almost over but still mathematically viable.

The Giants were given the narrowest of starts on the handicap coupon with a two-point advantage over the side which incredibly lost to the London Broncos last time out, just the bottom sides second win of the season.

Huddersfield have only won one in their last five games and are now taking on the role of disruptor of other seasons rather than realistic hopefuls for the play-offs.

St Helens broke a five-game losing streak last weekend with a comprehensive win over a desperately poor Hull FC side and came into tonight’s fourth against fifth challenge against the Salford Red Devils looking for a win which would lift them above their visitors on points difference.

A place in the top six is still very much on the cards for both sides, but the jostle for positions at the end of round twenty-seven is still very much alive with both sides wanting to finish as high up the ladder as they can.

St Helens were the favourites with the bookies having been handicapped by eight points on the coupon.