2026 Super League Grand Final
Rugby league championship match
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The 2026 Super League Grand Final, named the 2026 Betfred Super League Grand Final for sponsorship reasons, was the 29th official Super League Grand Final and the championship-deciding rugby league game of the 2026 Super League season. The match was contested between Warrington Wolves and Wakefield Trinity at Old Trafford in Manchester, England, with Wakefield winning 23–10 to claim their first ever Super League title.[1]
| 2026 Betfred Super League Grand Final | |||||||||||||
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The match took place at Old Trafford | |||||||||||||
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| Date | 3 October 2026 | ||||||||||||
| Stadium | Old Trafford | ||||||||||||
| Location | Manchester, England | ||||||||||||
| Rob Burrow Award |  Tom Johnstone | ||||||||||||
| Jerusalem | Laura Wright | ||||||||||||
| Referee | Liam Moore | ||||||||||||
| Attendance | 71,728 | ||||||||||||
| Broadcast partners | |||||||||||||
| Broadcasters |
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Neither team had won a Grand Final in the Super League era. Warrington were making their fifth appearance at a Grand Final, their first since 2018, in an attempt to win their first league title since 1955, while Wakefield were making their first Grand Final appearance, having last won a league title in 1968. It was the first Grand Final not to feature at least one of Leeds Rhinos, St Helens or Wigan Warriors.[2]
Background
The 2026 Super League season (known as the 2026 Betfred Super League season due to sponsorship by Betfred)[3] was the 31st season of rugby league football since the Super League format was introduced in 1996.[4] Fourteen teams competed for the League Leaders' Shield over 27 rounds, after which the highest finishing teams would enter the play-offs to compete for a place in the Grand Final and a chance to win the championship and the Super League Trophy.[4]
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | PF | PA | PD | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 |  Warrington Wolves |
27 | 20 | 0 | 7 | 726 | 465 | +261 | 40 |
| 4 | Wakefield Trinity |
27 | 19 | 0 | 8 | 709 | 486 | +223 | 38 |
Route to the final
Warrington Wolves
| Round | Opposition | Score |
|---|---|---|
| Eliminators |  Hull KR (H) |
35–12 |
| Semi-finals |  Leeds Rhinos (A) |
14–12 |
| Key: (H) = Home venue; (A) = Away venue; (N) = Neutral venue. | ||
Warrington Wolves finished the regular season in third place, qualifying them for the Elimination round to play sixth-placed Eliminators qualifier Hull KR at home. After defeating Hull KR 35–12,[5] Warrington defeated the Leeds Rhinos 14–12 away in the semi-finals, qualifying them for their first Grand Final since 2018.[6]
Wakefield Trinity
| Round | Opposition | Score |
|---|---|---|
| Eliminators |  Leigh Leopards (H) |
26–16 |
| Semi-finals |  Wigan Warriors (A) |
33–6 |
| Key: (H) = Home venue; (A) = Away venue; (N) = Neutral venue. | ||
Wakefield Trinity finished the regular season in fourth place, qualifying them for the Elimination round to play fifth-placed Eliminators qualifier Leigh Leopards at home.[7] After defeating Leigh 26–16, Wakefield beat 2026 league leaders and 2026 Challenge Cup final winners Wigan Warriors 33–16 away in the semi-finals in a major upset, qualifying them for their first Grand Final.[8]
Broadcasting
In the United Kingdom, both regular providers Sky Sports, via their Main Event channel, and the SuperLeague+ streaming platform aired the Grand Final, with highlights of the Grand Final also streamable on BBC iPlayer.[9] Live radio coverage of the final was also provided by BBC Radio 5 Live.[10]
Sky Sports' coverage was shared with Fox League in Australia and Fox Sports in the US, Pacific Media Network in New Zealand, NBCTV in Papua New Guinea, Premier Sports Asia in South East Asia, Dubai TV, Sportsnet in Canada, FloSports in the Caribbean, Sportdigital in Austria, Germany and Switzerland, and Sport Media Group in Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Moldova and Ukraine.[9]
Entertainment
Pre-match and half-time entertainment was provided by Soul Symphony, with the Grand Final anthem 'Jerusalem' sung by Laura Wright.[11] Kevin Sinfield appeared to complete his final '7 in 7' ultramarathon challenge in honour of friend and teammate Rob Burrow, and then presented the Grand Final trophy.[12]
Match details
| Warrington Wolves | 10–23 | Wakefield Trinity |
|---|---|---|
Tries: Arron Lindop  46', 72'Goals: Irwin  47' |
1st: 0–19 2nd: 10–4 Report and Statistics |
Tries: Scott 11' Vagana 25'Tevaga 35'Johnstone 59'Goals: Jowitt 12', 26', 36'Drop goals: Sinfield 38'Sin bin: Corey Hall  43' to 53' |
| Warrington Wolves | Position | Wakefield Trinity | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | Josh Thewlis | Fullback | 1 | Max Jowitt |
| 4 | Albert Hopoate | Wing | 5 | Tom Johnstone |
| 23 | Arron Lindop | Centre | 4 | Corey Hall 42' to 52' |
| 3 | Toby King | Centre | 3 | Cameron Scott |
| 5 | Matty Ashton | Wing | 19 | Lachlan Walmsley |
| 6 | George Williams | Scrum-half | 6 | Jake Trueman |
| 18 | Ewan Irwin | Stand-off | 20 | Jack Sinfield |
| 16 | Liam Byrne | Prop | 8 | Mike McMeeken |
| 9 | Danny Walker | Hooker | 9 | Tyson Smoothy |
| 10 | James Harrison | Prop | 10 | Ky Rodwell |
| 12 | Sam Stone | Second-row | 26 | Zac Lipowicz |
| 20 | James Bentley | Second-row | 18 | Isaiah Vagana |
| 13 | Ben Currie | Loose forward | 13 | Jazz Tevaga  7' |
| 8 | Luke Yates | Interchange | 7 | Mason Lino |
| 14 | Sam Powell | 14 | Jay Pitts  7' | |
| 22 | Joe Philbin | 15 | Caleb Hamlin-Uele | |
| 34 | Kelepi Tanginoa | 16 | Caius Faatili | |
 Sam Burgess |
Head coach | Daryl Powell | ||
Match report
The officiating lineup remained unchanged from 2025 with the exception of one touch judge. Liam Moore refereed the match and was aided by touch judges Marcus Griffiths and Matty Lynn. The video referee was Jack Smith, while the reserve referee was Chris Kendall.[13] Warrington's squad remained unchanged from their semi-final victory against Leeds with the sole exception of Jordan Crowther replacing Max Wood.[14] The Wakefield Trinity squad also remained unchanged following their semi-final match against Wigan.[15]
Wakefield dominated the first half and thought they had taken the lead after 6 minutes when wing Tom Johnstone crossed the try line in the corner; however a video replay showed he had been forced into touch.[16] However Wakefield only had to wait another until the 11th minute before Cameron Scott took Lachlan Walmsley's reverse pass to score a converted try.[1] Further tries followed when Isaiah Vagana took Johnstone's excellent pass in the 25th minute, and 10 minutes later Wakefield added to their score through Jazz Tevaga's close range try. Max Jowitt converted all three tries to give Wakefield an 18-point lead, which was stretched by a further point before half-time courtesy of Jack Sinfield's late drop goal.[16][1] This meant that Wakefield had scored 52 points without reply in the tournament, after scoring 33 points against Wigan.[1]
After three minutes of the second half, Warrington were given hope when Corey Hall was sent to the sin-bin for a high tackle on Arron Lindop. They took advantage shortly afterwards when it was Lindop himself who scored a try after a clever dummy from Ewan Irwin, with Irwin converting to reduce the arrears to 13 points.[16][1] However, Warrington then had another try by Matty Ashton ruled out for a forward pass, and could not take any further advantage of their numerical supremacy.[16] After Hall returned to even the sides up, it was Johnstone who crossed the line in the 59th minute to make the score 23–6.[16] Warrington did not give up, and Lindop crossed again in the 72nd minute for an unconverted try, but Wakefield were too far ahead and completed their first Super League win.[16][1] Johnstone won the Rob Burrow Award for his man-of-the-match performance.[16]