| Super League XXIII | |
| League: | Super League |
| Pixels: | 200px |
| Duration: | 30 Rounds |
| No Of Teams: | 12 |
| Highest Attendance: | 23,246 Leeds Rhinos Vs Castleford Tigers (23 March) |
| Lowest Attendance: | 2,248 Salford Red Devils Vs Widnes Vikings (15 June) |
| Attendance: | 1,166,425 |
| Avg Attendance: | 8,547 |
| Tv: | Sky Sports BBC Sport Fox League beIN Sports Fox Soccer Plus Sport Klub |
| Biggest Home Win: | Warrington Wolves 80–10 Hull F.C. (30 August) |
| Biggest Away Win: | Salford Red Devils 10–60 St. Helens (26 April) |
| Season: | 2018 season |
| Season Champs: | Wigan Warriors 5th Super League Title 22nd British title |
| Season Champ Name: | Champions |
| League Leaders Name: | League Leaders Shield |
| League Leaders: | St. Helens |
| Second Place: | Warrington Wolves |
| Mvp Link: | Man of Steel AwardsMan of Steel |
| Top Scorer: | Danny Richardson (296) |
| Top Try Scorer: |  Ben Barba (28) |
| Promote: | London Broncos |
| Promote From: | Championship |
| Relegate: | Widnes Vikings |
| Relegate To: | Championship |
| Playoffs: | Super League Play=offs (for top 8) Super League Qualifying Play-Offs (for bottom 4 as well as top 4 of Championship |
| Prevseason Link: | Super League XXII |
| Prevseason Year: | 2017 |
| Nextseason Link: | Super League XXIV |
| Nextseason Year: | 2019 |
Super League XXIII, known as the Betfred Super League XXIII for sponsor reasons,[1] was the 23rd season of the Super League and 124th season of rugby league in Britain for 2018.
Wigan Warriors were crowned champions after beating Warrington Wolves 12-4 to win their 22nd league Championship.[2]
Twelve teams competed over 23 rounds, including the Magic Weekend.
This season also saw the first Super League game played outside Europe, as Wigan Warriors faced Hull F.C. at WIN Stadium in Wollongong, Australia on Saturday 10 February 2018, which Wigan won, 24–10.
St. Helens won the League Leaders Shield for a record 6th time. However, they failed to reach the Grand Final after losing their semi final 13-18 to Warrington Wolves.
Widnes Vikings were relegated to the Championship, after only 3 wins in the regular season and one win in The Qualifiers, while London Broncos were promoted after winning the Million Pound Game by beating Toronto Wolfpack 4–2.
Eleven teams in Super League are from the North of England. Five teams hail from the historic county of Lancashire, west of the Pennines: Warrington, St. Helens, Salford, Wigan, and Widnes. Six teams hail from the historic county of Yorkshire, east of the Pennines: Huddersfield, Wakefield Trinity, Leeds, Castleford, Hull KR and Hull FC. Catalans Dragons, located in Perpignan, France, are the only team outside the North of England. St Helens, Wigan Warriors, Warrington Wolves, and Leeds Rhinos are the only teams to have played in every season of Super League since 1996.
Hull KR were promoted from the Championship after finishing in 2nd place in The Qualifiers for 2017 whilst Leigh were relegated to the Championship after losing the 2017 Million Pound Game to Catalans.
See main article: Super League XXIII results.
| Home | Score | Away | Match Information | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| width=17% | Date and Time (Local) | width=17% | Venue | width=11% | Referee | width=7% | Attendance | |
| Semi-finals | ||||||||
| St. Helens | 13–18 | Warrington Wolves | 4 October 2018, 19:45 | Totally Wicked Stadium | Robert Hicks | 12,031 | ||
| Wigan Warriors | 14–0 | Castleford Tigers | 5 October 2018, 19:45 | DW Stadium | Ben Thaler | 13,461 | ||
See main article: 2018 Super League Grand Final.
Wigan finished 2nd in regular season and seven consecutive wins in the Super 8's saw them secure 2nd place in the table. A 14–0 victory over Castleford Tigers in the semi-final earned Wigan a place in their 10th Grand Final.
This is the first time that a team has won all 7 Super 8's games in a single season, and since this playoff format will be abandoned at the end of the 2018 season, will make this a unique historic feat achieved by Wigan.
Warrington finished 4th to earn an away trip to League Leaders Shield winners St. Helens in the semi-finals. Warrington won 18-13 with a late try by Tom Lineham. Warrington will be contesting their 4th Grand Final.
This match was Shaun Wane's last game as Wigan coach before going to Scotland Rugby Union after 7 seasons as head coach of Wigan.
| Wigan Warriors | Position | Warrington Wolves | |
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| Interchange |
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| Interchange | ||
| Interchange |
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| Shaun Wane | Coach | Steve Price |
| Rank | Player | Club | Tries | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ben Barba | St. Helens | 28 | |
| 2 | Tom Johnstone | Wakefield Trinity | 24 | |
| 3 | Mark Percival | St. Helens | 20 | |
| 4= | Greg Eden | Castleford Tigers | Rowspan=3 | 18 |
| Ben Jones-Bishop | Wakefield Trinity | |||
| Tom Lineham | Warrington Wolves | |||
| 7= |  Bureta Faraimo | Hull F.C. | Rowspan=2 | 17 |
| Jonny Lomax | St. Helens | |||
| 9 | Liam Marshall | Wigan Warriors | 16 | |
| 10= |  David Mead | Catalans Dragons | 15 | |
| Regan Grace | St. Helens | |||
| Josh Charnley | Warrington Wolves | |||
| Stefan Ratchford | Warrington Wolves |
| Rank | Player | Club | Assists | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jacob Miller | Wakefield Trinity | 28 | |
| 2 | Paul McShane | Castleford Tigers | 27 | |
| 3 | Ben Barba | St. Helens | 24 | |
| 4 | Richie Myler | Leeds Rhinos | 23 | |
| 5= | Josh Drinkwater | Catalans Dragons | Rowspan=2 | 22 |
| George Williams | Wigan Warriors | |||
| 7 | Kevin Brown | Warrington Wolves | 20 | |
| 8= | Ryan Hampshire | Wakefield Trinity | 19 | |
| Stefan Ratchford | Warrington Wolves | |||
| 10 | Sam Tomkins | Wigan Warriors | 18 |
| Rank | Player | Club | Goals | Drop Goals |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Danny Richardson | St. Helens | 135 | 6 |
| 2 | Sam Tomkins | Wigan Warriors | 96 | 6 |
| 3 | Danny Brough | Huddersfield Giants | 62 | 2 |
| 4 | Ryan Hampshire | Wakefield Trinity | 61 | 1 |
| 5 | Ryan Shaw | Hull KR | 56 | 0 |
| 6 | Jamie Ellis | Castleford Tigers | 54 | 1 |
| 7 | Josh Drinkwater | Catalans Dragons | 53 | 0 |
| 8 | Marc Sneyd | Hull F.C. | 51 | 5 |
| 9 | Luke Gale | Castleford Tigers | 48 | 4 |
| 10 | Jake Connor | Hull F.C. | 40 | 2 |
| Rank | Player | Club | Points | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Danny Richardson | St. Helens | 296 | |
| 2 | Sam Tomkins | Wigan Warriors | 241 | |
| 3 | Ryan Shaw | Hull KR | 156 | |
| 4 | Ryan Hampshire | Wakefield Trinity | 143 | |
| 5 | Josh Drinkwater | Catalans Dragons | 134 | |
| 6 | Danny Brough | Huddersfield Giants | 130 | |
| 7 | Jamie Ellis | Castleford Tigers | 117 | |
| 8 | Stefan Ratchford | Warrington Wolves | 114 | |
| 9 | Ben Barba | St. Helens | 112 | |
| 10 | Marc Sneyd | Hull F.C. | 111 |
• Updated to match(es) played on 28 September 2018 (Super 8s – Round 7)
Red Cards
Yellow Cards
Average attendances
| Club | Home Games | Total | Average | Highest | Lowest | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Castleford Tigers | 11 | 86,888 | 7,898 | 9,557 | 5,946 | |
| Catalans Dragons | 11 | 91,891 | 8,353 | 10,236 | 6,585 | |
| Huddersfield Giants | 11 | 63,199 | 5,745 | 9,121 | 4,385 | |
| Hull FC | 11 | 133,921 | 12,174 | 17,564 | 10,051 | |
| Hull KR | 11 | 87,614 | 7,964 | 12,090 | 6,711 | |
| Leeds Rhinos | 11 | 140,881 | 12,807 | 23,246 | 10,366 | |
| Salford Red Devils | 11 | 30,236 | 2,748 | 5,568 | 2,248 | |
| St Helens | 11 | 126,264 | 11,478 | 17,980 | 10,008 | |
| Wakefield Trinity | 11 | 57,685 | 5,244 | 7,020 | 4,055 | |
| Warrington Wolves | 11 | 110,969 | 10,088 | 12,268 | 8,792 | |
| Widnes Vikings | 11 | 53,876 | 4,897 | 7,009 | 3,681 | |
| Wigan Warriors | 10 | 117,084 | 11,708 | 16,047 | 10,641 |
Top 10 attendances
| Rank | Home club | Away club | Stadium | Attendance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Wigan Warriors | Warrington Wolves | Old Trafford | 64,892 | |
| 2 | Magic Weekend: Day 1 | 38,881 | |||
| 3 | Magic Weekend: Day 2 | 25,438 | |||
| 4 | Leeds Rhinos | Castleford Tigers | Elland Road | 23,246 | |
| 5 | St Helens | Wigan Warriors | Totally Wicked Stadium | 17,980 | |
| 6 | Hull FC | Hull KR | KCOM Stadium | 17,564 | |
| 7 | Leeds Rhinos | Hull KR | Elland Road | 16,149 | |
| 8 | Wigan Warriors | St Helens | DW Stadium | 16,047 | |
| 9 | Hull FC | Huddersfield Giants | KCOM Stadium | 13,704 | |
| 10 | Hull FC | Castleford Tigers | KCOM Stadium | 13,623 |
Awards are presented for outstanding contributions and efforts to players and clubs in the week leading up to the Super League Grand Final:[3]
Ben Barba (St. Helens)
Bill Tupou (Wakefield Trinity) (4114 Metres) Ben Barba (St. Helens) (28)2018 is the second of a five-year contract with Sky Sports to televise 100 matches per season.[4]
Sky Sports coverage in the UK will see two live matches broadcast each week, usually at 8:00 pm on Thursday and Friday nights.[5]
Regular commentators will be Eddie Hemmings with summarisers including Phil Clarke, Brian Carney, Barrie McDermott and Terry O'Connor. Sky will broadcast highlights on Sunday nights on Super League - Full Time at 10 p.m.
BBC Sport will broadcast a highlights programme called the Super League Show, presented by Tanya Arnold. The BBC show two weekly broadcasts of the programme, the first to the BBC North West, Yorkshire, North East and Cumbria, and East Yorkshire and Lincolnshire regions on Monday evenings at 11:35 p.m. on BBC One,[6] while a repeat showing is shown nationally on BBC Two on Tuesday afternoons at 1.30 p.m. The Super League Show is also available for one month after broadcast for streaming or download via the BBC iPlayer in the UK only.[7] End of season play-offs are shown on BBC Two across the whole country in a weekly highlights package on Sunday afternoons.[8]
Internationally, Super League is shown live or delayed on Showtime Sports (Middle East), Sky Sport (New Zealand), TV 2 Sport (Norway), Fox Soccer Plus (United States), Fox Sports (Australia) and Sportsnet World (Canada).
BBC Coverage:
Commercial Radio Coverage:
All Super League commentaries on any station are available via the particular stations on-line streaming.
