A victory over Hull FC would confirm Salford Red Devils in the top six play-offs for the end of season jamboree and would also lift them up to fourth in the table, two points clear of St Helens with one game of the regular season to play.

Hull FC, on the other hand, were still looking to avoid the wooden spoon and a win on the road would be only their four victory in a woeful season but would see them favourites to avoid finishing in twelfth spot.

Salford were massive favourites with the bookies, the Airlie Birds given no chance of scraping the win and embarrassing their hosts, the Red Devils expected to rack up a big winning margin.

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.

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.

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.

There is no denying that St Helens are in the midst if an uncharacteristic run and they went into today’s game against Hull FC seeking to avoid a sixth consecutive loss, an unwanted record which they last suffered during the 1985-86 season in the pre-summer era.

But with Hull FC having an awful season down the wrong end of the Super League table the bookies had installed the red vee as favourites for the win and handicapped them by eight points on the coupon.

Both sides had a myriad of missing players with injuries recently costing Hull Liam Sutcliffe and King Vuniyayawa, while Saints were without the services of Jonny Lomax and Jack Welsby.

Two sides who were on opposite ends of last weekend’s shock results came together for an intriguing round nineteen game as a Catalans Dragons side who lost to the Castleford Tigers faced a Hull FC side who sprang the surprise of the season in defeating champions elect, Wigan Warriors.

The big news was that Sam Tomkins was back out of retirement to alleviate the injury crisis in the south of France and provide a much-needed boost as the Dragons looked to secure a top six spot and a shot at the play offs.

The Dragons were firm favourites with the bookies and were handicapped by fourteen points on the coupon but in this round of shocks in Super League 2024, nothing could be taken for granted.

Fresh from their second league win of the season, the underachieving Hull FC made the trip across the Pennines to take on a Salford Red Devils side who are exceeding expectations after a player drain and well documented financial difficulties.

A win for Salford, as predicted by the bookies and the pundits, would put the Red Devils back into fifth spot and level on league points with the second placed St Helens while FC need three wins to get them above Castleford, should Castleford fail to register any more victories.

FC had a twelve-point start on the coupon, the bookies predicting a closer game than many pundits.

Hull FC were looking for back to back Super League wins for the first time in 2024 but they were likely to find Warrington Wolves a far tougher prospect than last weeks Leeds Rhinos side who they had faced just hours before the fall of the Rohan empire.

Warrington are in danger of slipping down the table and into the lower play-off places and need a couple of confidence boosting wins after three consecutive losses while you must search back as far as July 2023 to find the last time that the FC players took home winner pay two rounds running.

The bookies thought it was a foregone conclusion as they gave the home side a twelve-point start on the coupon but with a little bit of confidence tucked under their belt from last week, the Airlie Birds were confident of springing a surprise.

    

An emotionally charged Leeds Rhinos travelled across the M62 for a Saturday afternoon encounter with a Hull FC side who had already been written off for this game, and the season, by their supporters and pundits.

The Rhinos needed a win to keep in touch with the top six as they looked to sneak a play-off place while a big points win would bolster their puny looking points difference as it might be crucial later in the season, whereas Hull FC simply needed a win, and they would take it any way that they could.

The Airlie Birds had an eight-point start on the coupon, the bookies expecting a closer encounter than most Black & Whites fans who were fearful of another big loss.

It wasn’t a question of who would win the basement encounter between the London Broncos and Hull FC, it was more a question of how many Hull FC would win by as any notion of defeat for the Black and Whites was simply unthinkable.

The bookies were confident in a win for the away side, giving the Broncos a twelve-point start on the coupon, the Airlie Birds only win in 2024 was the last ditch 28-24 victory over todays opponents when the sides met back at the beginning of March.

FC were undefeated in their last twelve meetings with the London side, a stretch meaning that the Broncos moniker has never defeated a Hull FC side.

London simply didn't stand a chance.

 

After a round nine packed with shock outcomes in favour of the underdogs, the confusion in the final fixture of the weekend was to understand whether a Hull FC side who had only won once in the 2024 season, or a Leeds Rhinos side who seem adept at engineering defeats when wins look the most likely outcome, were the real underdogs.

Hull FC gave debuts to new signing Ed Chamberlain and Yusuf Aydin while the Rhinos gave a debut to the nineteen your old Riley Lumb his debut on the wing in place of David Fusitu’a.

The bookies chose Hull FC as the underdogs, handicapping the Rhinos by fourteen points on the coupon and in the week of upsets suggested that it was a cast iron win for the Airlie Birds but a win for neither side would likely improve their current league positions.

In the final game of round four of Super League XXIX the Catalans Dragons needed the win to go level on points with the five clubs above them with a share of the top slot in the division while a win of forty-nine points or more would see them above Wigan into top spot, on points difference.

A win for Hull FC was unlikely to change their league position but it would open some breathing space between themselves and the three sides below them who are currently all looking for their first league points of the season.

The home side were string favourites with the bookies, few considered that the Black and Whites had any chance of securing their second win of the season.

Either Hull FC, or the newly promoted London Broncos, would get their 2024 points haul off the big zero as the two sides met in the final game of round three of Super League XXIX, with the leagues bottom side taking on the team in tenth spot.

The Airlie Birds came into the game decimated by injuries and suspensions after a nightmare start to the season which had seen them zero from two with a big negative points difference having only managed to score a total of ten points, but they were still two places above their opponents who had managed just a single try in their two games while shipping in seventy points.

The bookies had installed the Broncos as the underdogs with a fourteen-point start on the coupon but the round had seen a couple of shocks in the fixtures earlier in the weekend.

While the losers of Saturday afternoon’s clash between Hull FC and the Leeds Rhinos were not mathematically out of the race for the top six, and a play off place, the likelihood was that any practical chance that the loser would have of making the end of season knock out games would be highly unlikely.

Both sides came into the game on twenty points, four behind the play off place currently occupied by the Warrington Wolves who had a simultaneous kick-off in a home banker against the Castleford Tigers.

A Wolves win would see today’s losers needing to win all three of their remaining games while hoping that those around them did them a series of big favours.

In reality, this was just a dead rubber, but Hull FC were the favourites with the bookies to take the two points and further their fans agony for another make or break weekend.

Castleford breathed a collective sigh of relief last night as relegation rivals Wakefield Trinity’s winning run came to an end at the hands of fellow West Yorkshire side, the Huddersfield Giants leaving the door open for them to increase the points gap to four if they could travel to west Hull and take the points off a Black and Whites side who themselves needed the points to keep alive their faint hopes of the play-offs.

FC have emerged victorious from both encounters so far this season and they got a confidence boosting win over their arch enemy from across the city in the derby last Sunday, and the bookies made them big favourites to pile more misery on the Tigers in the Saturday afternoon kick off.

Just five days after the two sides met in the quarter finals of the Challenge Cup, Hull FC and St Helens were thrown together again by the vagaries of the fixture computer for a round sixteen Super League match with the Black & Whites looking for revenge and hoping to keep thirteen players on the field beyond half time.

The home side were obviously without the services of Griffin after he received a seven-game suspension for what he said to the referee after the half time hooter last weekend, but coach Tony Smith made several other changes to his side as they looked for a reversal.

Saints were without the services of injured Percival and Makinson who were replace by Hopoate and Bennison.

FC came into the game on the back of a sixteen-game losing streak against the Saints, their last win coming back in August 2017, and the bookies had the visitors down as favourites to take the points and lift themselves up into third spot, just two behind the joint league leaders.

A one place improvement as possible for either side in the final game of the Magic Weekend as a Warrington Wolves side who were looking for a return to the top of the table took on a Hull FC side who had an eye on going ahead of Huddersfield Giants and into ninth place in the table.

The bookies favoured a Warrington win, handicapping them by eight points on the coupon, but Daryl Powell’s side came into the game with more than a little concern about the resurgence in form from the Airlie Birds after a poor fist half of the season.

After yesterday’s day of the underdog, today was the day of the favourite, and most thought that Warrington would continue the trend.

Two sides from the lower half of the Super League table had the chance of a confidence boosting Challenge Cup win and a place in the quarter finals which were now devoid of the likes of the Leeds Rhinos and the Catalans Dragons as Hull FC mad the trip down the M62 to visit Wheldon Road for a game against the Castleford Tigers.

After three of recent wins the Airlie Birds are sat in ninth place in the table and are six points clear of the Tigers, who themselves have only managed two wins out of the twelve games that they have played so far this season.

The visitors were the favourites with the bookies, but there wasn´t much between the two sides, it looked like it could be a cup classic.

After a week away from Super League for the International break, action returned on Thursday night as Hull FC looked for their second consecutive win as they faced the daunting task of a game against the league leaders, the Wigan Warriors.

Neither side could improve on their current league position but for the visitors it would give them a two-point lead at the top of the table, whereas for the Airlie Birds it would lift them four points clear of the Castleford Tigers and give them a comfortable cushion in tenth place.

The bookies thought it would be a closer game than most pundits, FC getting an eight-point start on the coupon, as most fans wearing both colours heading for the stadium forecast a sizable win for the Cherry and Whites.

The last time that tonight’s visitors to Headingley won a game was on their last visit on the 24th February when Hull FC recorded a 22-18 victory over the Leeds Rhinos before they went on a six game losing streak.

The Rhinos rode their luck last time out and secured a narrow win over the Huddersfield Giants thanks to a second half fightback which saw them pick up their fourth win of the campaign and elevate themselves to seventh spot in the table.

The bookies had the Rhinos as strong favourites for the win giving the visitors a sixteen-point start on the handicap coupon.