The final game of round twelve of Super League was the Saturday lunchtime encounter between a down on their luck Champions St Helens and some might say, an over-performing Salford Red Devils as eighth welcomed sixth to the Totally Wicked Stadium in front of the Channel 4 cameras.

A win for the Saints would lift them above the Leeds Rhinos and into seventh, but a win for the visitors could lift them as high as second, should they record a cricket score against Paul Wellens´ unpredictable side.

St Helens had been installed as the bookies favourites for the win, despite them only winning once in their last four outings against a side who had been victorious in their last four.

It was an intriguing prospect.

Sixth entertained tenth when Castleford travelled to Salford, hoping to get their season properly under way ad build on last week's close - and tough - fought win over neighbours Wakefield.

Their hosts, too, were hoping to get their season on a consistent track, having recorded just four wins in the eight rounds so far, compared to the Tigers' two.

One-club veteran Adam Milner started at loose forward for Cas replacing the suspended Joe Western.

Just eleven miles separate Rivals Leigh Leopards and the Salford Red Devils as round eight of the competition threw them together for the second time in 2023 as seventh and ninth battled for a place in the top half of the table.

A victory for either side would lift them above the Huddersfield Giants into sixth spot, but fifth looked just out of reach as Salford would need a thirty-seven-point win and Leigh would need to win by ninety-three or more.

Salford had been made the slight favourites with the bookies, Leigh being given a two-point start on the handicap coupon, but there was very little to choose between the two sides.

The Leopards hoped that home advantage, and all the usual Leopards razzamatazz, would be enough to secure a fourth win for the home side in their first eight outings and get revenge for their loss on the opening weekend of the season.

Super League´s only pointless side, Wakefield Trinity, had an ominous looking trip to the AJ Bell Stadium to take on an in form Salford Red Devils in the final game of round five on Sunday afternoon.

The Red Devils were big favourites for the win, especially after running in sixty points against Hull FC last time out but would need a big points win to improve their league position.

Wakefield haven´t scored a single point in their last three outings and had been conceding at the rate of thirty-three points a game.

There could only be one winner.

Two sides with opening round wins came together for the Thursday night televised game on Sky as the Salford Red Devils welcomed Hull KR to the AJ Bell for their first home game of the season.

The Red Devils had Burgess back in the side after he missed last week´s game against Leigh, while the visitors were without first choice goal kicker Lachlan Coote and veteran winger Ryan Hall but could call on the services of Shaun Kenny-Dowall who scored a hat-trick last time out against Wigan.

Salford were odds on for the win with the bookies, KR being given a ten point start on the handicap coupon.

The winners would spend the evening at the top of the table.

After spending 2022 in the Betfred Championship, Leigh are back in Super League with a brand new moniker after a rebranding exercise over the winter saw them renamed as the Leopards, owner Derek Beaumont´s favourite animal.

Leigh have spent big on players and have every intention on shrugging off their ´yo-yo´ club reputation and maintaining their position in the topflight for the foreseeable future and many pundits think that their current squad will be up to the task.

Tonight´s round one fixture at the Leigh Sports Village saw them taking on near neighbours the Salford Red Devils who are under the stewardship of Paul Rowley who continues to build and improve his understated outfit.

The omens didn´t look perfect for, the soon to be departed, Kristian Wolf as his Saints side sought their fourth consecutive Grand Final and a trip to Old Trafford to face their season finale nemesis, the Leeds Rhinos, next weekend.

The Salford Red Devils came into the game on a fantastic run of form, having clinically despatched the Huddersfield Giants last weekend after humiliating them on their own ground.

Paul Rowley´s side were looking for their second trip to a Grand Final, having lost out to today’s opposition in 2019, but would have to do it without the services of star man Brodie Croft.

Despite the loss of Alex Walmsley, the bookies still fancied Saints for the win and had given the Red Devils an eight point start on the handicap coupon, but most supporters and pundits were struggling to call the result for what had all the hallmarks of a classic battle.

It was third against sixth as the Huddersfield Giants took on the Salford Red Devils for a place in the semi finals against either St Helens (should Salford win) or the Wigan Warriors (should the Giants end the game in the box seat).

With Salford´s current excellent form the bookies were struggling to choose between the two sides with the home side made slight favourites for the win.

Salford won easily, by 33-16, the last time the two sides met just over a month ago, but the Giants won the encounter in July by 30-18, the game really was wide open.

It was again billed as Ian Watson against his former side, he would have spent the week telling his side that they were the focus, not him.

The scene was set for a classic.

Games don´t get any bigger than the round twenty-six match between the Castleford Tigers and Salford Red Devils with the winners becoming favourites to make the play-offs, the losers looking increasingly unlikely to make it into the top six.

The sides came into the game level on points and in sixth and seventh, Salford with a massive points advantage.

The winner would go up to fifth, before the Rhinos game against the Dragons in the evening kick-off.

Nerves were jangling, there was plenty at stake.

The bookies had a slight favouring for the away side, giving the Tigers a two point start in the handicap coupon, and with Salford´s recent stunning record in their charge for the top six, who could blame them.

 

The sixth play off place was up for grabs as the Leeds Rhinos took on the Salford Red Devils at Headingley Stadium.

Salford are the current incumbents but a win for the Rhinos would lift them from ninth into sixth and push their opponents back down to seventh.

Both sides had decent results last time out with the Red Devils beating St Helens and the Rhinos performing a miracle fightback to beat the Catalans Dragons with twelve men after being demolished in the first half.

It was an intriguing fixture with little to choose between the two sides on paper.

Two sides separated by just over twenty miles down the M62, but by a gulf in difference in recent achievement, met at the AJ Bell Stadium as Salford Red Devils took on St Helens in the final game of an incredible round twenty-one of Super League 2022.

St Helens were the bookies favourites, but comfortably in top position and playing the side in eighth, they perhaps might have expected more than a ten-point deficit on the handicap coupon.

A win for Saints would move them within a point of securing the minor premiership, but a victory for the home side would lift them up two places and into the play-offs.

It was the Magic Weekend which continued to fascinate with the opening fixture on Sunday pitting the fourth placed Huddersfield Giants with their eye on third place against a Salford side who started the game in eighth spot but for whom a win could propel them into the top six.

Some pundits were billing it as Giants coach Ian Watson against his previous side, but the Huddersfield supremo was more concerned about the two points to move his side up the table ahead of the Catalans game against Warrington later in the afternoon.

The bookies had gone with league position and installed the Giants as favourites but only given the Red Devils a six-point start on the coupon, they thought it would be close.

Salford Red Devils opened their 2022 campaign with a 26-16 win over tonight's opponents Castleford at their Jungle ground, and had hopes of repeating that performance tonight.

The visitors had a dreadful start to the season: the loss to Salford started a run which saw them win just one of their opening half-dozen games.

But they overcame that and won five of the following six leading up to this match.

Their hosts have won fewer games, but have shown their ability in every round so far.

And their winger Ken Sio is the top try scorer in Super League at the half-way point of the season.

Ninth faced tenth at the AJ Bell Stadium as the Salford Red Devils played hosts to a Leeds Rhinos side under their new coach, Rohan Smith, for the first time and boasting the return of several first team players after their injury lay-offs as they looked to register their third consecutive victory.

Paul Rowley’s side were looking to spoil the Rhinos party with a win which would lift them above their opponents as the scramble away from the bottom spot continued for both sides, with the bookies struggling to separate the sides, having made the Rhinos slight favourites.

Round Ten of Super League 2022 saw the return of Channel 4 coverage as they set up their cameras at the DW Stadium, home of the Wigan Warriors, for the visit of the Salford Red Devils as the home side looked to return to the top of table on the same points as St Helens.

The biggest news out of Wigan this week was the permanent departure of Zak Hardaker from Matt Peet´s side, but they also came into the game without the services of Sam Powell and Tommy Leuluai.

The Red Devils are also without a host of stars with Tim Lafai, Deon Cross, Shane Wright, Ryan Lannon and notably Marc Sneyd all missing from their side.

The bookies thought that there would only be one winner, giving the Red Devils an eighteen-point start on the coupon.

In the current disciplinary climate, there were as many questions about how many cards there would be, as there was about the outcome of tonight´s Super League match between the Salford Red Devils and the Leeds Rhinos at the AJ Bell Stadium.

The Red Devils made several changes to their line-up after last week’s loss, with Ryan Lannon and Elijah Taylor amongst the additions to the starting line-up, while the Rhinos welcomed back skipper Kruise Leeming and new signing James Bentley after their suspensions In our pre-game Twitter poll 67% of voters believed that it would be the Red Devils who emerged victorious, and the bookies agreed, giving the visitors a two-point start on the handicap coupon.

Castleford Tigers and Salford Red Devils kicked off the Dacia Magic Weekend at St James Park in their fourth encounter of the season.

Before kick-off, the tally stood at two wins to Cast and one to the Reds Could the Tigers make their top-six play-off hopes a little more secure with a third win? Could the original Red Devils level the record and start their own climb up the table from 11th?

Following back to back losses to the Catalans Dragons, the Leeds Rhinos had what looked like, on paper, a simpler fixture as they welcomed strugglers Salford Red Devils to Headingley and a full unrestricted crowd for the first time since the start of the COVID epidemic.

For the Red Devils Ata Hingano was given his debut with a start from the bench while the Rhinos welcomed back King Vuniyayawa and kicker Rhyse Martin but were without the services of Luke Gale, Mikolaj Oledzki and Tom Holroyd.

Neither sides league position would benefit from a win but for both it would increase the buffer over the chasing clubs and for Salford it could be the win that finally secures their safety in Superleague as it would leave the Leigh Centurions requiring five emphatic wins from their remaining games to catch them up.

It was an impressive and strong looking starting line-up for the Salford Red Devils as they welcomed the Wigan Warriors to the AJ Bell Stadium as they looked for their second win of the season against a side so far unbeaten in 2021.

The way things stand in the table, and with this seasons win percentage calculations, neither side could improve their league position as a result of today’s game as the teams kicked off a weekend of six fixtures over Saturday and Sunday, almost unheard of in Super League outside Magic Weekend.

Wigan were nailed on favourites with the bookies, Salford getting a twelve-point start on the handicap coupon.

A place against either the Warrington Wolves, St Helens or Hull FC was up for grabs as the Castleford Tigers took on the Salford Red Devils in the last of the 2021 Betfred Challenge Cup quarter finals at Emerald Headingley.

On paper there was a chasm between the two sides with the Tigers sitting third in Super League with just a single defeat while the Red Devils were third from bottom with just a single victory, but this is the cup and the form guide can be ripped up and thrown away for a one-off fixture with a semi-final place on offer.

The Tigers were strong favourites, especially after winning the Super League match between the two sides a week ago, but after reaching the final last season the Salford side were not just there making up the numbers.