Warrington Wolves’ major conundrum, St Helens pressure and Super League talking points

Round nine of Super League is in the books and Hull KR remain on top of the table. The Robins edged out Leeds Rhinos on Friday night to claim their eighth league win of the season and remain two points clear

Wigan Warriors beat Hull FC to keep up the pace, while Leigh Leopards are third after seeing off Salford Red Devils. Elsewhere wins came for Warrington Wolves, Catalans Dragons and Castleford Tigers.

Here’s a few talking points to emerge from the round.

Warrington Wolves half-back conundrum

Much of pre-match talk was surrounding Warrington Wolves’ halves, with Sam Burgess trying to replace the creativity and presence George Williams provides at six. The Wolves struggled to do that in Rivals Round against Leigh Leopards and there was debate around who should play alongside Marc Sneyd.

Danny Walker was the man selected and he did well in the role, to his credit, but Burgess is no closer to finding a solution after Thursday night. That’s because Sneyd has now been ruled out with a fractured eye socket and that means Warrington will be playing the next few weeks at least without their star pivot pairing.

Burgess must find solutions at six and seven then, and with Walker getting the nod over both Stef Ratchford and Oli Leyland last week, there’s question marks around the faith Burgess has in either man to do the job. It seems at least one of Ratchford or Leyland will be brought into the fold, though, and they must shrug off any potential confidence issues after being overlooked by the head coach.

St Helens’ woeful record

What is it about this St Helens side not being able to turn up in the biggest games? That’s three times Saints have lost to Warrington this season, with defeats coming in games against Hull KR and Wigan Warriors, too.

In fact, Saints’ only Super League wins have come against teams outside the top six, with Wakefield being beaten twice and victories over Salford Red Devils, Catalans Dragons and Castleford Tigers being secured as well.

Round 9 of the @Betfred #SuperLeague in the bank ✅

Next up: #MagicWKND 🔜 pic.twitter.com/0LX3GvH150

— Betfred Super League (@SuperLeague) April 27, 2025

You’d have to go back to August 8 for St Helens’ last win against a play-off contender, with Moses Mbye’s drop goal being the difference against Salford Red Devils. Before then it was a win over Catalans Dragons on May 31.

Between that win over Catalans and the end of the season, Paul Wellens’ side lost to Warrington three times, Wigan twice, Leigh twice, Hull KR and Salford. All those finished above Saints in the table last season and all of them made short work of the Merseyside outfit.

After Thursday’s showing the pressure has to be on heading into Magic Weekend as they prepare to face a Leeds Rhinos side, who look to be improving under Brad Arthur.

Super League pair head and shoulders above the rest

What has become abundantly clear over the first nine rounds of the season is that there’s Hull KR and Wigan Warriors and then there’s the rest this season. They’re the clubs that currently occupy the top two spots in the division and right now it looks like they’ll stay there over the course of the campaign.

Rovers weren’t at their best on Friday night against Leeds, they trailed for a large period of the game and an upset looked to be on the cards as the Rhinos held firm. Nevertheless, a late rally saw the Robins score three tries in the final 12 minutes of the contest to seal the result.

Wigan’s win was much more comprehensive as they dished out a lesson to fourth placed Hull FC on Sunday afternoon, winning 36-12. The Black and Whites were in the game for half an hour but couldn’t hold it together long enough to prevent Wigan from running away with the contest.

They’re the top two teams in Super League, of that there is no doubt, and it’s hard to see that notion being challenged any time soon.