Bradford Bulls boss gives blunt 15-team Super League verdict as wooden spoon addressed - Serious About Rugby League
Serious About Rugby League · Sam Cook · 2026-09-10T10:53:15+00:00 · nguồn gốc
Bradford Bulls boss Kurt Haggerty has given his verdict on the possibility of Super League expanding to 15 teams, whilst also underlining what an achievement it would be for his to avoid finishing bottom.
The Bulls must beat York Knights tonight to avoid and hope that one of Huddersfield Giants or Hull FC fail to win, in order for Bradford to avoid the wooden spoon.
Should they lose against the Knights, then they will be confirmed as finishing 14th barring Castleford beating Huddersfield by a margin of 77 points, plus whatever the Bulls should lose by.
Haggerty has admitted in recent weeks that there has been a clear focus on avoiding the wooden spoon and last week’s win over Castleford gave the Bulls hope, and he’s now spoken again on what an achievement it would be.
Asked what a boost it would be, he said: “I think it would because I’m sick of speaking about the injury crisis, but ours has been absolutely ridiculous.
“If we can manage to not finish bottom with the journey we’ve had to go through and all the factors that I’ve just spoken about, I think if we can be in a position where we can hopefully beat York and then things happen around us with a bit of luck, which I think we’re due some, would be a pretty incredible achievement after what we’ve gone through this year.”
Despite that, Haggerty was clear on one thing, adding: “…I don’t want to celebrate not finishing bottom. I don’t want to make it look like an achievement that we’ve not finished bottom.”
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“What happens will happen” – Bradford Bulls boss gives 15-team Super League verdict
With promotion and relegation sorted out off-field via the IMG gradings, finishing bottom is not an immediate relegation for the Bulls. In fact, with Bradford set to represent Super League in Las Vegas next year, it’s near impossible for Bradford to be relegated.
The composition of Super League in 2027 has been a big talking point given how many teams could be close to dropping out of the 14, especially with London looming in the Championship.
As such, there’s been a growing school of thought that Super League could expand to 15 teams and when asked about those chances, Haggerty gave a blunt response.
“I think we’re all at the point now, whatever happens will happen,” he said.
“The permutations change that often, and you hear about certain teams coming up, certain budgets, NRL.
“I’ll literally just turn my phone off. I’ll wait for whatever you guys tell me and I’ll go from there with it.”
Should Super League move to 15 teams, it would see the introduction of bye rounds but also create a headache over Magic Weekend and the fixture list as teams would have to play at least 28 games if they were to play home and away, plus a possible extra fixture for Magic.