follow @forty20magazine October 2024 n Volume 14 Issue 10 n Congratulations to Wigan Warriors, York Valkyrie, Leeds Rhinos wheelchair, Penrith Panthers, Sydney Roosters women, Oldham and Hunslet for promotion, and good luck Wakefield and Toulouse in the Championship play-off. The champagne will have deser vedly tasted sweet for all, but the feats of the Panthers and Warriors are quite exceptional in this salar y-capped era, the former achieving a four-peat and the latter a grand slam of four trophies in one season. Sadly, despite the Grand Final excitement on both sides of the world, Penrith seem to have pulled the plug on the 2025 World Club Challenge due to their schedule of playing in Las Vegas, although the cherr y and whites have the same schedule. “We’ll play in the UK, we’ll play in Australia, we’ll play anywhere if it can be done,” said Warriors’ CEO Kris Radlinski after his side’s triumph. “I respect them as a club for ever ything they did last year. But I don't want to lose what was an amazing occasion for Super League and the NRL.” n Hopefully calls for shor ter seasons to fit in more events will negate that in future. ARLC chair, Peter V’landys, on announcing the latest expansion plan for the NRL, which includes the international game, as they look to build to 20 teams on the back of fur ther record profits, said: “Our ambition is to make the competition as fair as possible. “The draw would be fantastic if ever yone played [each other] once, so you need 20 teams for that. We are going to go through with the business case,” he told the Sydney Daily Telegraph. “[The player s] are going to be playing less football because at the moment there are 27 rounds. If you go to 19 rounds you’ve got all those weeks we can do other things.” Breakthrough: Bevan French of Wigan breaks through Mikey Lewis of Hull KR to light up Old Trafford SWpix.com The great divide n The gap between the finances in the respective hemispheres was emphasised by the unveiling of the latest respective financial results. The NRL expect to have a A$720m bonanza from 2024 to fund their A$1bn strategic plan, which also includes renegotiating their broadcasting deals two year s ear ly, such is their pre-eminence in the market, V’landys claiming that they had now surpassed the AFL in popularity and value. The game engaged 200,000 par ticipants for the fir st time, coinciding with the spor t enjoying its most-watched season ever with 138.5m viewers, especially with the Foxtel Group, the seventh consecutive year of such growth. Foxtel states there were five billion minutes streamed across its platforms, up also 30 per cent, with the Broncos, Storm and Roosters the most watched teams. V’landys now hopes to convince one of the world’s richest men to buy the NRL’s free-to-air television rights in the next deal. He wants a meeting with US businessman Larr y Ellison, the new Channel 10 owner, who is wor th a repor ted A$265bn. n Meanwhile, the RFL has announced a loss before tax of £552,000 for the financial year ending 31 December 2023, decreasing from £946,000 in 2022. In the accompanying repor t to Companies House, it states: “The Board and the Executive Team had budgeted to make a profit in 2023 of £32k in order to continue the financial turnaround from the previous four year s and to build reser ves for future to bolster the Group's ability to absorb potential budget shocks in the coming year s. “The consolidated repor ted Group trading loss was £53k which predominantly relates to write-offs and unplanned costs of wrapping up the Rugby League World Cup 2021. “The fur ther loss is due to a write down of the investment 4 The Reality Is... 13 Brian Noble reflects on season 2024 Man of Steel 5 Trevor Baxter’s monthly profile Five Drives & A Kick 7 SL Dream Team, RL awards and London farewell Super League Match of the Month 15 Where else but Old Trafford? Louie the Lip 19 It’s Louie McCar thy-Scar sbrook! Stand Up for League 20 Never write off Ian Boldswor th Where next for RL? 23 It’s all change in 2025 – and Phil Caplan wonders what’s in store teamsheet Pride of Wakefield 24 Trinity heading back to the top My Life in League 26 New Goole boss Scott Taylor Retiring types 29 Peter Smith has a round-up Here come Samoa 30 Tourists name strong squad Championship scene 34 Paul Cooke takes it to the line League 1 concludes 36 Hunslet swoop to promotion Café des Treizistes 29 Mike Ry;ance’s French scene Footy20 38 George Clarke hails Penrith Kiwis on the rise 40 New Zealand RL winning big Wheels on Fire 43 Tom Halliwell’s Grand Final view Latham’s Loft 46 Remembering JR Har tley... League on TV 48 RSW’s action-packed viewing Any Other Business 50 Mar tin Kelner for the Booker! Priim and Proper 32 York stun Saints in WSL Grand Final October 2024 3Forty2043