30 years of Super League: Comedians recall their favorite moments including the magic of Rob Burrow, that Jack Welsby moment, and the Friday brawl | Rugby League News
The Sky Sports Rugby League team has spent 30 years following the highs, the lows, the joys, the heartbreaks that we see every week in Super League.
Watch players achieve their dreams, and watch players fall to the finish line.
Indeed, some have themselves experienced the joys and pains that come with being involved in this sport.
So now, as the Super League turns 30, we’ve given them the impossible task of choosing just ONE moment that will stick in their minds forever…
Brian Carney’s favorite moment…
My favorite Super League moment is my debut against Gateshead Thunder v Hull FC in 1999.
Six months earlier I had watched the Super League on TV in Ireland and was impressed by the pomp and ceremony of the Bradford Bulls et al.
Now I was playing in it. My good friend Willie Peters set me up for the first try and an accidentally lost boot from another good friend the late Steve Prescott knocked me out cold.
Jon Wilkin’s favorite moment…
It must be the chaos of 2004 Good Friday. Everyone enjoys watching me beat Terry Newton.
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St Helens and Wigan clashed in the 2004 Super League clash on Good Friday.
It’s a reminder of a time before we cleaned things up so much. Farrell and Scunthorpe. Icons. The gods. Going to a team fight.
Jenna Brooks’ favorite moment…
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We look back at Jack Welsby’s incredible last-minute try to seal victory for St Helens against Wigan Warriors in the 2020 Grand Final.
2020 Grand Final. It’s a year many will want to forget.
Fans are not allowed at events, so games are played behind closed doors. The silence in a game of this importance was frightening. You could hear every beat, every effort.
The game will always be remembered for its dramatic ending. Jack Welsby scores in the dying seconds after a chaotic final to help Saints beat Wigan and take the title.
For me it was a moment I will never forget in the most difficult times.
Barrie McDermott’s favorite moment…
For me there are two moments that really sum up the joy of Super League.
The first is the 2004 Grand Final at Old Trafford where Leeds Rhinos eventually became champions. After waiting 32 years, the feeling at the final whistle was pure pride. It was an honor to be part of that team and it marked the beginning of a golden generation with players like Sinfield, McGuire, Burrow, JJB, Diskin, Senior and Lauitiiti who went on to define the club’s era.
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Chris Joynt’s ‘Wide to West’ try will surely be among the hundreds scored in Super League’s 30-season history.
My favorite moment is ‘Wide to West’ in 2000. The skill, the drama and the amazing commentary by Eddie and Stevo captures everything that makes Super League special. It’s one of those moments that every fan remembers exactly where they were when it happened.
Both moments remind me how privileged I have been to live the Super League story for 30 years, first as a player and now with the best seat in the house calling the action.
Jamie Jones-Buchanan’s favorite moment…
The 2008 World Club Challenge where we beat the Melbourne Storm at Elland Road. I got an unusual big hit in front of the Don Revie Stand.
Elland Road is the home of my football team and the game was a battle against the best players in the world.
However, I’m not sure that includes the Super League.
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Sky Sports pays tribute to the life and legacy of Rob Burrow CBE, following his tragic death from motor neurone disease.
If not, it would be the 2011 Rob Burrow Grand Final try. It was the year I won club player of the year and was invited back to the England set-up.
We won the league from fifth for the first time and Rob Burrow got man of the match after scoring the winning try against Warrington in the semi-final.
Megan Wellens’ favorite moment…
There are many moments I could choose from the Super League that I associate with this work but I decided to choose one from my childhood.
Let’s go back to 2006 when I was only 10 years old and it was the Super League Grand Final between St Helens and Hull FC.
Now, that final was not a classic by any means and the Saints, who were favourites, won it at a canter but I think it goes down as my first vivid memory of watching rugby league.
Maurie Fa’asavalu played the Haka after St Helens won the Grand Final
It was heading to Manchester on a coach that picked us up without grandma. Then it was a day of party and fun with all my cousins, aunts, uncles, friends as we are 50 all packed together and watching the game.
As a kid growing up in the north of England, watching your team get that moment felt like a fever dream, that your town or city would never rise from what was to come.
The moment that will haunt me was when, after St Helens won, Maurie Fa’asavalu did the Haka in what is now a Super League iconic photo.
It’s the times that make us!
2026 Super League – key dates and what to look out for
- Super League’s 30th birthday: Thursday Mar 26: Castleford Tigers v Bradford Bulls8 pm (Sky Sports)
- Round of Rivals: April 3-April 5
- Super League in Paris: Saturday June 6: Catalans Dragons v Wigan Warriors (Paris)6:30 UK (Sky Sports)
- Magical Weekend: July 4-July 5
- Rivals Round postponed: July 23-July 26
- To finish playing games: September 19-September 20
- It’s a semi-final: September 26-September 27
- Grand Final: October 3, Old Trafford.
Sky Sports will also show every Super League game live this season – including two games from each round live exclusively, with the remaining five games each week shown on Sky Sports+
