The Sky Sports Rugby League team have spent 30 years following the highs, the lows, the jubilation, the heartbreak we see each week in Super League.
They have watched players achieve their dreams, and they have watched players fall at the final hurdle.
Indeed, some themselves have experienced the ecstasy and agony that comes with being involved in this sport.
So now, as Super League turns 30, we gave them the impossible task of picking just ONE moment that is etched in their minds forever…
Brian Carney’s favourite moment…
My favourite Super League moment is my competition debut for Gateshead Thunder v Hull FC in 1999.
Six months earlier I had watched Super League on a TV screen in Ireland and was transfixed by the pomp and ceremony of the Bradford Bulls et al.
Now I was playing in it. My great friend Willie Peters set me up for a debut try and an accidental stray boot from another good friend the late Steve Prescott knocked me out cold.
Jon Wilkin’s favourite moment…
It has to be the 2004 Good Friday brawl. Everybody enjoys watching me get battered by Terry Newton.
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St Helens and Wigan players were involved in a mass brawl during their Super League clash in 2004 on Good Friday
It is a reminder of a time before we sanitised things so much. Farrell and Scunthorpe. Icons. Gods. Going to war for the team.
Jenna Brooks’ favourite moment…
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We take a look back at Jack Welsby’s dramatic last-minute try to seal victory for St Helens against Wigan Warriors in the Grand Final in 2020
The 2020 Grand Final. A year that many will want to forget.
Fans not allowed at events, so sport played behind closed doors. Silence at a game of this significance was eerie. You could hear every hit, every effort.
The match will always be remembered for its dramatic ending. Jack Welsby scoring in the dying seconds after a chaotic final play to help Saints beat Wigan and claim the title.
For me it was an unforgettable moment in the most challenging of times.
Barrie McDermott’s favourite 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 when Leeds Rhinos finally became champions. After a 32-year wait, the feeling at the final whistle was pure pride. It was a privilege to be part of that team and it marked the start of a golden generation with players like Sinfield, McGuire, Burrow, JJB, Diskin, Senior and Lauitiiti who went on to define an era for the club.
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Chris Joynt’s epic ‘Wide to West’ try will surely rank among the greatest to have been scored from the 30-season history of the Super League
My favourite moment is ‘Wide to West’ in 2000. The skill, the drama and the iconic commentary from Eddie and Stevo captured everything that makes Super League special. It’s one of those moments every fan remembers exactly where they were when it happened.
Both moments remind me how privileged I’ve been to live the Super League story for all 30 years, first as a player and now with the best seat in the house calling the action.
Jamie Jones-Buchanan’s favourite moment…
The 2008 World Club Challenge where we beat Melbourne Storm at Elland Road. I got a rare big hit away in front of the Don Revie Stand.
Elland Road is the home of my football team and the match was a war against some of the best players in the world.
However, I’m not sure that constitutes 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 that I got club player of the year and was invited back into the England setup.
We won the league from fifth for the first time ever and Rob Burrow got player of the match in that game after scoring the winning try against Warrington in the semi-final.
Megan Wellens’ favourite moment…
There is many a moment I can pick out from Super League covering it in this job but I have decided to pick one from my childhood.
We are going to back to 2006 when I was just 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 Saints, who were the favourites, won it at a canter but I guess it goes down as my first vivid memory of watching rugby league.
Maurie Fa’asavalu performed the Haka after St Helens won the Grand Final
It was travelling to Manchester on the coach which picked us up from outside my grandma’s. Then, it was a day of partying and fun with all my cousins, aunties, uncles, friends as 50 of us all packed together and watched the match.
As a child growing up in the north of England, watching your team getting to experience that moment felt like a fever dream, that your town or city was never going to top what was about to happen.
The moment that sticks out for me was, after St Helens won, Maurie Fa’asavalu did the Haka in what is now an iconic Super League image.
Those are the moments that make us!
2026 Super League – key dates and what to look out for
- Super League’s 30th birthday: Thu Mar 26: Castleford Tigers v Bradford Bulls, 8pm (Sky Sports)
- Rivals Round: April 3-April 5
- Super League in Paris: Sat Jun 6: Catalans Dragons v Wigan Warriors (Paris), 6:30 UK (Sky Sports)
- Magic Weekend: July 4-July 5
- Rivals Round reversed: July 23-July 26
- Elimination Play-offs: September 19-September 20
- Play-off semi-finals: September 26-September 27
- Grand Final: October 3, Old Trafford.
Sky Sports will again show every game of the Super League live this season – including two matches in each round exclusively live, with the remaining five matches each week shown on Sky Sports+
