Wakefield Trinity beat Warrington 23-10 at Old Trafford to claim Super League title
Wakefield Trinity beat Warrington 23-10 at Old Trafford on Saturday evening to win the Super League title, a triumph owner Matt Ellis says cost him £10m. Seven of the 17 players who lifted the trophy at Old Trafford were playing for Wakefield in the Championship two years ago.
A club that was in the second tier two years ago has captured national attention with a run to the title that drew tens of thousands onto Wakefield’s streets for a homecoming parade. The victory also comes at a pivotal moment for the sport: a Super League–NRL partnership is set to be signed off in the coming weeks and this season saw over two million supporters attend matches for the first time. Wakefield will also contemplate a possible World Club Challenge against NRL champions Sydney Roosters early next year.
Loyalty to long-serving players has underpinned Wakefield’s turnaround: seven members of the title-winning 17 featured for the club in the Championship in 2024. Max Jowitt, who has spent his entire career with Wakefield and will end that association to join York in 2027, recalled the club’s low points, including training at amateur-standard facilities and playing at a crumbling Belle Vue before Ellis’s arrival. Jowitt also remembered sitting on the pitch at Leigh in 2023 in front of a couple of hundred supporters when Wakefield were relegated, and contrasted that with parading the Super League trophy on an open-top bus through the city centre.
Jowitt said: “I’ve seen it at its lowest low and now its highest high,” and added: “It’s an unbelievable story for the game. To be be part of the worst time in Wakefield’s history being relegated and then the best, winning the title, within three years is beyond my wildest dreams. What a ride.”
Wakefield’s recruitment model has been presented as a further factor in their rise, described in the coverage as a “moneyball” approach that targeted players from Australia’s lower grades. The club signed the likes of Caleb Hamlin-Uele and Caius Faatili on minimal fees—“less than the average man on the street”—and turned them into central figures for the team.
Hamlin-Uele, who would have been in England’s World Cup squad on Monday had he not opted to correct a knee issue, said: “It’s unbelievable, I can’t put into words what a dream come true this is. I owe Wakefield everything.”
Ellis, who was criticised in 2023 after saying Wakefield would win a trophy within five years as the club faced relegation, estimated his investment at £10m and has overseen stadium renovations alongside assembling the squad that secured Wakefield’s first top-flight title since 1968. Coverage noted that with NRL investment “coming over the hill” and the relative scale of spending in other sports, the £10m outlay has been framed as a comparatively modest sum to reach the summit.
Wakefield’s triumph restored sustained belief among their supporters after years of struggle and raises questions about pathways for other clubs; the immediate tangible prospect for Trinity is a possible World Club Challenge meeting with NRL champions Sydney Roosters early next year.