# 2003 Super League season

Tetley's Super League VIII was the official name for the year 2003's Super League championship season, the 109th season of top-level professional rugby league held in Britain, and the eighth championship run by Super League.
The season culminated in a replay of the 2001 Grand Final between Bradford Bulls and Wigan Warriors, and again Bradford won, claiming the 2003 Championship, their second in three years.

## Rule changes

* The knock-on rule was modified so that if in the referee's judgement a player did not play at the ball, a knock-on would not be given.
* Super League coaches voted 12-0 for new interchange and substitution rules for the 2003 season. The number of interchanges, which now included blood bins, increased from 6 to 12 using a pool of 4 substitutes. This change aimed to retain the element of wearing down a team's opponents during the game - which was considered part of the character of the sport. Stuart Cummings, the Rugby Football League's technical controller said the changes "bring us into line with the international rules" and ruled out future increases as well as declaring, "We will never see the unlimited interchange introduced into rugby league in Britain," a change that had caused controversy in Australia during its experiment there.

## Table

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | PF | PA | PD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Bradford Bulls (L, C) | 28 | 22 | 0 | 6 | 878 | 529 | +349 | 44 | Semi Final |
| 2 | Leeds Rhinos | 28 | 19 | 3 | 6 | 751 | 555 | +196 | 41 | Semi Final |
| 3 | Wigan Warriors | 28 | 19 | 2 | 7 | 776 | 512 | +264 | 40 | Elimination Semi Final |
| 4 | St Helens | 28 | 16 | 1 | 11 | 845 | 535 | +310 | 31 | Elimination Semi Final |
| 5 | London Broncos | 28 | 14 | 2 | 12 | 643 | 696 | −53 | 30 | Elimination Semi Final |
| 6 | Warrington Wolves | 28 | 14 | 1 | 13 | 748 | 619 | +129 | 29 | Elimination Semi Final |
| 7 | Hull F.C. | 28 | 13 | 3 | 12 | 701 | 577 | +124 | 27 | |
| 8 | Castleford Tigers | 28 | 12 | 1 | 15 | 612 | 633 | −21 | 25 | |
| 9 | Widnes Vikings | 28 | 12 | 1 | 15 | 640 | 727 | −87 | 25 | |
| 10 | Huddersfield Giants | 28 | 11 | 1 | 16 | 628 | 715 | −87 | 23 | |
| 11 | Wakefield Trinity Wildcats | 28 | 7 | 1 | 20 | 505 | 774 | −269 | 15 | |
| 12 | Halifax (R) | 28 | 1 | 0 | 27 | 372 | 1227 | −855 | 0 | Relegation to National League One |
* ↑ St Helens deducted 2 points for salary cap breaches.
* ↑ Hull FC deducted 2 points for salary cap breaches.
* ↑ Halifax deducted 2 points for salary cap breaches.

## Play-offs

| Elimination play-offs | Elimination play-offs | Elimination play-offs | Qualifying / Elimination semifinal | Qualifying / Elimination semifinal | Qualifying / Elimination semifinal | Elimination final | Elimination final | Grand Final | Grand Final | Grand Final |
| | | | 1 | Bradford Bulls | 30 | | | Bradford Bulls | 25 |
| | | | 2 | Leeds Rhinos | 14 | | | Wigan Warriors | Wigan Warriors | 12 |
| | | | | | | Leeds Rhinos | 22 | | |
| 3 | Wigan Warriors | 25 | | | | Leeds Rhinos | 22 | | |
| 3 | Wigan Warriors | 25 | | | | Wigan Warriors | Wigan Warriors | 23 | | |
| 6 | Warrington Wolves | 12 | | | | Wigan Warriors | Wigan Warriors | 23 | | |
| 6 | Warrington Wolves | 12 | Wigan Warriors | Wigan Warriors | 40 | | | | | |
| | | | St. Helens | St. Helens | 24 | | | | | |
| 4 | St. Helens | 24 | St. Helens | St. Helens | 24 | | | | | |
| 5 | London Broncos | 6 | | | | | | | | |
Source: Rugby League Project

### Grand Final
## Media
### Television

This season was the final year of Sky Sports' contract with the Rugby Football League allowing them to broadcast matches exclusively live, the deal ended in November 2003.

## Records

On 2 March, Matt Crowther of Hull F.C. equalled the club record for goals in a match when he was successful 14 times against Sheffield Eagles.

## 2003 Transfers
### Players

| Player | 2002 Club | 2003 Club |
| Brandon Costin | Bradford Bulls | Huddersfield Giants |
| Brian McDermott | Bradford Bulls | Retirement |
| Richard Gay | Castleford Tigers | Retirement |
| Barrie-Jon Mather | Castleford Tigers | Kubota Spears (Japanese rugby union) |
| Gary Mercer | Castleford Tigers | Retirement |
| Kyle Warren | Castleford Tigers | Retirement |
| Jon Wells | Castleford Tigers | Wakefield Trinity Wildcats |
| Robbie Beckett | Halifax Blue Sox | NRL: Wests Tigers |
| Jamie Bloem | Halifax Blue Sox | Huddersfield Giants |
| Gavin Clinch | Halifax Blue Sox | Salford City Reds (National League One) |
| Andrew Dunemann | Halifax Blue Sox | Leeds Rhinos |
| Jason Flowers | Halifax Blue Sox | Salford City Reds (National League One) |
| Jim Gannon | Halifax Blue Sox | Huddersfield Giants |
| Brett Goldspink | Halifax Blue Sox | Retirement |
| Karle Hammond | Halifax Blue Sox | Retirement |
| Jamie Thackray | Halifax Blue Sox | Castleford Tigers |
| David Woods | Halifax Blue Sox | Retirement |
| Lee Jackson | Hull F.C. | York City Knights |
| Graham Mackay | Hull F.C. | Retirement |
| Tonie Carroll | Leeds Rhinos | NRL: Brisbane Broncos |
| Darren Fleary | Leeds Rhinos | Huddersfield Giants |
| Andy Hay | Leeds Rhinos | Widnes Vikings |
| Karl Pratt | Leeds Rhinos | Bradford Bulls |
| Ryan Sheridan | Leeds Rhinos | Widnes Vikings |
| Marcus St Hilaire | Leeds Rhinos | Huddersfield Giants |
| Adrian Vowles | Leeds Rhinos | Wakefield Trinity Wildcats |
| Ben Walker | Leeds Rhinos | NRL: Manly Warringah Sea Eagles |
| Richie Barnett | London Broncos | Hull F.C. |
| Wayne Evans | London Broncos | Retirement |
| Michael Gillett | London Broncos | Retirement |
| Jason Hetherington | London Broncos | Retirement |
| Mark Corvo | Salford City Reds | Retirement |
| Damian Gibson | Salford City Reds | Castleford Tigers |
| Michael Hancock | Salford City Reds | Retirement |
| Graham Holroyd | Salford City Reds | Huddersfield Giants |
| Warren Jowitt | Salford City Reds | Hull F.C. |
| Francis Maloney | Salford City Reds | Castleford Tigers |
| Jason Nicol | Salford City Reds | Retirement |
| Nick Pinkney | Salford City Reds | Hull Kingston Rovers (National League One) |
| Darren Shaw | Salford City Reds | Oldham (National League One) |
| Darren Treacy | Salford City Reds | NRL: Parramatta Eels |
| Mike Wainwright | Salford City Reds | Warrington Wolves |
| Darren Britt | St. Helens | Retirement |
| Sean Hoppe | St. Helens | Retirement |
| Sonny Nickle | St. Helens | Leigh Centurions (National League One) |
| Peter Shiels | St. Helens | Retirement |
| Deon Bird | Wakefield Trinity Wildcats | Widnes Vikings |
| Paul Broadbent | Wakefield Trinity Wildcats | York City Knights |
| Chris Feather | Wakefield Trinity Wildcats | Leeds Rhinos |
| Andrew Frew | Wakefield Trinity Wildcats | Halifax |
| Phil Hassan | Wakefield Trinity Wildcats | Swinton Lions |
| Paul Jackson | Wakefield Trinity Wildcats | Castleford Tigers |
| Neil Law | Wakefield Trinity Wildcats | York City Knights |
| Martin Moana | Wakefield Trinity Wildcats | Halifax |
| Kris Tassell | Wakefield Trinity Wildcats | Swinton Lions |
| Nathan Wood | Wakefield Trinity Wildcats | Warrington Wolves |
| Dean Busby | Warrington Wolves | Hull Kingston Rovers (National League One) |
| Dale Laughton | Warrington Wolves | Retirement |
| Paul Marquet | Warrington Wolves | Retirement |
| Matthew Rodwell | Warrington Wolves | Retirement |
| Steve Carter | Widnes Vikings | Retirement |
| Troy Stone | Widnes Vikings | Retirement |
| Craig Weston | Widnes Vikings | Hiatus |
| Gary Connolly | Wigan Warriors | Leeds Rhinos |
| David Furner | Wigan Warriors | Leeds Rhinos |
| Harvey Howard | Wigan Warriors | Hull Kingston Rovers (National League One) |
| Marvin Golden | Doncaster Dragons (Northern Ford Premiership) | Widnes Vikings |
| Chris Thorman | Huddersfield Giants (Northern Ford Premiership) | London Broncos |
| Matt Calland | Rochdale Hornets (Northern Ford Premiership) | Huddersfield Giants |
| Darren Smith | NRL: Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs | St. Helens |
| Colin Best | NRL: Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks | Hull F.C. |
| Nick Graham | NRL: Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks | Wigan Warriors |
| Chris McKenna | NRL: Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks | Leeds Rhinos |
| Paul Mellor | NRL: Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks | Castleford Tigers |
| Dean Treister | NRL: Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks | Hull F.C. |
| Ian Sibbit | NRL: Melbourne Storm | Warrington Wolves |
| Julian Bailey | NRL: Newcastle Knights | Huddersfield Giants |
| Clinton O'Brien | NRL: Newcastle Knights | Wakefield Trinity Wildcats |
| Bill Peden | NRL: Newcastle Knights | London Broncos |
| Shontayne Hape | NRL: New Zealand Warriors | Bradford Bulls |
| Anthony Colella | NRL: South Sydney Rabbitohs | Huddersfield Giants |
| Brent Grose | NRL: South Sydney Rabbitohs | Warrington Wolves |
| Jason Hooper | NRL: St. George Illawarra Dragons | St. Helens |
| Shane Millard | NRL: St. George Illawarra Dragons | Widnes Vikings |
| Dallas Hood | NRL: Sydney Roosters | Wakefield Trinity Wildcats |
| Ben Jeffries | NRL: Wests Tigers | Wakefield Trinity Wildcats |
| Matt Seers | NRL: Wests Tigers | Wakefield Trinity Wildcats |
| Quentin Pongia | Villeneuve Leopards (Elite One Championship) | Wigan Warriors |
| Neil Harmon | N/A | Halifax |
| Damian Kennedy | N/A | London Broncos |