# 2005 Super League season

Super League X is the official name of 2005's Super League season. It was the 10th season of the Super League and saw twelve teams from across England compete for the premiership. The season kicked off in early February, culminating in a six team play-off series
The Grand Final, held at Old Trafford on 15 October, saw Bradford Bulls crowned Champions. The Grand Final was the final match of a which itself was the climax of a league season that kicked off in early February.

## Season summary

Either one or two teams were to be relegated from the league at the end of the season in order to make way for new entrants. The bottom team were certain to be relegated, in order to allow in French club Catalans Dragons. The second bottom team would only be relegated if the winner of National League One met the criteria for Super League entry. On the 3 October the Rugby Football League announced that both finalists in this competition, Castleford Tigers and Whitehaven were eligible for promotion, hence two teams were relegated.
The season was a commercial success, with a rise in average crowd size for the regular rounds of 8,887, continuing the trend of rises every year since 2001. This is the first time in the history of Super League the Grand Final has not included the league leader at the end of the regular season: St Helens were knocked out by Bradford Bulls in the semi-final.

## Table

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | PF | PA | PD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | St Helens (L) | 28 | 23 | 1 | 4 | 1028 | 537 | +491 | 47 | Semi Final |
| 2 | Leeds Rhinos | 28 | 22 | 0 | 6 | 1152 | 505 | +647 | 44 | Semi Final |
| 3 | Bradford Bulls (C) | 28 | 18 | 1 | 9 | 1038 | 684 | +354 | 37 | Elimination Semi Final |
| 4 | Warrington Wolves | 28 | 18 | 0 | 10 | 792 | 702 | +90 | 36 | Elimination Semi Final |
| 5 | Hull F.C. | 28 | 15 | 2 | 11 | 756 | 670 | +86 | 32 | Elimination Semi Final |
| 6 | London Broncos | 28 | 13 | 2 | 13 | 800 | 718 | +82 | 28 | Elimination Semi Final |
| 7 | Wigan Warriors | 28 | 14 | 0 | 14 | 698 | 718 | −20 | 28 | |
| 8 | Huddersfield Giants | 28 | 12 | 0 | 16 | 742 | 791 | −49 | 24 | |
| 9 | Salford City Reds | 28 | 11 | 0 | 17 | 549 | 732 | −183 | 22 | |
| 10 | Wakefield Trinity Wildcats | 28 | 10 | 0 | 18 | 716 | 999 | −283 | 20 | |
| 11 | Widnes Vikings (R) | 28 | 6 | 1 | 21 | 598 | 1048 | −450 | 13 | Relegation to National League One |
| 12 | Leigh Centurions (R) | 28 | 2 | 1 | 25 | 445 | 1210 | −765 | 5 | Relegation to National League One |

## Play-off

| Elimination play-offs | Elimination play-offs | Elimination play-offs | Qualifying / elimination semi-finals | Qualifying / elimination semi-finals | Qualifying / elimination semi-finals | Elimination final | Elimination final | Grand Final | Grand Final | Grand Final |
| | | | 1 | St. Helens | 16 | | | Leeds Rhinos | 6 |
| | | | 2 | Leeds Rhinos | 19 | | | Bradford Bulls | Bradford Bulls | 15 |
| | | | | | | St. Helens | 18 | | |
| 3 | Bradford Bulls | 44 | | | | St. Helens | 18 | | |
| 3 | Bradford Bulls | 44 | | | | Bradford Bulls | Bradford Bulls | 23 | | |
| 6 | London Broncos | 22 | | | | Bradford Bulls | Bradford Bulls | 23 | | |
| 6 | London Broncos | 22 | Bradford Bulls | Bradford Bulls | 71 | | | | | |
| | | | Hull F.C. | Hull F.C. | 0 | | | | | |
| 4 | Warrington Wolves | 6 | Hull F.C. | Hull F.C. | 0 | | | | | |
| 5 | Hull F.C. | 40 | | | | | | | | |

### Grand final

* 15 October: Leeds Rhinos 6-15 Bradford Bulls

## 2005 Transfers
### Players

| Player | 2004 Club | 2005 Club |
| Paul Anderson | Bradford Bulls | St. Helens |
| Toa Kohe-Love | Bradford Bulls | Warrington Wolves |
| Logan Swann | Bradford Bulls | Warrington Wolves |
| Tevita Vaikona | Bradford Bulls | Saracens F.C. (English rugby union) |
| Ryan Clayton | Castleford Tigers | Huddersfield Giants |
| Damian Gibson | Castleford Tigers | Halifax (National League One) |
| Wayne Godwin | Castleford Tigers | Wigan Warriors |
| Craig Greenhill | Castleford Tigers | Retirement |
| Lee Harland | Castleford Tigers | Doncaster Dragons (National League One) |
| Paul Jackson | Castleford Tigers | Huddersfield Giants |
| Andy Lynch | Castleford Tigers | Bradford Bulls |
| Paul Mellor | Castleford Tigers | NRL: Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks |
| Paul Newlove | Castleford Tigers | Retirement |
| Sean Ryan | Castleford Tigers | Retirement |
| Tommy Saxton | Castleford Tigers | Hull F.C. |
| Ryan Sheridan | Castleford Tigers | Retirement |
| Michael Smith | Castleford Tigers | Hull Kingston Rovers (National League One) |
| Nathan Sykes | Castleford Tigers | Featherstone Rovers (National League One) |
| Jamie Thackray | Castleford Tigers | Hull F.C. |
| Mark Tookey | Castleford Tigers | London Broncos |
| Ben Cooper | Huddersfield Giants | Leigh Centurions |
| Brandon Costin | Huddersfield Giants | Retirement |
| Darren Fleary | Huddersfield Giants | Leigh Centurions |
| Darren Turner | Huddersfield Giants | Retirement |
| Richie Barnett | Hull F.C. | Retirement |
| Colin Best | Hull F.C. | NRL: St. George Illawarra Dragons |
| Jason Smith | Hull F.C. | NRL: Canberra Raiders |
| Matt Adamson | Leeds Rhinos | NRL: Canberra Raiders |
| David Furner | Leeds Rhinos | Retirement |
| Russell Bawden | London Broncos | Retirement |
| Jim Dymock | London Broncos | Retirement |
| Rob Jackson | London Broncos | Leigh Centurions |
| Dennis Moran | London Broncos | Wigan Warriors |
| Steele Retchless | London Broncos | Retirement |
| Nigel Roy | London Broncos | Retirement |
| Mat Toshack | London Broncos | Retirement |
| Joel Caine | Salford City Reds | Retirement |
| Gavin Clinch | Salford City Reds | Retirement |
| Jason Flowers | Salford City Reds | Retirement |
| Martin Moana | Salford City Reds | Doncaster Dragons (National League One) |
| Scott Naylor | Salford City Reds | Retirement |
| Martin Gleeson | St. Helens | Warrington Wolves |
| Chris Joynt | St. Helens | Retirement |
| John Stankevitch | St. Helens | Widnes Vikings |
| Gareth Ellis | Wakefield Trinity Wildcats | Leeds Rhinos |
| Darren Burns | Warrington Wolves | Retirement |
| Mike Forshaw | Warrington Wolves | Retirement |
| Jérôme Guisset | Warrington Wolves | Wigan Warriors |
| Gary Hulse | Warrington Wolves | Widnes Vikings |
| Ian Sibbit | Warrington Wolves | Salford City Reds |
| Paul Atcheson | Widnes Vikings | Retirement |
| Deon Bird | Widnes Vikings | Castleford Tigers (National League One) |
| Andy Hay | Widnes Vikings | Doncaster Dragons (National League One) |
| Steve McCurrie | Widnes Vikings | Leigh Centurions |
| Robert Relf | Widnes Vikings | Retirement |
| Mick Cassidy | Wigan Warriors | Widnes Vikings |
| Gary Connolly | Wigan Warriors | Widnes Vikings |
| Andy Farrell | Wigan Warriors | Saracens F.C. (English rugby union) |
| David Hodgson | Wigan Warriors | Salford City Reds |
| Adrian Lam | Wigan Warriors | Retirement |
| Terry O'Connor | Wigan Warriors | Widnes Vikings |
| Quentin Pongia | Wigan Warriors | Retirement |
| Luke Robinson | Wigan Warriors | Salford City Reds |
| Craig Smith | Wigan Warriors | NRL: Newcastle Knights |
| Mark Smith | Wigan Warriors | Widnes Vikings |
| Michael De Vere | NRL: Brisbane Broncos | Huddersfield Giants |
| Brad Meyers | NRL: Brisbane Broncos | Bradford Bulls |
| Brad Drew | NRL: Canberra Raiders | Huddersfield Giants |
| Mark McLinden | NRL: Canberra Raiders | London Broncos |
| Ben Harris | NRL: Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs | Bradford Bulls |
| Jason Kent | NRL: Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks | Leigh Centurions |
| Nick Bradley-Qalilawa | NRL: Manly Warringah Sea Eagles | London Broncos |
| Solomon Haumono | NRL: Manly Warringah Sea Eagles | London Broncos |
| Stephen Kearney | NRL: Melbourne Storm | Hull F.C. |
| Danny Williams | NRL: Melbourne Storm | London Broncos |
| Vinnie Anderson | NRL: New Zealand Warriors | St. Helens |
| Henry Fa'afili | NRL: New Zealand Warriors | Warrington Wolves |
| Jerry Seuseu | NRL: New Zealand Warriors | Wigan Warriors |
| Lee Hopkins | NRL: Parramatta Eels | London Broncos |
| Junior Langi | NRL: Parramatta Eels | Salford City Reds |
| Jamie Lyon | NRL: Parramatta Eels | St. Helens |
| Craig Stapleton | NRL: Parramatta Eels | Leigh Centurions |
| Chris Thorman | NRL: Parramatta Eels | Huddersfield Giants |
| David Vaealiki | NRL: Parramatta Eels | Wigan Warriors |
| Owen Craigie | NRL: South Sydney Rabbitohs | Widnes Vikings |
| Brad Watts | NRL: South Sydney Rabbitohs | Widnes Vikings |
| Nathan Blacklock | NRL: St. George Illawarra Dragons | Hull F.C. |
| Luke Dorn | NRL: Sydney Roosters | London Broncos |
| Robert Mears | NRL: Wests Tigers | Leigh Centurions |
| Jason Ferris | N/A | Leigh Centurions |