Leeds Rhinos 'confident' over Super League grade A criteria as Wakefield Trinity chief drops bombshell

Clubs will be placed in one of three tiers – A, B and C – with grade A clubs automatically elevated to the top-flight and immune to relegation as long as they remain at that standard.

The remaining Super League places will be awarded to the best-scoring grade B clubs and all scores will be reassessed annually.

The system, to take effect from 2025, will be determined by five factors: ‘fandom’, performances, finances, stadium and catchment.

Automatic promotion and relegation will be axed with on-field performance, assessed over three seasons, forming just one quarter of the total criteria.

Fandom and finance will also each make up 25 per cent of a club’s grading, with 15 per cent determined by stadium and 10 per cent catchment.

The recommendations will be put to a vote on April 19 and, if accepted, illustrative grades for the 2024 campaign will be released at the end of this year, including feedback on areas for improvement.

Details were outlined to clubs on Thursday and Hetherington is confident Rhinos are on course for an A-grade.

“Most of the things we are being graded against, we are pretty strong on,” he said.

“I am not party to the data behind the decision, most of it will be driven by data and actual facts, not opinion.

“We know what the categories now are to determine what grade any club will get and I am confident in all those areas, we will score well.”

Hetherington believes the ‘reimagining rugby league’ plans - presented by sports marketing company IMG - will take the game forward.

“I think the direction of travel is absolutely right,” the Leeds chief insisted. “It is quite unprecedented for the game to be using an organisation like IMG to test the market and come back and tell us, as clubs, what we need to be doing to maximise both our club’s potential and the game’s potential and where we need to get to.

“I am extremely supportive of the direction of travel. At the end of the day quite a number of decisions will have to be made and there’s still quite a lot of detail to be put into those decisions.

“Constitutionally, it will be the clubs who make those decisions because IMG are purely advisory; but they are advising us as experts and a strategic partner who have thrown their organisation and brand into rugby league because they believe in its future.”

IMG’s announcement was made on the same day Wakefield Trinity chief executive Michael Carter revealed he will step down at the end of this season.

Carter, who was chairman before his previous role, said: “As I continue into my 10th year as custodian of this club I have been pondering my future and the future of the game in much detail and ultimately I have decided to stand down as chief executive and as a director of the club by the end of 2023.

“We have achieved so much in recent years - as anyone visiting the Be Well Support Stadium at Belle Vue can see – and there is so much more the club will achieve in the years ahead.

“For me however, it is time to move on. I look forward to staying close to the club going forward, but strictly as a fan, sponsor and volunteer.”

Trinity chairman John Minards described Carter’s decision as “very much the end of an era for our club”.

He said: “We are continuing with our plans to drive the club forward in the context of the redeveloped stadium and there will be further announcements as the season progresses.

“I want to express a huge thank you to Michael for all that he and his family have done for all of us.

“Put simply, without him there would not be a Wakefield Trinity today.

Minards, meanwhile, has given his backing to the criteria announced by IMG.

"We still remain broadly positive about the criteria and the general direction of travel,” he stated.

"We think we're in the mix. With all the things we're doing at Belle Vue, we remain in a good place.

"We're happy with taking it away from it being completely based on performance and taking a lot of things into account.

"There were no shocks or surprises and we're still happy with where we're going."