League Express Podcast

In this week's episode of the League Express Podcast, Editor Martyn Sadler and Host Jake Kearnan discuss Wigan Warriors adding BBC Sports Personality Team of the Year award to their trophy cabinet, their thoughts on the Golden Boot award and whether the criteria should be changed and the North Queensland Cowboys signing John Bateman. They discuss the Salford City Council purchasing Salford Stadium, whispers of a potential wealthy investor looking to buy the Red Devils and whether the game is at risk of losing its best talent to Rugby Union. They also recap their best moments of the season and discuss their 2025 wishes. 

In this week's episode of the League Express Podcast, Editor Martyn Sadler and Host Jake Kearnan are joined by former Great Britain International Jermaine McGillvary. They discuss McGillvary's childhood, how he got into playing Rugby League and what were some of his career highlights. They discuss his experiences playing under Wayne Bennett for England and Great Britain, why he left the Huddersfield Giants and his experience playing at Wakefield Trinity last season. Jermaine discusses life after football, the excitement of mentoring his sons who have been signed by Manchester City and Manchester United and what the future holds for the McGillvary family. 

In this week's episode of the League Express Podcast, Editor Martyn Sadler and Host Jake Kearnan are joined by Wales Rugby League coach and BBC pundit John Kear to discuss his career as a player, coach and TV pundit. They discuss the state of the game domestically and internationally, whether it was a good idea to cut the World Cup participating sides from 16 back to 10 and whether we need to re-think the season schedule. John discusses the impact Magic Weekend is having on the Challenge Cup, gives his take on IMG and throws his support behind suspended Sheffield Eagles coach Mark Aston. He also reflects on the high's and lows of his career and whether the game needs to bring back the 9's format. 

In this week's episode of the League Express Podcast, Editor Martyn Sadler and Host Jake Kearnan are joined by Hunslet RLFC CEO Neil Hampshire to discuss the clubs promotion to the Championship, IMG's impact on clubs outside of Super League and the clubs history. They discuss how things could have been different had the club not been denied promotion to Super League back in 1999, a surprise bid from the Leicester Tigers to purchase the clubs Rugby League license back in the day and Neil explains how a junior academy draft system could benefit the sport. Neil gives his thoughts on the state of the game and whether Championship and League 1 matches need to be televised. 

In this week's episode of the League Express Podcast, Editor Martyn Sadler and Host Jake Kearnan are joined by former referee Ben Thaler to discuss his involvement in the weekends 745 cross-code match raising money for Rob Burrow, Ed Slater and Doddie Weir. They discuss how Ben became a referee, some of his favourite moments and some of the moments he would like to have back. They discuss Ben's new role with the RFL, the current state of officiating and what changes could be made. 

In this week's episode of the League Express Podcast, Editor Martyn Sadler and Host Jake Kearnan are joined by the Salford Red Devils CEO Paul King to discuss his rise to become the Chief Executive, his early days as a business consultant and how that lead to his professional involvement with the club. They discuss the financial struggles of not having a wealthy benefactor, the impact IMG has had on the club and how they can achieve a grade A rating. They discuss the recent form of Nene Macdonald and whether he will remain at Salford next season. 

In this week's episode of the League Express Podcast, Editor Martyn Sadler and Host Jake Kearnan discuss England's triumphant 2-0 series win over Samoa, Tonga's shock win over the Kiwi's and preview this weekend's Pacific Championship finals. They discuss Brian Noble's return to Bradford, where Ben Hunt and Josh Addo Car will end up and a sneaky IMG press conference Martyn was not aware of. Martyn also discusses a disappointing act by the RFL prior to Saturday's match, some potential Golden Boot nominees, a potential return of the War of Roses and what we can expect from the Ashes series next year. 

In this week's episode of the League Express Podcast, Editor Martyn Sadler and Host Jake Kearnan discuss England's game 1 win over Samoa and whether Shaun Wane will make any changes for game 2, the Ashes series being moved to England from Australia next year and react to the IMG Grading's. They also review all the Pacific Championship results over the weekend including Australia's win over New Zealand. They discuss the 18-month suspension handed to Sheffield Eagles coach Mark Anston and give their take on whether the penalty was too harsh. They also discuss Leeds signing Maika Sivo, Salford signing Chris Hill and Castleford appointing Danny McGuire as head coach. 

In this week's episode of the League Express Podcast, Editor Martyn Sadler and Host Jake Kearnan discuss Castleford Tigers new ownership deciding to part ways with coach Craig Lingard, Paul Rowley being appointed Salford's new Director of Rugby from 2026 and preview the IMG Gradings announcement. They also review all the action from week 1 of the Pacific Championship and preview this weekend's England vs Samoa match. They discuss Wakefield winning the championship Grand Final, Max Jowitt breaking the single season point scoring record and Ezra Mam's off-field incident. 

In this week's episode of the League Express Podcast, Editor Martyn Sadler and Host Jake Kearnan are joined by Great Britain Legend Garry Schofield OBE to give their in depth analysis of the Super League Grand Final. They discuss what this season means for the club, whether they'll go on to be one of the greatest teams in the modern era and discuss who could possibly stop them next season. They reflect on Hull KR's season, how they can bounce back and applaud the clubs success this season. They also delve into Bevan French's performance as the inaugural Rob Burrow award winner, shine line on other stand out performers and discuss the weekend's Championship and League 1 results which saw Wakefield and Toulouse advance through to the Grand Final while Hunslet were promoted to the Championship following their win over Swinton. They also take a look at this weekend's international fixtures and discuss the ridiculous charge Peta Hiku is facing.