ONE of the most tightly contested Super League seasons comes to a conclusion this weekend when Wigan Warriors take on Catalans Dragons at Old Trafford on Saturday.

The three teams at the top of the regular season table, Wigan, Catalans, and St Helens, could barely be separated, each finishing the season on 40 points.

Wigan only confirmed their status as League Leaders’ Shield winners in the final game of the season — a closely contested scrap against the impressive 2023 Challenge Cup winners, Leigh Leopards, which finished 10-6 in the Warriors’ favour.

In the end, and despite some controversy around a disallowed try for Leigh in that game, Wigan were deserved league winners.

They finished the season with the joint-most points scored, level with Catalans on 722, and the fewest points conceded, with that superior points difference eventually securing the league title.

This year’s Grand Final will end four years of St Helens dominance after Wigan’s local rivals lost to Catalans in the semi-final.

Even though it came to an end this year, the Saints teams that produced this period of dominance will go down among the greatest in the Super League era.

They rounded it off with a World Club Challenge win at the start of the season against the NRL’s similarly dominant team, Penrith Panthers.

Catalans’ final appearance continues a period of relative success for the French side, and for French club rugby league in general.

The Dragons won the League Leaders Shield in 2021 but lost out in the Grand Final to St Helens by two points.

Two years later, they will be hoping to become not just the first non-English side to win the Super League Grand Final, but also the first side from outside the traditional Lancashire and Yorkshire heartlands to do so.

“I do think it’s the right final, one versus two, I think we’ve been the two best teams throughout the whole season,” Catalans head coach Steve McNamara told Sky Sports.

“So it’s all on tomorrow night and there’s a lot at stake for both teams.

“I think everyone’s aware of the history of the Super League and the domination of other teams: Leeds, Bradford, Wigan, Saints are the only four teams that have really done it.

“A French team to win a Super League competition would create history, certainly in our part of the world, and it’s an opportunity there for us.

“We had one two years ago, we missed out on that, and we intend to take this one.”

Elsewhere, Sunday’s Championship Grand Final, dubbed the Million Pound Game as the winner is promoted to Super League, also features a French side, Toulouse Olympique.

Toulouse have been promoted to Super League before, for the 2022 season, but were relegated.

They will have a chance at another go in the top division if they can defeat a London Broncos side that upset promotion favourites Featherstone Rovers in the semi-finals.

It was a dominant league season in the Championship from Featherstone who only lost twice in 27 games.

They racked up over 1,000 points scored and finished 12 league points ahead of second-place Toulouse.

It seems unfair on Featherstone, a traditional rugby league town, that such season-long dominance is itself not rewarded with promotion to Super League.

Though the prospect of a team from London or another team from France in Super League next season generates excitement around the growth of the game, the sport should not forget its roots in towns like Featherstone.

A Grand Final between Wigan and Catalans is perhaps a good example of the balance Super League should be aiming for.

A traditional powerhouse that has produced, considering the size of the town, an extraordinary amount of top-level rugby players and coaches (in both league and union), and a team from a region that does have a history in the sport, but also one where the sport has lots of room for growth and expansion.

“I think [a Catalans Grand Final win] would accelerate the development of the game massively,” added McNamara.

“In sport, you need something to aspire to, whether that’s your national team or whether it’s a top club team, and I think we’ve managed to do that in France now.

“You need participation right at the bottom end as well, and I think the more successful we can be as the Catalans Dragons, the more participation there will be at a lower level.

“That’s what the game needs across France for the future years and generations that will make it stronger.”