5 Live Rugby League BBC Radio 5 Live

Wigan winger Liam Marshall joins Matt Newsum and Kevin Brown to discuss the Warriors success in the 2024 Challenge Cup Final. Their victory at Wembley means they now hold all four trophies available to them, with the Super League title, League Leaders Shield and World Club Challenge already residing in the Wigan trophy cabinet. We hear about the Warriors post match celebrations, their motivation to win more silverware, and how a unique culture in the club drove them to their current position as the undisputed Kings of British rugby league. There are also reflections on St Helens’ fourth consecutive victory in the Women’s Challenge Cup Final and Wakefield’s triumph in the 1895 Cup Final against Sheffield.

Former team-mate Sam Burgess and Daryl Powell, the coach who gave Rob Burrow his first start in Super League, lead tributes to the Leeds Rhinos Legend who died on Sunday. They reflect on his amazing achievements as a player and his drive to raise awareness of Motor Neurone Disease after his diagnosis in December 2019. The Wigan coach Matt Peet describes the impact Burrow had on the whole of Rugby League and how Saturday’s Challenge Cup Finals Day provides the perfect platform for people to pay their respects. Players and personalities involved in the Men’s and Women’s Finals and the 1895 Cup Final look ahead to the matches on what will be an emotional day under the Wembley arch.

Daryl Powell joins Tanya Arnold and Kevin Brown to talk about Rugby League life with Wakefield Trinity and the ups and downs of his coaching career. Powell has guided Wakefield to Wembley, where they will play in the 1895 Cup Final in June and to the top of the Championship table after nine wins from nine matches at the start of the season. With significant off-field development at their stadium the club are confident they will be back at Super League level in 2025. Powell also reflects on how he might have approached things differently during a difficult spell in charge of Warrington Wolves and how the 2017 Grand Final with Castleford left him wanting to sit in a dark room. He also reveals how he loves spending time on the river and how a call on a camping trip persuaded him to take on his latest challenge.

London Broncos Head Coach Mike Eccles joins Tanya Arnold and Kevin Brown to talk about Rugby League life in the capital. The Broncos were promoted to Super League for 2024 but under the current grading system won’t have a place in the elite competition next year. Eccles outlines the challenges the club faces and his reasons why the Broncos should be given more support in the drive to establish a strong presence for the game in London. He reflects on how the club’s history can be used as evidence that anything is possible and describes his own unusual journey to becoming a Head Coach. Eccles also gives an insight into his approach to leading a group of players who lost 10 of their opening 11 matches of the Super League season.

Phil Bentham, who was recently appointed as the RFL's new Head of Referees joins Tanya Arnold and Kevin Brown to discuss the current issues around officiating in Rugby League. He reveals his priorities as he settles into his new role and talks about his previous experience working with the VAR team in Premier League football. He discusses some ideas for Super League in 2025 and the challenges presented by proposed new tackle-height laws. And we find out who he thought was the most difficult player to referee.

St Helens Captain Jonny Lomax joins Tanya Arnold and Kevin Brown for a rare interview about his remarkable life. Widely regarded as the one of the best players in Super League, Lomax talks in great detail about the life-threatening brain injury he suffered on the field at the age of 14, and how the support of his family helped him through. He describes his emotions after a third ACL injury left him close to retirement in 2015 and how he found the motivation to continue his career. He has since won four Super League Grand Finals. He also discusses the current season with St Helens, fatherhood, and his thoughts about what he might do at the end of his career.