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Super League Opening Weekend 2025 – Coaches preview men's matches
Or maybe you’ll be speaking the Palatinates’ language, joining the Essex rebellion, have witnessed Docklands unload their A game or seen Gorse emerge from the undergrowth to overpower the rest?
Whichever team finishes as DYNAMIK Men’s Super League champions come next April, entertainment, drama and intrigue are guaranteed.
In 2024-25, London Giants climbed out of the bottom half of the table post-Christmas to clinch the final play-off spot and then went on to win both Final 4 games and claim the overall title.
But can they do it again? A raft of impressive signings certainly suggest it is entirely possible, even if Head Coach Mihail Stoev (pictured below), whose mid-season appointment last year proved inspired, is typically understated about his team’s chances.
“What happened in the past happened in the past and this is a new season, we start from 0-0 and it will take the same amount of effort to win it,” he said.
“I don’t think it is necessarily harder to win it the next time after winning it the first. If anything I think it makes it easier because you have the know-how and experience of how to do it.
“I don’t think we will get any special treatment as champions either... it will just be hard every game with 25% of teams cut from the league.”
The London Giants will feature in the third match of Men’s Saturday in a mouth-watering clash against the University of Nottingham who just missed out on the top four last season, but are being tipped to finish higher this season.
While losing key performers Griffin Walters and Sam Peters, the Green and Golds’ recruitment, building on a solid spine still in place from last season, appears to have been impressive.
Head Coach Freddie Fairbairn (pictured below) is eager to see what his charges can offer under the pressure of the Super League and said: “I’m excited about the depth in our squad and about having a lot of British players who have grown during their time here.
“We also have lots of British players who are joining the squad who are super competitive and have very bright futures, joining players who are moving into their third year who are now working on different details to elevate their games.
“Alongside that, we’ve added some players with some very strong backgrounds, which in itself is making our environment more competitive and they are prepared to pass on their knowledge as well.
“Hopefully there is a lot to look forward to and we can express ourselves in a really positive way when it comes to matchdays.”
Watch Giants v UON by clicking here.
Last season’s beaten Final 4 finalists Essex Rebels, like the Giants, have a number of changes in their roster, but have retained some of those who helped them finish at the head of the regular season table, topped up with new imports.
But their biggest challenge, certainly in the immediate future, is likely be the late arrival of Head Coach Daryl Tay due to a visa delay after his summer appointment to succeed long-serving predecessor Alex Porter (pictured above).
But women’s Head Coach Alex Chinery, who has been overseeing the team on a temporary basis, believes the Rebels will cope and the Singaporean will quickly be able to impart his style of play because of the preparatory work that has been going on behind the scenes.
Chinery said: “It’s going to be different with a new Head Coach coming in who has different ideas – and we’re implementing those ideas already even though he has not been here for a lot of pre-season.
“We’ve been working together on things and he’s been fully involved, even if he’s not been here... and I think once he is here and in place, the team is going to be quite spectacular to watch.
“It’s getting tougher every year, but it’s a really good breeding ground for some of our young British guys who we are looking to step up this season.”
The Rebels are first on court against the Super League’s newbies in the shape of a Leeds Gorse side, who won last season’s NVL Division 1 by a 10-point margin.
They step back up to the top flight from which they were relegated at the end of 2023-24, knowing that survival amongst the elite will be difficult, but, they insist, not impossible.
While experienced Opposite Nelson Murangwa (pictured above) remains the Yorkshire club’s star performer, Head Coach Pete Makowski will be putting plenty of faith in youth, with the U18 team having won the National Cup final in May.
“Nelson is key,” he said. “He’s our best player ,our captain and a role model and a coach to some of our younger players as part of the Gorse academy. He helps develop the younger players and he also implements our values.
“We produce players, England players, and our ethos is different to some of the clubs at this level. In many ways, it’s not a level playing field with some of the university sides, but I still think we can compete.
“We are not in that position where we can bring in lots of players from overseas, but we can train four or five times a week and bring them on and develop the players we have, which will be good for their careers and the England set-up as well.”
“We have some of the best defenders in the league, so we have to make that work and almost be like a ‘Little Japan’.
One of the most interesting things to observe in the 2025-26 campaign will be how Durham Palatinates will fare after what was, by their own high standards and admission, a disappointing season last year.
Coming in as reigning national champions and National Cup winners, the North East club might have expected more of the same but, for whatever reason, their usual crop of scholars did not quite hit the mark of season’s past.
This time, however, recruitment has started much earlier and new Head Coach Ross Enfield (pictured above), who has stepped up from a long-time role of assistant with the women, believes better times lie ahead.
They will certainly be one of, it not the tallest, squad in Super League and boast plenty of American high-level experience to go with a sprinkling of British talent.
Enfield said: “For Super League, our aim is to finish in the top four first, but our expectation is to finish in the top two, but that’s going to be tough when you look at some of the rosters from the other teams that have come through.
“We have to be looking not just to qualify for the top four but to be in a good position so that we can have the best potential outcomes for ourselves. We want to lay down a marker about what we are and where we are going.
“Richmond may have brought some players in late on as there is always a change around in things on the London scene over the summer, but we need to focus on doing our jobs first of all.”
After a flying start to 2024-25, Richmond Docklands’ progress stalled and it turned into a season of survival, meaning they are relieved to still be in Super League.
With the move down to eight teams from 10 at the end of last season, it made it doubly hard to avoid the drop and the Londoners were relived to do it via a four-set play-off win over NVL Division 1’s second placed club, Black Country, at the University of Cambridge in April (pictured below).
They are another side with a new Head Coach in Peter Soczewka following the departure of Marcel Sivak after six years at the helm.
Much like at Leeds, he insists the focus will be on developing youth with a healthy crop of players coming through both indoors and on the beach who could have a significant influence, alongside the experienced campaigners who remain.
“There are lots of moving parts, with a new coach coming in who has new ideas and they will have to get used to me because I will have a different coaching style to Marcel,” said Soczewka.
“Whatever happens this year, we move forward because we are looking at a long-term plan where we are looking three, four and five years in advance.
“If we survive in the league, then we will be fantastically happy, and if we could get in the top four then it would be a dream, but we know that we have to develop our own players over an extended period.
“We are not able to attract players on the back of university scholarships and we are not blessed with lots of money, so we will do our best and play with smiles on our faces. We have never had more junior players and I think, long-term the future looks bright.”
Watch Palatinates v Docklands here
The second match on court will pair two teams who provided the match of the weekend at Opening Weekend 2024 when Newcastle Knights, in their first game after transitioning from Team Sunderland, stunned Malory Eagles in a five-set thriller.
It was the second consecutive year that those in black and red had suffered a surprise first-day setback after being beaten in straight sets by newly-promoted Stockport a year earlier – something they will want to put right at the third attempt.
For Malory, who finished second in the regular season and claimed the bronze medal at Final 4, the new season represents their latest opportunity to win a first top flight title since 2009-10.
The team can undoubtedly take inspiration from their women’s team who, in 24-25, ended their own wait for Super League success in style – and then added a National Cup win to boot.
With their roster strengthened by their link up with the University of East London, the Eagles will once again be backed to make the Final 4 by most onlookers.
Going into the unknown - as it always is at Opening Weekend, before teams have really had the opportunity to scout each other - is a challenge that long-serving Head Coach Jefferson Williams (pictured above) enjoys.
Playing the best times is why we do it,” he said. “As coaches and players like to go up against the best opposition and it’s good to have knowledge of them, that we will get once the season unfolds, but the bottom line is that you have to trust in your teammates, your system and your philosophy.
“It’s exciting because everyone starts out on zero points and has the same opportunity and it’s a case of where you go from there.
“It’s always good to start a new season and reconnect with people. That’s the thing about the volleyball community... we are rivals on court but a lot of us get along off it.
“I know the new venue at Loughborough and so do some of the UEL guys, as that’s where they had the BUCS final last season, but I think it will be a good experience for those who haven’t played there and anything new just adds that little extra edge.”
For their part, the Newcastle Knights were the surprise package of the men’s Super League last season to secure a Final 4 place.
It was almost certainly beyond initial expectations, but Head Coach Sam Shenton (pictured below) was proud of the way his players molded together into a competitive unit that were hard to beat.
This time around, he hopes for more of the same as Super League’s most northerly club aims to become established as consistently one of its best.
“It’s such a sprint this year, whereas it was such a marathon last year,” said Shenton. “The aim is the Final 4, but we really need to look at other teams in more detail and see where teams are at as there will be a lot of strong teams, with all the universities strong.
“We have expectations of how teams are going to play with the players they are bringing in, but it’s good to see the league being pushed forward in terms of the standards.
“We’re looking forward to the battles with (neighbours) Durham – it’s one both teams mark in the calendar. I get on really well with their coaches Ross (Enfield) and Welshy (Paul Welsh) , but the two teams are very good teams in the north and want to beat each other.
“At Opening Weekend, we want to set the marker, have a look at the other teams and hat they offer and then push on from there.”
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