Super League Dream Team: The History

It’s nearly that time of year again…the revelation of the 2025 Betfred Super League Dream Team!

This year’s Dream Team also marks its 30th anniversary, in line with Super League’s 30th birthday! 

Did you know that there have been a total of 377 Dream Team selections so far? That’s 29 years’ worth of Dream Teams!

But this doesn’t necessarily mean there have been 377 different players chosen. In fact, there are plenty of players who have been selected on multiple occasions, after displaying consistent skill and top performances season after season. 

That said, the number of Dream Team debutants continue to grow rapidly, year on year!

What is the Super League Dream Team?

The Super League Dream Team is an annually all-star team selected every season consisting of the most impressive players in their respective positions from across the Super League competition of that year.

Over the years, the Dream Team has included Super League’s topmost talent and individuals who are simply household names of a generation.

Dream Team Positions: Fullback, Wing, Centre, Wing, Centre, Halfback, Halfback, Prop, Prop, Hooker, Second Row, Second Row, Loose Forward

The Dream Team is selected following the final round of the regular season and before the start of the Super League Play-Offs.

Who decides the Super League Dream Team each year?

Selection is determined by votes from the same panel of experts who watch every Betfred Super League fixture to determine the Man of Steel – the Steve Prescott MBE Man of Steel voting panel.

How many clubs and countries have been represented in the Super League Dream Team?

Since Super League’s inception in 1996, 18 clubs and 14 different countries have been represented in the Super League Dream Team.

England have 234 appearances, and there's been 68 from Australia. Then, it’s New Zealand (15), Wales (15), Tonga (9), Ireland (8), Papua New Guinea (8), Samoa (7), Scotland (6), France (2), United States (2), Fiji (1), Italy (1) and Cook Islands (1).

Who has made the most appearances in the Super League Dream Team?

Leeds Rhinos’ legendary prop-forward Jamie Peacock has appeared in the Super League Dream Team more than any other player whilst Wigan Warriors have had more individuals feature than any other club with a staggering 85 appearances.

Club appearances:

If players have been selected for the Dream Team more than once, then they count towards a club’s tally as many times as they’ve been chosen.

Behind the Warriors are their rivals St Helens in second with 76 appearances, and Leeds Rhinos in third with 57.

Warrington Wolves have 25, while Castleford Tigers have 22. Bradford Bulls complete the top five with 19 – and let’s not forget that they haven’t featured in Super League since their relegation in 2014.

Then, it’s Hull FC (18), Catalans Dragons (13), Huddersfield Giants (13), Salford Red Devils (12), Hull KR (11), Wakefield Trinity (9), Leigh Leopards (5), London Broncos (3), Sheffield Eagles (2), Gateshead Thunder (2), Halifax (1), and Widnes Vikings (1).

Players who have made five or more appearances:

-Jamie Peacock (Bradford Bulls and Leeds Rhinos) – 11

-Andy Farrell (Wigan Warriors) – 7

-Keiron Cunningham (St Helens) – 7

-Sean O’Loughlin (Wigan Warriors) – 7

-James Roby (St Helens) – 7

-Sam Tomkins (Wigan Warriors and Catalans Dragons) – 6

-Liam Farrell (Wigan Warriors) – 6

-Gareth Ellis (Wakefield Trinity, Leeds Rhinos and Hull FC) – 5

-Jason Robinson (Wigan Warriors) – 5

-Keith Senior (Leeds Rhinos) – 5

-Kris Radlinski (Wigan Warriors) - 5

Who featured in the first ever Super League Dream Team?

The inaugural Dream Team consisted mainly of St Helens and Wigan Warriors players after those two teams finished in 1st and 2nd place and dominated the first year of the Super League competition.

There were only two players from clubs excluding the Warriors and the Saints.

1996 Super League Dream Team:

Gary Connolly (Wigan Warriors), Jason Robinson (Wigan Warriors), Va’aiga Tuigamala (Wigan Warriors), Paul Newlove (St Helens), Anthony Sullivan (St Helens), Henry Paul (Wigan Warriors), Bobbie Goulding (St Helens), Apollo Perelini (St Helens), Keiron Cunningham (St Helens), Terry O’Connor (Wigan Warriors), Peter Gill (London Broncos), Paul Sculthorpe (Warrington Wolves), Andy Farrell (Wigan Warriors)

Who featured in the most recent edition of the Super League Dream Team?

Wigan Warriors, who retained the League Leaders’ Shield and Super League champions title in 2024, saw four players named. 

Warrington Wolves had three players named, Grand Final runners-up Hull KR and fourth-placed Salford had two players, while St Helens and Leeds Rhinos had one each.

Eleven players made their Dream Team debut last year. Warriors Jake Wardle was the only member of the 2023 Dream Team to retain his place, and his Wigan and England team-mate Luke Thompson was the only other player to have been previously selected.

2024 Super League Dream Team:

Matt Dufty (Warrington Wolves), Matty Ashton (Warrington Wolves), Nene Macdonald (Salford Red Devils), Jake Wardle (Wigan Warriors), Liam Marshall (Wigan Warriors), Mikey Lewis (Hull KR), Marc Sneyd (Salford Red Devils), Matty Lees (St Helens), Danny Walker (Warrington Wolves), Luke Thompson (Wigan Warriors), Junior Nsemba (Wigan Warriors), Rhyse Martin (Leeds Rhinos), Elliot Minchella (Hull KR)

Dream Team Facts from the years:

-The Man of Steel is always included in the Dream Team.

-Except from two players, the first ever Dream Team in 1996 was made up of entirely Saints and Warriors.

-Over the years, the Dream Teams have been heavily represented by Warriors, Saints and Rhinos players, due to all three club’s sustained successes.

-Wigan Warriors speedster Jason Robinson featured in the Dream Team five times in a row from 1996 to 2000.

-In Dream Team history, Halifax and Widnes have had just one player named each. Gavin Clinch appeared for ‘Fax (1998) and Kevin Brown for the Vikings (2014).

-2010 became the first year a set of brothers (Sam and Joel Tomkins) appeared in the same Dream Team.

-Five Huddersfield Giants were named in the 2013 Dream Team, which acknowledged the club winning their first ever League Leaders’ Shield. These were Danny Brough, Eorl Crabtree, Leroy Cudjoe, Brett Ferres and Shaun Lunt.

-Despite finishing in second place in 2013, Warrington Wolves had no players named. Wakefield Trinity, however, who finished 11th, had their captain Danny Kirmond selected. Trinity were the only team to have a player in the 2013 Dream Team who wasn’t involved in the Play-Offs.

-The 2014 Dream Team was the first to be made up entirely of English players. And for the first time since 2010, Sam Tomkins did not make an appearance.

-Jamie Peacock made a record and 11th and final appearance in the 2015 Dream Team, following Leeds Rhinos’ treble-winning season. He featured alongside three of his Rhinos teammates at the time – Zak Hardaker, Kallum Watkins and Adam Cuthbertson.

-In 2017, six players were selected from Castleford Tigers after they lifted their first ever League Leaders’ Shield and were runners-up in the Grand Final. Zak Hardaker, Greg Eden, Michael Shenton, Luke Gale, Grant Millington and Mike McMeeken were the Tigers named.

-2018 League Leaders St Helens went one better the following year and had seven players who earned selection in the Dream Team. These were Ben Barba, Tommy Makinson, Mark Percival, Jonny Lomax, Danny Richardson, Luke Thompson and James Roby as the Red V were entering their most successful period of recent times…

-The 2023 Super League Dream Team was dominated by Leigh Leopards players. The newly promoted side finished fifth and had five players named in the Dream Team. Josh Charnley, Lachlan Lam, Edwin Ipape, Tom Amone and John Asiata all earned places after playing their part in a historic season which saw the Leopards lift the Betfred Challenge Cup trophy for the first time in 52 years and reach the Betfred Super League Play-Offs for the first time.

-Lachlan Lam appeared in the 2023 Dream Team, exactly twenty years after his father Adrian Lam who featured for Wigan in 2003 in the same position, as well as in 2002 and 2001.

-Four of the current Super League head coaches have made a number of appearances in the Dream Team over the years – Paul Wellens (4), Adrian Lam (3), Joel Tomkins (1) and Willie Peters (1).

-There have been a handful of players to appear in different positions over the years. For example, Sam Tomkins has appeared at both fullback and halfback in the early 2010s, and Kallum Watkins earned selection at centre in 2014 and 2015, before being named in the second row in 2023. Most recently, Bevan French appeared back-to-back but in different positions – as wing in 2022 and halfback in 2023.

Click HERE to view all 29 Dream Teams from 1996 through to 2024...

Who would make your 2025 Betfred Super League Dream Team? Play the new 2025 Dream Team selector HERE and share your ideal team far and wide.

Are you in need of a Dream Team History Lesson? You can take our Dream Team quiz, which is coming soon to #OURLEAGUE app on iOS and Android…