Former Castleford Tigers head coach Craig Lingard has given his verdict on who are the Championship favourites after landing his new job.
Lingard was appointed as head coach of Sheffield Eagles meaning he returns to the Championship after his one year with Castleford Tigers in Super League.
The Eagles were forced into a coaching hire after long-time head coach Mark Aston was handed an 18-month suspension, prompting the club to hire the ex-Batley and Keighley boss.
With Lingard at the helm and there five signings so far including former Super League men Corey Johnson and Morgan Smith, there is a lot of excitement about Sheffield Eagles in the Championship in 2025.
However, when speaking to the media in his first presser since landing his new job, the ex-Cas boss picked out a team who he thinks are the favourites to lift silverware in 2025.
“I’d probably say that Bradford are maybe the favourites with the recruitment they’ve made so far. You’d expect them to be very strong,” Lingard argued when asked what he makes of the competition in 2025.
There have been plenty of former Super League men moving to the Championship for 2025 and Bradford Bulls have acquired plenty of those players with Waqa Blake being the headline signing.
Alongside the Fijian international are other ex-Super League players such as Franklin Pele, Jayden Okunbor, James Meadows and James Donaldson among others.
It’s a recruitment cycle that’s seen Lingard on alert, as he explained: “I’d be surprised if there was an out-and-out team like Wakefield last year unless Bradford started off really well and get into the stride.
“They’ve recruited really strong this year but I imagine it will be a lot closer for the play-off places as well.”

With no team expected to dominate, Lingard has previewed a competitive Championship and he’s even touted one of the promoted sides to be in and amongst what he thinks could be a group of seven or eight challengers.
Lingard argued: “Oldham have made some really good signings as well so they’ll be strong. They’re promoted from League One and it looks like they’re not just happy to be surviving in the Championship, they’re looking at challenging.
“London’s squad is not as strong as it once was but they’ll still be a threat. They’ve always produced athletes but there are a lot of other clubs that you’re looking at like Featherstone, York, Widnes, Toulouse, and teams like that.
“I’m not disrespecting anybody by not mentioning them but you’re probably going down to seven or eight teams that could realistically challenge for the top four places.
“It should be a really exciting competition this year and I’d imagine that there will be lots of teams taking points off each other.”
Many fans will have stood up and taken notice of Sheffield when it was announced that they had hired Lingard with the Eagles certainly expected to make a return to the top six in 2025 under his leadership.