Thatto Heath Crusaders (P23, W20) – looking like champions elect. Lost two games in April at Underbank and Skirlaugh and then won twelve on the spin afterwards to gain top spot, and they have stayed there since. Looking to bounce back to Premier Division after relegation in 2015, they seriously slipped up at Myton in Round 19 to give the chasers a glimmer of hope, but four consecutive wins since have all but clinched the title, and should seal the championship this afternoon at Oulton.

Myton Warriors (P22, W18) – mounted a serious challenge for the title especially after convincingly beating title rivals Thatto Heath 33-12 in mid-August. Excellent home form, plus a superbly organised defence has seen them challenge Thatto all the way on the final stretch. Should all but mathematically secure promotion today with a win at Millom

Skirlaugh (P22, W16) – only one in the first four games of the season, but they won twelve on the trot since defeat at Underbank in early May before a couple of defeats in early Septemebr to Normanton and the leaders scuppered their challenge. They were also docked two points recently for fielding an ineligible player in a game and this hit them hard in the battle for the runners-up spot.

Featherstone Lions (P22, W14) – a successful Challenge Cup run upset their early season form, but are always likely to be a strong challenger at their Mill Pond ground and will have a good chance in the play-offs if they can keep their starmen away from the disciplinary panel. Two defeats in September have prevented the Lions from clinching their play-off spot so far, but they remain favourites to finish fourth.

Normanton Knights (P22, W13) – six wins on the bounce have propelled the Knights into fifth place on points difference above both Milford Marlins (P23, W12) and Underbank Rangers (P23, W13). The latter two teams are not in as consistent form as the Knights, and the final two play-off spots will be between these three sides. The Knights v Rangers clash next weekend will be crucial to the final outcome as will today’s tasty looking Knights v Marlins fixture.

Oulton Raiders (P23, W11) – a lack of consistency for the West Yorkshire based side sees them just about safe from relegation, but with little chance of catching the play-off bound teams.

Shaw Cross Sharks (P23, W10) – struggled to get wins in the first half of the campaign and looked relegation certainties at the start of June, but five wins in ten games gave them hope of avoiding the drop. Moved out of the bottom four recently and with four wins out of the last six games look to given themselves a decent chance of staying up.

East Leeds (P23, W8, D1) and Hunslet Warriors (P23, W8, D1) – surprisingly in the bottom half of the table, a loss of players to the professional ranks, severe injury list and a large number of player unavailabilities this season has hit both Easts and the warriors hard. Lack of team cohesion and spirit has seen them suffer some big defeats recently and things don’t look great for either of them. The Warriors have worringly lost eight on the spin since a mid-July victory over Easts, while their rivals have won only two out of the past ten games at home to the struggling Millom and Ince Rose Bridge.

Ince Rose Bridge (P22, W8) – started the season brightly with some excellent home wins, but lack of dicipline hits them hard as they rarely have seventeen on the field for 80 minutes. Poor team spirit doesn’t help also and they are sliding to the relegation trapdoor at an alarming rate. However, they are only two points from safety with four games remaining. A poor defeat at already relegated Millom didn’t help their challenge to stay up.

Millom (P23, W4) and Elland (P22, W1) – Millom as Division Two champions were expected to offer a far tougher challenge than they have done as a very different and young squad has struggled to compete. The same can be said for Elland although the writing was on the wall at the end of the 2015 season that they would struggle in this division. Relegation was confirmed for these two several rounds since. However, Millom had a heartening win at home to Ince Rose Bridge in round 23, and Elland put in their best performance for many months as they pushed the Normanton Knights all the way in a 28-36 defeat last weekend.

The top two are arguably the best sides in the competition and will deservedly clinch promotion either today or next weekend. Just six points separates Featherstone Lions in fourth place and Oulton Raiders in eighth place, and theoretically all the teams in between could clinch a play-off spot. Similarly four points separates four teams between ninth and twelfth and any could be relegated at the conclusion of the 2016 season. There is a lot of exciting footy still to play and the permutations of who will finish where is far from cut and dried.