Gilmore declared last month he had “no doubt” his side would perform better this time around, after a “new start” for the club.

But their performances so far suggest there is plenty of work to do.

He described the debacle against Gloucester as “unacceptable”, but says a bumpy start was always likely.

“We’ve been learning a brand new attack system and we’ve got a brand new line-out system that we’re putting in place that’s going to take four to six weeks just to bed down,” he added.

“We’ve got the international players that have just come back into the building as well that are learning it on the run.

“They’ve done their prep work, but there are two massive pieces of your game that we’re still building and still learning.”

Former Harlequins and England winger Ugo Monye called the abject display against Gloucester “one of the worst performances” he has ever seen.

“They got smashed in the scrum and line-out, their backfield coverage was poor, they got smashed at the gain line,” Monye said on the Rugby Union Weekly podcast.

“They didn’t score a single point in a league where they’re literally handing out points for free.”

Wakefield have matched 2025 champions Hull KR’s record grading score of 17.85 from 12 months ago, to continue their rise on and off the field under Matt Ellis’ ownership.

Leeds Rhinos remain second, although their score of 17.03 is slightly lower than they achieved in the 2025 rankings.

Warrington Wolves have jumped from sixth to third on the back of a much stronger season which culminated in reaching the Grand Final at Old Trafford, only to lose to Wakefield.

It is fourth place again for Wigan, who won both the Challenge Cup and the League Leaders’ shield, just above Hull KR and Leigh Leopards. St Helens drop from third to seventh after a season in which they missed out on the play-offs for the first time in the Super League era.

Castleford Tigers complete the Category A clubs as they have risen from 11th in 2025 to eighth and move into the top-tier section despite finishing 13th in Super League.

Catalans Dragons and Hull FC are ninth and 10th, but both have fallen from an A to a B grade. Then come Bradford Bulls and Huddersfield Giants, with the two newcomers to the league in 2026, Toulouse Olympique and York Knights, occupying 13th and 14th, albeit with higher scores than last year.

Overall, though, only six of the 14 Super League clubs have scored higher than they did 12 months ago.

But there was a significant gap to the teams outside. York’s score of 13.24 was comfortably higher than the next best, Barrow with 9.85, while London only achieved 9.77, which was down on their mark of 11.65 from last year.