Aaron Bower
Aaron Bower covers rugby league through the lens of how squads, competitions and the wider game are shaped by transfers, contracts and strategic decisions, blending hard news, features and audio coverage into a single editorial voice. He is commissioning editor of Love Rugby League and leads its news and analysis output while also working as a sports journalist for national outlets. His work ranges from day-to-day club developments to long-form pieces on Super League, the Championship, international rugby league and the NRL.
Super League contracts and squad-building
Bower’s Super League coverage focuses heavily on how clubs build and retain their squads, with an emphasis on contracts, depth and continuity. His work on players without deals beyond the current season, including a piece highlighting the Super League players still without contracts for 2027, shows him tracking medium-term roster risk rather than just immediate results.
He writes grading pieces that assess every Super League club’s season to date, using performance, recruitment and off-field decisions to explain why sides such as Leeds and St Helens are “top of the class” while others fall behind. In feature work, he explores the long arcs of club-building, such as father–son combinations who have played for the same Super League club, tying historical stories back to present-day recruitment and identity.
Across these formats, his reporting distinguishes itself by connecting individual contract or selection decisions to a broader picture of how the competition is evolving.
Transfers, club news and match context
Bower reports regularly on transfers and squad changes, often framed around how signings and injuries alter a club’s immediate prospects.
His coverage of Castleford Tigers’ search for a back-rower after a long-term injury sets out who is on the market, why the role matters tactically, and what the move signals about the club’s approach. Championship round-ups, including pieces on London’s winning streak and the race for second place, combine results, form and transfer activity to show how momentum and recruitment interact over a full season.
In his reporting on the Challenge Cup final, he focuses on attendance expectations and the “likely figure” for the crowd, using numbers and context around ticket sales and venue history to show how off-field factors shape the occasion as much as the game itself. He consistently treats club news - from injuries to signings to crowds - as part of the competitive story, rather than isolated updates.
International and NRL crossover coverage
Beyond domestic competitions, Bower covers international rugby league and the NRL with an eye on how they intersect with the British game. His work on the potential Scotland line-up for a World Cup explores eligibility, player development and selection, showing how international squads reflect long-term pathways and club policies.
Through Love Rugby League’s NRL archives and podcast output, he reports on cross-competition issues such as new NRL–Super League deals and what they mean for clubs like Wakefield, linking broadcast and structural changes to questions about who can realistically contend for titles. This strand of his work stands out for drawing clear lines between decisions made in other competitions or at international level and their consequences for Super League clubs and players.
Editorial leadership, podcasting and multi-platform work
Bower has an editorial role at Love Rugby League, listed as commissioning editor and editor of the site’s rugby league coverage. He manages a team of journalists and is central to the masthead’s positioning as a leading independent rugby league outlet, with his name attached to news, features and broader editorial direction. His professional profiles and social bios emphasise that he combines this work with reporting for major sports desks, where he has covered football and rugby alongside rugby league.
Within Love Rugby League, he is also at the forefront of its audio and video expansion, co-hosting a journalist-led podcast that reacts to weekend matches, discusses major news and delivers transfer exclusives. Platform updates and team announcements present him as the editor anchoring a growing mix of written journalism, clips, live score services and multimedia coverage.
Taken together, his portfolio marks him out not just as a beat reporter, but as an editorial figure shaping how rugby league is covered across formats and competitions.
4 more sports journalists.
Adam Becket
Adam Becket is a news editor and road racing specialist at Cycling Weekly, combining live race reporting, detailed stage analysis and regular opinion columns on elite men’s professional road cycling. He focuses on grand tours, general classification battles and shifting hierarchies in the peloton, tracking how results reshape team dynamics, rider reputations and future leadership. His reporting covers pivotal race moments, jersey contests and British riders and teams, linking daily outcomes to wider stories about WorldTour talent and development pathways. He also writes on cycling culture, technology and group-ride etiquette from a rider’s perspective, connecting elite competition with everyday riding. Becket previously wrote for Procycling, reported on ecclesiastical matters for an Anglican newspaper and covered politics at Business Insider, bringing institutional and governance insight to his coverage of teams, ethics and power at the top of the sport.
Adnan Riaz
Adnan Riaz is a senior football journalist whose distinct focus is forward-looking, tactical coverage of Manchester United, treating season outlooks and European campaigns as analytical projects in their own right. He works at United In Focus, centring on the club’s domestic and European runs, squad dynamics and supporter response. His beat is Manchester United under Ruben Amorim and Michael Carrick, with detailed work on season previews, prediction-led pieces, Europa League and Champions League campaigns, match analysis and transfer stories. He reports through tactical systems, specific scorelines, stages and scenarios, and player-centric storytelling built around figures such as Bruno Fernandes, Rasmus Hojlund, Matthijs de Ligt and Raphael Varane. His wider background spans fan-facing sports brands, gaming outlets, social-first content and syndicated sports and entertainment coverage.
Aidan Macdonald
Aidan Macdonald stands out for covering how football clubs are run and how supporters shape their future. He works on the sports desk at Clydebank Post, where he reports on club-level football, matches, signings, managers, academies, league campaigns and grassroots achievements. His work also covers governance, supporters’ trusts, ownership debates and the effect of club decisions on fans and communities. He has reported on Dumbarton Football Club’s supporters’ trust raising concerns about a takeover deal. Macdonald also contributes local leisure and business stories to Renfrewshire Gazette, including coverage of a restaurant reopening at a former popular eatery. His background includes work for specialist football outlets and wider news organisations. He writes short, timely reports in a direct, factual style, linking sport to governance, business and everyday community life.
Aiman Khalid
Aiman Khalid is an early-career sports journalist at ESPN whose work stands out for close attention to individual performances and the emotion around selection, victory and setback. Her main beat is football, but she also covers combat sports, motorsport and cricket. In football, she writes on England, tournament pressure, player ratings, club ties, cup upsets and awards, with a straightforward match-focused style. She has interviewed Adam Wharton on missing a World Cup squad, rated every Nottingham Forest and Aston Villa player after a Europa League semifinal first leg, and covered Bruno Fernandes being named Premier League Player of the Season. Outside football, she has reported on UFC London, written fighter profiles such as Trey Waters, covered Andrea Kimi Antonelli in Formula 1, and written on ECB strategy.