Eight months after the season began the top two sides in the Super League will do battle in the Grand Final at Old Trafford on Saturday as the Leeds Rhinos take on the Wigan Warriors for the crown.
Wigan will be looking to make up for the disappointment of losing in the final last year while Leeds are chasing a rare domestic treble which would be a remarkable achievement were they to accomplish it.
Wigan cruised to the big night with an emphatic semi-final win over the Huddersfield Giants last week. That was the ideal situation for the Warriors. They had an easy match and they played 24hrs before Leeds so they will expect to be fresher for this final.
Leeds were involved in a titanic semi-final with St Helens last week and came through in a bruising battle in the final minute. Leeds will be aiming to send Kevin Sinfield, Jamie Peacock and Kylie Leuluai out on a high in their final match of rugby league and that motivation could get the adrenalin pumping enough to negate the freshness advantage Wigan may have.
Wigan coach Shaun Wane has recalled Anthony Gelling to his squad along with Taulima Tautai who has returned from his suspension. There is no place in the squad for Josh Charnley though so Dom Manfredi and Joe Burgess will patrol the wings.
Brian McDermott has named Brett Delaney in his squad for the match after the forward recovered from a dead leg in time to play. Peacock, Sinfield and Leuluai are all involved for the last time before leaving the sport.
I think we are set for an absolute classic here. Wigan and Leeds have shown all season they’re the two best sides in the competition and now we’ll find out who gets it right on the big night.
Whichever area of the field you look these two look evenly matched and that says to me we have a 50/50 contest on the cards.
The two sides have met four times this season already with both winning two matches. The last two matches have been really tight and I’m expecting nothing different here.
Given how tight I think it will be Leeds are the value at odds against but as I’m expecting a close game I’ll take them to win by 1-12 at an even bigger price than they are just to win the match.
Zak Hardaker was named the Man of Steel on Monday and at 16/1 he is good value to celebrate that achievement by opening the try scoring here. He often joins the line late and with something special needed to break this Wigan defence down the full back can find the right angle to punch a hole in the defence and get over the try line first.
Back Leeds to win by 1-12pts for a 3/10 stake at 3.20 with William Hill
Back Z.Hardaker First Try Scorer for a 1/10 stake at 17.00 with BetVictor
Blog RL YTD: +1.69pts
