Leeds Rhinos were surprise winners against Warrington Wolves in the semi-final and Leeds can beat St Helens in the Grand Final
Its been a long and hard season but we have finally reached the showpiece event of the Super League season with two unlikely candidates in the Leeds Rhinos and St Helens getting ready for the Grand Final (St Helens 8/13, Draw 18/1, Leeds Rhinos 11/8 with
Betfred).
Neither team was expected to make it through the play-off semi-finals but last weekend saw two outstanding games and of course two major upsets.
Leeds used all their experience of playing in big games to cause arguably the upset of the season, as they beat Warrington Wolves at the Halliwell Jones Stadium 26-24 on Friday night.
Once again it was kicker Kevin Sinfield (25/1 First Tryscorer Outright) who was the hero for the West Yorkshire outfit as his penalty in the dying moments gave the Rhinos the surprise result over the Regular Season Shield winners.
As for Saints they managed to get another one over on their close rivals Wigan Warriors, who were also expected to reach the final at Old Trafford only to be undone by the underdogs – as they were in the first round of the play-offs at the DW Stadium.
The 26-18 victory was one of the best performances of the St Helens’ season, as they stopped Wigan from playing their dominating game which led them to the Super League title last term.
So now the two underdogs will head into the final at the Theatre of Dreams with everything to play for in what should be a closely-fought contest (St Helens -4 10/11, Draw 16/1, Leeds +4 10/11 Handicap Betting).
Leeds go into the game with no major injury concerns for head-coach Brain McDermott, although prop Kylie Leuluai could be a doubt after the New Zealander picked up a knock in training.
The 33-year-old has undergone a scan but it is still uncertain at the moment whether the forward will miss the Grand Final.
St Helens veteran Paul Wellens (14/1 First Tryscorer) has admitted he does not know whether he will continue as skipper, after he lead his side to victory against Wigan.
Head-coach Royce Simmons could be tempted to choose England international James Graham as captain in his final game for the club before his move to the NRL for next season.
Whoever leads out the Saints team, he will have to get his players’ heads in the right place, with the side reaching the Grand Final for the past four years (and the last six in total) and coming away with no silverware.
It was the Rhinos who notched up three straight Grand Final wins over the Saints between 2007 and 2009 and many of those players who went on that run are still at Headingley.
Like any Super League clash between these two sides, the first 20 minutes will be all important and whoever can get the better start will have a great chance of winning the final.
This time around it’s Leeds (6/5 to lift the Super League trophy) who are the underdogs, but as we saw in the semi-finals, that is not always a bad thing.
