Super League: Leeds vs Wigan & National League Grand Finals

[kevshat]

Leeds vs Wigan is the playoff for the Grand Final on Friday night while Cas play Widnes and Featherstone take on Oldham in the National League finals on Sunday. All 3 matches are live on Sky. 10pts Leeds -6 to beat Wigan 4/5 Boylesports It's always dangerous taking on Wigan when they have Trent Barrett but it's exactly what I'm going to do here. Quite simply it will take a super-human effort for them to recover from their last 2 playoff matches where late on against Hull last week they literally were dead on their feet. Leeds in contrast have had the extra night to recover from their match last week and had the week between the season end and the Grand Final Eliminator off so while they won't be completely fresh after a real battle at Saints, they are sure to be the fresher and if Maguire and Burrow can get on the ball they can run the legs out of Wigan here. The Warriors will be without their hero from the Bradford match - Mark Calderwood who broke his ankle last week. Shane Millard got away with trying to decapitate Matthew Head but Leeds are at full strength. They'll probably be wondering how they're not already in the Grand Final but they have a chance to get there here. Wigan have won all 3 meetings between the two this year but purely and simply based on what has happened in this playoff series so far, Leeds despite giving up a start, have to be the call.

[Punto83]

Re: Super League: Leeds vs Wigan & National League Grand Finals Good write up Kev, I'm in agreement that Wigan have to put in a Super human performance tonight to get to the grand final and I can't see them doing it. I might be cautious and back Leeds from scratch as you never know with the play offs. Calderwood is a loss but with him being ex Leeds, I have the feeling Leeds may have plans in place to keep him quiet. They know his strengths and weaknesses so maybe the Calderwood loss isn't as big as you'd expect. Apparantly 6,000 Wigan fans making the trip so it should be a good occasion. As for the National Leagues, I can't see any further than a Castleford win and would back them at -6 if you can whilst it still lasts. They are expecting over 8,000 Cas fans there and I think they've not only got the players but are on form aswell. Finally National League 2, pains me to say it but I'd have to say Oldham. The bookies have surprised me, I thought we'd go into the game -4 but they called it a scratch game. :eek We've got no injuries and a spy told me our team last night, no surprises apart from the Fev bench looks weak to me. Oldham have won 11 out of 12 ( I think) and are very good side. I think they will beat Featherstone by around 8 to 10 points :sad