I was shocked, however after Huddersfield's Thursday night stroll against Hull I thought Anderson showed a big weakness when saying that having to wait until Sunday to know who/when they are playing makes it hard to prepare for the game.

Again the for the 3rd year running the clubcall team has made a bit of a mess and song and dance about picking. Leeds ('09) & Saints ('10) just got on with it and picked the lowest team for that simple reason. Last year you had IL at Wigan with his "Wigan vs Wire GF for the good of the sport" and now once again you have Wire making too much hard work out of it.

Once again with Tony Smith sulking all week and not attending again. Ironic given that I remember reading a Brian McDermott interview earlier this year where he said of his time as Smith's assistant that TS told BMc that his attitude and behaviour towards the press and media side to the game was all wrong because BMc didn't give a damn for all that stuff.

Given the energy sapping battle we've just played out against ST's ,the previous hiding we took against Wire and the serious doubts about Delaney and Jjb i think this shows Wire have bottled it.
Also given how the Giants are fully fit it could back-fire big time.
I accept they've eased to wins v the Giants this year but this is a different comp now and although i have Wire as favourites i wont be surprised if the Giants win.
Saying that going back to the Pie-Dome 3 weeks after we dismantled them is no easy task either it will help confidence but the win away at Huddersfield shows they still carry a serious threat.
Two cracking games in prospect and i think a Wire v Rhinos GF won't surprise anyone if that is the outcome but any of the last 4 have a real chance of getting there and winning it.

Makes a mockery of both the LLS and the whole Club Call bollox IMO.

Wire obviously think that their best chances of getting to OT are against the League Leaders and not the lowest ranked club.

Meh. Surprised but otherwise not too fussed. We were always going to have a very tough match away from home against a good side.

Be interesting to see how the Hudds players react, but it doesn't really add much to the Wigan or Leeds players.

That will be interesting thing to see, how Hudds react. Leeds players will have been slightly surprised by the news but they're experienced enough in playoffs that they'll have gotten over that already and just be focused on the task in hand. Will today's decision mess with the heads of the final 4 rookies? Anderson didn't look too happy and wasn't either after the match on Thursday about not knowing their opponents.

The thing which is strange is Wire can beat anybody on their patch when they're at their best so why send out this signal?
Hudds go there feeling disrespected.
If Wire reach the GF and play Leeds, does it give Leeds a physicological advantage thinking Wire wanted to avoid them.
If they face Wigan in the final they face a team who has finally knocked out Leeds in a playoff game, something Wire have chosen to avoid.

They could've gone to Old Trafford on the back of consecutive wins over the playoff specialists. They would've been under a bit of pressure had they chose Leeds but now they're under pressure not only this week but probably the GF too if they reach there. They've put the spotlight on themselves massively.

Maybe totally off the mark here, but could it be, maybe Wire want revenge for last years GF loss to us, only way to get a chance of thet was to avoid us in club call.!!!

so what your saying on this topic is, that if you had the club call ,and had to choose between the ll winners hudds or second placed wire,you would have chosen wire? *scollpops*also i very much *doubt* we chose huddds because wire fear you( )its simply because wire feel that hudds are the easier route to the g/f--> IMO.

I for one am amazed by that decision.

I'd much rather we played Wigan but I can't see the logic in not picking Leeds and in picking Hudds. Too much motivation for a decent Hudds team, avoid a 'battered' Leeds whom you beat a week ago.

I also don't get all this talk of Leeds being tired and have picked up injuries. We may be without 2 second rowers but we've got Singo and Clarkson (who might get 10 mins on the pitch) as adequate back up. It's worked out fine for half the season anyway.

Since when has back to back tough games been a problem? Not last year or the year before that. The consensus on the other forums is Leeds looked tired. Not too tired to see of a 'resurgent' saints side.

I also don't see why Wires think that their record against Hudds will have any bearing on the result on thursday. After a 76-18 win they aren't going to be lacking in confidence. Pick the lowest ranked team and get on with it should be the philosophy.

I'm not surprised at all.

I think as soon as it was a choice between Hudds and Leeds/Saints then I think it was a decision already made. The opportunity to sends Leeds or Saints away to Wigan to knock lumps off each other is probably the biggest reason. Though Wires record v Hudds recently will have been a factor too.

I'm quite pleased really. I'd rather face Wigan in the semi than the final, and I'd rather face Wire in the final than the semi.

If Hudds get through then I don't know what happens.

But Leeds had a hum dinger against Wigan (and Catalan) last year and it didn't stop them from going on to beat Wires in a tough match.

I agree that I'd rather face Wigan in the semi and Wires in the final.

That decision has shocked me.

I don't understand it either. You can debate the relative strength of the teams, their playoff records and head to heads all you want. It's irrelevant. The bottom line is, in clubcall you pick the lowest ranked team and get on with it.

If i was a warrington fan i'd feel very uneasy about this decision. They are under more pressure to win now than if they had picked leeds.

Wire's decision makes sense. They've gone for the option they see as providing the best chance of staying in the comp. Their strategy was never going to revolve around how best to put Leeds out.

Shocked they picked shudds, but I would have picked them out of the other 3 options