I'm sure both will be very much in the clubs sights this year.

And there is a case to say that we are actually in a better position to win both than we ever have been before. That's why the OTT reaction to yesterday is even more frustrating.

We are already in the Cup Final - and without wanting to disrespect Castleford, who have been sensational this year, I think we'd have all taken that option as opposed to a Final against say Wigan or Warrington before a ball was kicked this year.

Yes the LLS has probably gone now after yesterday, but seriously does that even matter? We are still very much in the race for 2nd, and the difference between those positions is minimal. In recent seasons we haven't always finished in the top four, but I think we will be somewhere in there - I think the Cup, win or lose, will scupper Cas's hopes of top four, and I don't think we will end up below all of Wigan, Warrington and Huddersfield.

Get in the top four and as I've already said today, the teams contesting those games will be so evenly matched that anyone could win any game.

And yes, it could all go wrong, we could end up sixth and losing on Saturday - but equally we could sweep to victory at Wembley, and build the momentum to earn a first ever Cup and SL double; carried there by big game players that haven't been flogged in other, less meaningful, games in the run in (like yesterday).

I think the overreaction is more to do with "putting all the eggs in one basket" as we seem to have done over the last month or so. Indeed, if it does go wrong on Saturday we have 5 days to get back up and prepare for Saints. 2 losses in that period could see us outside the 4 and with nothing to how for it.

Yes, it's all ifs and buts, as is anything, but I would have preferred to have been running top right now with a 3 point gap going into the final than know that we sit on the same number of points as the 3 teams below us.

And no, Im not saying we wont win both, but we seem to be trying to make it as hard as possible to win the main one.

You've just done it again, it's the main one in your opinion, if you think we should rest players in the final next week to concentrate on the league game the week after then that's fine but again it's your opinion

I'm surprised you needed to cheer the Hull fans up after the 2005 final

So again, you think the Cup is more important than the SL Title?

And no, I wouldnt rest players for the final. I want us to win any match we're in. Im just less bothered if we drop out of the cup.

I agree with Harrigan. Not even close the two trophies. Challenge Cup even before Super League and Grand Finals was always the minor trophy to the league.

Me personally, I would gladly have swapped a defeat in the semi to Warrington for wins against Bradford and London.

Whether resting players yesterday is right or wrong will only pan out in time, and as I said elsewhere the coach put a team out who were 22 points up so should have won, but I do hope to god we are not forsaking a GF win for the minor prize of the CC.

When there are only 2 major trophies available for all SL teams to play for then I'd argue that both are pretty important.
To win the cup SL teams have 5 teams to beat.
To win the Grand Final, having qualified to compete, teams have at most 4 teams to beat. It may even need the winner to defeat only 3 teams.
Therefore, why should that be so much more important then the challenge cup.
Particularly when that competition is broadcast on terrestrial tv & watched by far more people.
I want to see us win both & I'll be just as miffed if we lose either.

I don't agree with this from my viewpoint.When i first started watching RL as a young kid in the mid 80's through to the start of SL i saw the CC as the big one, and thats the vibe i always got from those around me in those days. It used to be a big pull for the imports from the NRL too to play in the showpiece cup final at wembley.I may be wrong, but thats how i saw it, maybe the older posters who have been watching longer than i have see it different.

No doubt though it has fallen way down in significance compared to the GF these days though. However, this final is different.Everybody knows how long this group has wanted to get the CC winners medal.We have waited 15 years to lift the famous old cup and this really could be the last chance for many of these players.Plus its Cas! we simply have to win

The cup was a bigger deal to us Leeds fans in the 80s because it was the only competition we had half a chance of winning. In theory you can win it (as Wigan did last year) with five p!ss easy games, or get a final with four.

The final is a showpiece event, but the league is real test of a team and of much more interest, hence the greater crowds nowadays at any league game compared to cup game.

Um... because it makes you the champion team of your country?

Agree. As a young bairn in the early / mid 90s (with little understanding of what RL actually was) I would usually watch the CC as it was on terrestrial television. It wasn't until about 10 years later that I first saw a SL game, as I never had Sky. I remember Offiah's try and pretending I was him after, despite knowing hardly anything about RL other than what I had seen. But for the CC interesting me as a kid and the odd free games to watch in it, I wouldn't be a fan now. You have to subscribe to Sky to follow SL if you are a 'tele-based supporter' (or watch it in the pub). With the CC all you have needed is a TV. That is why for me (personally at least) it is as important as the GF. Important in a different way and for different reasons, but no less important than the GF.

How do you work that one out? in order to get to those play off games in the first place, you are going to have to finish at least 5th in the league, and therefore will have had to have won at least another 15 of your weekly rounds to do it.

It hasn't happened yet but under the current top eight format it's possibly for the top two to play the same teams in weeks one and three meaning it would be possible to win the Grand Final while playing three games but only facing two different opponents.

Of course in the Challenge Cup it would be possible (if unlikely) to win that competition without meeting another SL side at all.




Season ticket sales against an all pay gate would be the biggest determining factor in any disparity there. In theory the SL Play-Off games should be well attended but due to them being all pay they sadly aren't.

If you read what I'd written you'd see what I meant.

I wrote "any of the teams qualifying to compete in the play-offs".

Why do you have to be at least 5th to win SL?
Just because nobody has won it from lower doesn't mean it can't or won't be done in the future.
To take this year, HKR could qualify by winning their last 3 games if either of the teams above them slip up.
They would have won 12 games - less than 50%.
Even if the teams in 7th & 8th place win all their games they will both only have won 14 games or just over 50% of their games.
Any of those teams could theoretically go on to become SL champions.
Unlikely but possible.
To win the cup you cannot lose to anyone in any round.

Good for you. You and Gotcha (great company) are in a massive minority.

75-80k will be there Saturday. It will be watched by vastly more television viewers on free to air terrestrial TV than the Grand Final will be. It is a showpiece event that will bring a massive cash boost to both clubs (Cas will care a great deal about the final). It attracts significant sponsorship. None of this takes away from the Grand Final.

The game may not matter to you but saying the game is unimportant is not opinion, it's factually incorrect. It's absolutely crucial to the sport in general.

Oh, and it appears from the team selection against London and Bradford that the game means a great deal to the coaching staff. Do we really need to ask whether the game will mean a great deal to the players?

Finally, managing the squad the way they have these last three weeks does not, in any way, preclude the team from winning the Grand Final. To do that they will have to beat the teams around them in the run in, same as they would have had to had they won the two recent games against Bulls and London. If anyone really things league placing and away fixtures are an absolute bar to this set of players winning a Grand Final then I wonder what team they have been watching the last few years.

Avoiding injuries to key players and finding form as we enter the playoffs is far more important than league placings. I see no reason why leeds are any less likely to do that than any other of the three or four contenders and the results against the Bulls and London are results that really do mean diddly squat.

Once again, I have never said the cup is more important than the GF, I said that I would prefer to win the cup more than the GF this year

I disagreed with you telling me that the cup was "a day out" "not the main one" "a side show" "It's a trip away from the North to contest a game for a trophy that doesn't really mean anything", I will decide how important the CC cup is to me thanks very much.