would you pick this Leeds team and call them weak?

Really you can only compare teams since the start of the salary cap i.e. level playing field.

Correct and there are 3 clubs with a SL legacy Saints ,Bulls, and Leeds.Wigan look a decent team,but they do not look anyway near those 3 teams that achieved so much.Maybe in 6 or 7 years they will,but I would have thought after last year their "speccies "would have learned from the mantra'not as good as you think you are'or at least no where near as good as those 3 SL Dynasty's

So Wigan it is.... Hopefully played on a day/time convenient to the nearest soccer club at a ground with no RL heritage.

My other wish is that the RFL provide a ref who will at least attempt to encourage free flowing RL

Then we have a chance of winning

Leeds aren't good enough. Wigan by plenty.

Regards, Andy G

If you ignore the period form the late 80's - 95 when Wigan and Leeds were the only fully professional outfits, Wigan have still won far more Challenge Cups and Championships than anyone else.

Silly rules but incorrect non the less.

Well, if we ignore that period, I make it 12 Championships for Wigan, the same as Stains. And I suspect the same is true for the Challenge Cup, for both us and St Helens.

Fair enough. Still not a bad old history though.

I don't see why people are getting upset.

The key is that form wise we are probably the weakest of the 4. You could maybe argue that talent wise we are too. Form counts for very little on the day.

This team has proven timer & time again that when it matters they can put in a performance which is greater than the sum of their parts. They no how to dig that little bit deeper for those big occassions. I don't think any team would underestimate us

No one should be bothered if Wigan fans think Leeds is the 'easier' draw, its not going to have any baring on what actually happens. I can understand in some ways why they may say that as we are the least consistent of the 4 performance wise but we know that if the good Leeds turn up on the day, the one that showed up in the playoffs last year and against Manly, Warrington and Catalans this year, then we have a great chance because playing Leeds when at their best is still one of the toughest tasks in RL. If its the version of the Rhinos that played Hull and Bradford and Saints this year then we'll lose.
And of the course the biggest x factor is injuries, if either side is missing a Sinfield, McGuire, Tomkins or Tommy Leuluai on the day then that could prove the difference.

Run up to the semi finals btw....
LEEDS/WIGAN
- WAKEY (H) 18th June (are game in hand from WCC, played 2 days after the Exiles game so who knows what are line up might be, Wigan don't have to play that week)
- CASTLEFORD (H) / WIDNES (H)
- LONDON (A) / BRADFORD (H)
- HULL (H) / WAKEY (A) (the second Exiles game takes place just 2 days before on the Wednesday so again team line ups might change)

Nothing too tough for Wigan, perhaps Bradford could be slighty tricky. Think we should have enough to beat Wakey even though we'll have a few who play the Exiles game, and the Cas and London games should be straight forward enough. The Hull one 2 days after the 2nd Exiles game and just a week before the semi has banana skin written over it a bit.

For all Leeds' noted ability to go far in the comp making numerous semi-finals and finals it has to be said they havn't converted those opportunities into trophy success of late winning one Challenge Cup over the most recent thirty three seasons it has been contested.

Challenge Cup Final Wins 1978/9 to date:

11 - Wigan
7 - St Helens
3 - Widnes
2 - Bradford, Hull, Warrington
1 - Castleford, Featherstone, Halifax, Hull KR, Leeds, Sheffield

Challenge Cup Final Losses 1978/9 to date:

7 - Leeds
4 - Hull, St Helens
3 - Bradford, Wigan
2 - Huddersfield, Hull KR, Widnes
1 - Castleford, Halifax, Les Catalans, London, Wakefield, Warrington

Forget form, forget even this being the missing domestic piece of silverwear for this group of otherwise Champion players, Leeds winning the Challenge Cup would be the biggest shock since Krakatau erupted in 1883.

Gareth - what your suggesting as I read it - if the game was played now Wigan would win but in nine weeks time Leeds will be better than now and will rise to the job and make it a better contest - that cannot be guaranteed as we have seen in the past.

I would rather Leeds beat Wigan in the Semi - Good luck. Friday night was great, saw some superb rugby skills and the atmosphere and the camaradery before and after the game was what rugby league is all about and for those who went to the game hope you enjoyed visiting the LSV. Proud to be a Leyther.

Maybe not by plenty, but you would be foolish to make them anything other than favourites. You're not foolish, are you BB?