Quote: leeds owl "Last night was really of no consequence for either club. Lose and you probably drift aimlessly towards the middle 8's, win and you scramble hopelessly towards 8th place with no chance of being involved in a top four play off. The season will be realistically over for one club next Friday. A run in the Challenge Cup means the season doesn't just wither away, but the wrong result at about 10pm next Friday and every subsequent game is meaningless. I think both teams would have enough to avoid a potential banana skin in the million pound play off game by the way.'"
Meaningless? Nah- not for either. Only one of us will make top eight -For the other team the million pound game needs to be avoided and all the other sides will up their game to claim a big scalp. If that same team that's trying to avoid the million pound game is in the CC it puts more pressure on and less chance for rest. It also means that intensity of games will fluctuate. One team could be playing Halifax or Featherstone the weeks before the cup final. Hardly the best preparation. For the other team who does make the top 8- well both our teams are blooding youngsters a great opportunity to develop their game and ensure that they have masses of experience playing against the top sides.
So I don't see that either club will see any subsequent game as meaningless.