My first Wembley was 1960 against Hull. The first time that I saw the late queen. Red hot day and the marching guardsmen in the band were fainting in the heat. Neil Fox's record points scoring Wembley. in a 38-5 win. I recall David Coleman, the BBC tv Grandstand sports programm epresenter, going around the edge of the pitch interviewing spectators and receiving a mass of verbal abuse from the crowd. I heard words I never knew existed.

I vaguely remember my Brother going to the 68 final… and I was at every game in the 79 cup run and at the final (although I missed the first try at Oldham as we were late at the ground)

I think this year was my 45th CC Final.

Looking at how Salford managed to weather the Saints onslaught and hit back, with a team on paper few would give them a second look at ,and also with their talisman sitting in the stand ,I’ve a feeling leeds will go one step further and win this one .

I don’t see it quite like that.

I always thought that the Salford first 17 looked as good as most to be honest and that back line looked very good indeed.

What looked their weakness was a total lack of depth in the squad.

What seemed to happen is that the first 17 played even better than expected whilst suffering relatively few injuries. This had a knock on effect of making the fringe players raise their game to unexpected heights.

It’s not uncommon, it’s effectively what we have done over the years, most notably in 2004. Unfortunately it’s a risky strategy because just like us Salford cannot sustain the success imho.

Financially they will already be under the hammer. Any monies earned will be swallowed up by the existing squad. Tgat squad will need strengthening because they are now a known quanta and teams will suss them out far more than this year. However worse still they will need yet another season with no major injuries.

It’s not impossible that they will move forward especially if they could attract some serious money but as is the odd way with sport the second album is far harder.

We will see I suppose but we’ve been there.

I will definitely be supporting Leeds in the GF.

Who is going to the Grand Final?
I always see Wakefield shirts when I go.

One day you might even see them on the pitch

Agree with this. I don’t mind Leeds either these days. I’ve gone from hating them with a passion as a younger person to just passionately wanting to beat them whenever we play against them.

I will be wanting them to turn Saints over, as my opinion of Saints has gone rapidly down hill in recent years.

We sat down and discussed with friends the teams in the last 4 and could find a case for not wanting any to win. In fact we could find a case for every side bar Wakefield wining.
But back to Saturday if Saints win by 80 I'll be disappointed it's not a 100 as much as I dislike Saints I Do NOT like Leeds.

I don't like the way Leeds fans think they are gods gift to rugby league. It irritated me when they were average and people would say 'rugby needs a good Leeds'
It irritates me when Leeds fans look down their noses at us, even when we beat them.
But their golden generation changed that in some way. They deserved their praise.
Sts however seem to have taken over the role of looking down their nose at us.
So Leeds it is.

Now the Rhinos women have won the grand final. When's it gonna end????