I disagree entirely. There's hardly been an unexpected result all season. Leeds have beaten the SL whipping boy rabble 16 times out of 20. Leeds have lost 6 out of 7 against the real competition, the other being a draw.

And yet, in three of their last four meetings Leeds and Wigan have been separated by the narrowest of margins.

For all the plaudits thrown at Wigan's defence - particularly down the middle of the park - Saints IMO exposed a potential weakness down their right hand side. Sadly for them, it took them the best part of 70 minutes to capitalise with good enough ball movement to leave Charnley twice clutching at thin air.

This Wigan side aren't unbeatable by any stretch of the imagination.

I agree, but Leeds' execution in attack has been poor in this cup run, and would need to be far more clinical to expose those weaknesses at Wembley. For me, Leeds need to raise their game considerably and Wigan need to have an off day. Never say never, but on the weekend's performances, Wigan will rightly start as big favourites.

Wigan starting as big favourites should be an absolute given and deservedly so. You could probably still get shorter odds on Castleford winning the Cup this morning, that's how big an underdog Leeds deserve to be.

It'll still count for nothing come kick-off time though where the better of the two performances will win it.

Leeds have that big game mentality in them somewhere. I personally am really wary of Leeds in a final. I've just got a feeling this game won't be the cakewalk some think it will be.

Leeds should draw alot from the 2 previous games against Wigan.

In 160 mins of rugby we only have a 2 point short fall against them on the score board. We aren't miles away.

Wigans tenacity and performance is surely note worthy but the massive under dog status will suit Leeds.

We have Wigans right side of defence to expose and we faired well on both flanks with grubbers. Our ability to break them down will be key and if we do get to them we will proabably have to score even half chances.

In the previous 2 games Wigan do set their stall out in an even more reserved manner. They do show us respect, so lets twist that to our advantage.

If in doubt put in 50-50 kicks and hope for a bounce of a ball or a gaff.

My glass is half full.

Overall on paper the individual Wigan and Leeds players should be fairly evenly matched.

Where Leeds lose out badly by comparison is sat in the stands where there appears to be an absolute gulf in class.

The Challenge Cup always has been and still is about the performance on the day and the underdog tag has not always proved decisive at the final whistle. Perhaps the whole Wembley experience will effect Wigan just as it did Leeds last season, perhaps last year's experience will stand Leeds in good stead, perhaps I need to visit Tescos and stock up on straws.

Clutch these...

I'll stick a first on them and you can pop them over.

bleedin nutter

I'll have Richie Mathers printed on each one first.

Stick 'em in the ground so that Bailey can use them as a training exercise to bulldoze past.

You're a true gent.

Maybe so he can try to skittle him, like he did to Rangi yesterday.

Bailey - classic half back bully.

He sent me this PM -:


I think he's trying to come out of the closet.

I take it you said yes?

can i watch i love all in wrestling

I too lean to the glass half full.

Wigan of course will be strong favourites with far more attacking class and tremendous defence....but our over the hill dads army could ....just dig deep enough for one last hurrah. For several of our players this is a last chance to get a CC winners medal (you could even say this game is our Wembley???)

Peacock certainly was motivated to lift his game on Sunday and others will want to erase the embarrassing performance of last year so motivation should not be a problem.

Our problem is our attack which appears to have got lost somewhere along the line in sorting out our defence.

Our game plan should be to keep Wigan from scoring too many in the first half as they always try to blitz the opposition early doors. However to win we will have to outscore an attacking side, which means we will need to risk an offload game in the 2nd half and keep our most creative players on the field for as long as possible. If we are still in the game with 10 minutes to go my monies on Leeds.

Despite the form book I will be very disappointed if our performance is worse than last year's debacle.

Not letting Wigan get a lead early will be important. We need to sharpen up our attack enormously, as we didn't break down a determined but limited Cas team until near the end of the game.

We will (hopefully if both fit) have a very quick centre-wing partnership in Watkins-BJB on one side and a big partnership on the other in Ablett-Hall. You cannot try to set the two sides up in the same way. Watkins needs to be given ball in space which means when attacking the line standing further back, giving him a chance to run at the opposing centre. He's not going to do as well with 'crash ball' close to the line.

Leeds' playmakers also eat a lot of space out wide before setting up others. Its been a problem for a long time which McGuire last season seemed to have started to change. The problem with your halfbacks continually taking the ball wide themselves is that it allows the defence to slide (that old chestnut about the ball going faster than the player is still true). They could all do with trying to stay a bit more central for more tackles, and trusting the centres and full back to make the width.

Bottom line is, for all our creative players - Burrow, McGuire, Sinfield, Buderus and Webb - we managed to score one try in 80 minutes against Cas. With those lot in there we ought to be able to structure every attacking set of tackles far better than we do.

That's bang out of order!

Leeds gameplan should be what they've done twice this season to Wigan - play your sets, kick to the corners to prevent Tomkins getting too much ball in broken field and make Wigan play from their own half.

When you get the chance to attack their line, take it right then stack numbers on the left hand side and force Tomkins (J) and Charnley to make some difficult decisions. Saints did it twice to them late on Saturday and got rewards for it.

Manic offloads and high risk plays are not the way to beat this Wigan side IMO.

In all honesty, with hand on heart, I'd still have given it with video evidence. If there was contact with the shoulder it was no more than a brush on the way to the neck.

Penalty every single time.

It was a penalty everytime imo, I'm struggling to see any controversy in it at all.

What I have seen no mention of is the "strip" from McGoldrick as Bailey? was attempting to score, far more legs in that for mine.

Why do you assume all offloads are manic?

We have come twice come close to Wigan this year but still have failed to win. They will expect us to repeat the same tactics.

Leeds have been very successful with an offload game for many years now but we no longer have the speed to slice through as we once did so we have to make the balldo the work.

As I said we must keep Wigan from getting away from us early doors with committed defence and good discipline in the first half. To have any chance of winning we will have to be prepared to take some risks in the second half which means some offloads and regular backing up.