SO we are left with Hull KR and Wigan in this Saturday’s Super League Grand Final at Old Trafford.
RL Commercial has sold out the bottom tier of the stadium and it has opened the top tier of the Alex Ferguson Stand.
The game looks set to attract a crowd in excess of 70,000, which would be great news.
But can Hull KR reverse the result from last year?
The sponsor Betfred doesn’t seem to think so. They are offering odds of 8/11 for Wigan and 5/4 for Hull KR.
One thing that will be in Hull KR’s favour this year, as opposed to 2024, is that they will be regarded as the home team because of their finishing position in the league.
That means they will have the home dressing room at Old Trafford and they will play the game in their home strip. Perhaps they will give them a psychological advantage.
But do earlier Grand Finals suggest that two teams can arrive at Old Trafford and reverse the result from a year earlier?
The first time it happened suggests that the Robins could do it.
Leeds beat Bradford 16-8 in 2004, but the Bulls beat Leeds 15-6 on their return in 2005.
The only other times the same two teams returned to Old Trafford was in 2008 and 2009.
Leeds and St Helens contested three successive Grand Finals from 2007 to 2009 but Leeds won every time.
This season is the first time since then that two teams have contested the Grand Final in successive years.
Regardless of previous results, Hull KR will have to be at their best to win, as they were on 15 August, when they travelled to Wigan and won 10-6, although on that day Wigan were without Bevan French.
Ominously the Australian ace only needs one more try for his 150th career try.
The Robins will need to keep him under close surveillance for the full 80 minutes.
And Hull KR coach Willie Peters will have to decide whether to play Michael McIlorum for the last game of his illustrious career. And who will he leave out if he selects McIlorum?
It will be fascinating to find out.
Toulouse’s statement win
Until a couple of years ago, Toulouse’s Championship Grand Final victory would have been enough to secure promotion into the Super League.
Now it earns them 0.25 IMG gradings points.
And they will have to wait until Thursday 16 October to discover whether they will be in Super League next season, either because they are in the top twelve graded clubs or because they are one of the two clubs that are elevated to Super League because they have the financial and squad strength to survive in that competition.
I hope they get into Super League and that their presence helps to strengthen French Rugby League.
How to deflate a feelgood atmosphere
Last week started with the world marvelling at St Helens’ amazing try that won the game against Leeds Rhinos in the opening round of this season’s play-offs.
Apparently RL Commercial registered more than three million views of the try on their social media channels.
But then Wigan issued a statement revealing that in a private WhatsApp message Leigh owner Derek Beaumont had threatened to pull his club out of Friday night’s game because of the frustration he felt with Leigh fans being unable to buy tickets directly from Wigan, after Leigh had sold out the entire North Stand at The Brick Community Stadium.
I don’t know why Wigan decided to make public a private message from Derek.
It was obviously an unwise thing to say, although I don’t suppose Derek guessed that Wigan would publicise it.
But by doing that, Wigan guaranteed that plenty of flak would be aimed at Derek from fans who weren’t too interested in the etiquette of them releasing private correspondence.
It completely punctured the positives that had arisen from Shane Wright’s try at the weekend.
And, bearing in mind that the income from the fixture was going directly to RL Commercial, I’m not sure that decisions about the fixture and who should be allowed to buy tickets was entirely Wigan’s decision to make.
I would love to know why they released that message.
What will the RFL apologise for next?
It’s very dangerous for a governing body to start making apologies for mistaken decisions by match officials.
Mistakes will always happen and Chris Kendall certainly appears to have made one in approving Jon Bennison’s try that helped give St Helens victory against Leeds.
But by apologising, the RFL gives a hostage to fortune. Is it going to apologise for every wrong decision? Or only those that have a bearing on a result?
It looks to me as though Saints coach Paul Wellens accepts that he isn’t going to be retained as St Helens coach next season.
Perhaps the RFL should trawl through all the decisions that went against Paul this season and apologise for them.
Reece Walsh – Ashes superstar!
Sunday’s NRL Grand Final proved once again that Rugby League is the greatest game in the world when it is played to its full potential, as was displayed in Brisbane Broncos’ 26-22 win against Melbourne Storm.
And the star of the show – the player who won the Clive Churchill Medal as player of the match – was Broncos fullback Reece Walsh, who was outstanding, both in attack and defence.
Walsh has been chosen in the Kangaroos squad for this autumn’s Ashes and my advice to the authorities in this country is to promote his great moments across its marketing channels, especially among Australians living in London.
Walsh playing at Wembley is surely something for both English and Australian fans to anticipate with relish.