THERE is no clear favourite for the first Super League play-off semi-final at AMT Headingley, and both sides have good reason to believe they can win it.
Leeds Rhinos have the advantage of both home territory and being fresh from a week off.
Warrington Wolves, meanwhile, are the form team, winning eight of their last nine.
The clubs finished level on points in the regular season after winning 20 of their 27 matches.
A great opportunity awaits for both Brad Arthur and Sam Burgess, the respective coaches, to experience a first Super League Grand Final.
‘Best version of us is good enough’
While Leeds got a two-week rest-up, they arguably needed it after not just losing their last two matches, but losing Ash Handley and Jack Bird to injury, forcing a reshuffle.
“We had a big session on Friday and tried to simulate a game as closely as we could,” said Arthur ahead of a first semi-final in any competition after two years as Rhinos coach. “On Monday they bounced in fresh and looked fast.
“We’ve made the most of it. Only time will tell but we need to make sure we cash in on the opportunity given to us by the 14 days.
“We just need the best version of us. We’ve seen that plenty of times this year, we’ve played a lot of good footy.
“Our last couple of weeks haven’t been ideal, but it doesn’t really count for much right now. All the last two games have done is show us some things we need to tidy up around execution.
“We’re ready to go. The best version of us we know is good enough. We’ve got to find that and do it for 80 minutes.”
‘We’ve matured as a group’
Burgess pointed out what he felt was an unfair six-day turnaround after their eliminator win over Hull KR last Saturday.
But looking ahead to Leeds, he said: “In the last three months we’ve had countless short turnarounds. I had a bit of a gripe after the game, but we’ve got on with it now.”
Coming to the end of his third year in charge, having overseen two Challenge Cup Final defeats and one play-off semi-final loss, Burgess believes Warrington are in their best spot yet.
“Especially this year, we’ve done some work on staying more regulated,” he said.
“Over the three years we’ve played a lot of big games. We’ve got some right and got some wrong. Players learn from that experience.
“Before I came here there wasn’t a lot of experience in big games. They’ve had that now and had that experience together, which counts for a bit.
“We’ve matured a lot as a group and that’s coming through. We’re enjoying this finals series.
“We’ll enjoy going to Leeds on Friday, at an amazing stadium with a great atmosphere – it was one of my favourite stadiums to play at as a player and I think it is for a lot of our guys as well.”