Key events
Preamble
The Autumn weather has officially arrived. The drawing in of night necessitating the deployment of the living room big light or lamp in the early evening gloaming. All this the harbinger of a lot of moaning about the weather, a government spending review, and the pilgrimage to Manchester for Super League Grand Final.
Tonight is the twenty-sixth installment of this showpiece and there have been a number of cycles in the competition since the Sky money switched it to summer and the play-off system. Wigan, Bradford, St Helens and Leeds have each had their periods of domination the last quarter century. What hasn’t occurred is time spent with a team from the East Riding of Yorkshire taking a turn atop the summit of Mount RL and Hull KR will want to plant their flag this evening.
The story of the Robins’ emergence as a force from their recently depleted position in East Hull has been told better elsewhere and Willie Peters and his team have put themselves in with a shout here. But they are going to have to shout in unison at Brian Blessed levels to drown out the relentless hum of a Wigan side that chewed up all in their path in recent weeks. Their defence in particular is astounding, conceding zero tries in their last three games and not giving away a single point in their suffocating walloping of Leigh in the semi-final.
Hull KR have given the Warriors more trouble than most in the league this season, with an early season win at Craven Park and narrow loss in the return fixture last month. Predictions are a mug’s game – this liveblogger has made enough to know – but a win tonight for the Yorkshiremen is not out of the question. They will, however, need all the spirit, ability and inspiration of their long journey here to move through the sinews of their team to deliver such an historic win.
