St Helens choose Huddersfield in ‘daft’ Super League Club Call
Things don’t get much easier for the Huddersfield Giants.
Their reward for beating Challenge Cup winners Warrington Wolves 34-22 on Saturday evening is a daunting trip to Knowsley Road to face St Helens in the Super League semi-finals after Saints coach Mick Potter’s (pictured right) inevitable decision to play the Giants through the ‘club call’ system.
St Helens have been openly critical of the system in the past, but must be delighted with how it’s worked out this time around. Not only do they have to face a team that haven’t beaten them at home since 1978, it also sets up a bruising encounter in the second semi-final between local rivals Wigan Warriors and current Super League holders Leeds Rhinos.
Despite the formality of the ‘club call’ proceedings, Saints managing director, Tony Colquitt, described it as a difficult decision made in consultation with the senior players and the coach, Mick Potter.
But Saints captain Kieren Cunningham poured water on those revelations declaring that the Giants were always going to be their first choice of opponents.
"Well, if you call getting a text message being consulted, then I was consulted," Cunningham told the club’s official site.
"We always had a plan that whichever club came through out of Warrington and Huddersfield would be coming here. I think it's a bit of a daft system myself.
“After the tussle that Leeds and Wigan had together last week it will good to see Wigan going back across there for them to knock 10 bells out of each other again."
The legendary hooker, who has made 419 appearances for the club, is set to retire at the end of the season, and the semi-final will be his, and the club’s last-ever game to be played at Knowsley Road. They are set to ground-share with Widnes next season until their new stadium is completed, hopefully for the 2012 season.
Their opponents for the farewell game finished fifth in the table, seven points behind the Saints, but bring the best form to the table from the final stages of the season – their win on Saturday was their seventh in succession. Giants head coach Nathan Brown believes they have the momentum within their side to cause an upset and make it to Old Trafford.
"We've got good players coming into form at the right time and our squad's pretty healthy," Brown told the club’s official website.
"We feel we've as good a chance as anybody else."
Meanwhile, Wigan head coach Michael Maguire is relishing the prospect of facing the Super League champions for the fifth time this season, despite losing the most recent clash 27-26 a week ago.
"We have played them four times this year and it is two each and it will be another tough game in front of us,” Maguire told the club’s official website.
“The last game was a near loss but it shows what these two teams are about, we just need to make sure we do all the work we need to do this week which we will.”
Leeds Rhinos had the ‘club call’ choice a year ago on the way to the title and coach Brian McClennan was far from surprised from yesterday's outcome.
"There's no real surprise there," he told the Yorkshire Post.
"They looked at the rankings, which was very similar to how we did it last year with Catalans. The whole finals series so far has been outstanding – any one of the four are in with a good chance.
"It's going to be two cracking matches."
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