Dave Craven: Scramble for play-off places sees rivals on home straight

With a little over a third of the regular season remaining, the scramble for places at the top of Super League will really start this weekend.

Wakefield coach John Kear yesterday made a valid point – that there is a nine-week stretch dedicated entirely to Super League before the Challenge Cup resumes with the semi- finals on August 7-8.

He sees it as the most crucial part of the campaign so far and there will be plenty of his counterparts agreeing.

For all the talk there is about a side peaking towards the end of the season and in readiness for the play-offs, realistically they need to be putting their plans into place now.

That nine-week stint is ample opportunity for teams to dictate their own fortunes and particularly so for Yorkshire's clubs. With Wigan, Warrington and St Helens dominating the top three, all seven Yorkshire teams then fall in behind down to Castleford in 10th. Wigan may soon be out of sight at the top but Warrington and Saints are within reach in the all-important top four places if the county's sides can make their move.

The White Rose clubs have had mixed fortunes so far with all of them struggling for the consistency they would like and only Leeds through to the Challenge Cup semi-finals.

However, Hull can start making in-roads on the top three when they face St Helens this evening.

Their injury problems look to be behind them and with Sean Long and Craig Fitzgibbon back in harness, Richard Agar's side immediately seem far stronger.

Wigan are also due at the KC and it would be no surprise to see Hull turn them over but they have to make sure they do not slip up against the likes of Catalans and Salford. That has been their downfall before.

Leeds are obviously the team in form and buoyed by their cup victory over Wigan their momentum is gathering pace. Wakefield will test them tonight and the trip to Harlequins next week without their England contingent will be a real challenge. But if they can survive these two fixtures, Leeds's home games against both leaders Wigan and St Helens before semi-final weekend suddenly become all the more fascinating.

Once down in 10th, now up to fifth, could Leeds really clamber all the way back into the top two?

They will need help from others. Castleford might not be the likeliest of candidates for defeating Wigan but they have a reasonable record at the DW Stadium and might catch the Warriors suffering from a cup hangover on Sunday.

Bradford, similarly, have to immediately bounce back from their cup knockout when they entertain Huddersfield. Steve McNamara's dream of signing off with the Challenge Cup is gone but there is no reason why the Bulls cannot push on to Old Trafford. Their lack of depth was always going to test them although the only sides they face in that period who lie above them are Hull and Warrington, both at Odsal.

Huddersfield are the side who will be targeting this spell more than anyone. On the back of a four-match losing run they are down to seventh and in danger of free-fall when their squad is too talented to suffer such a fate. Their game with Bradford is crucial given they must also face trips to St Helens and Leeds as well as tackle Hull.

Wakefield lie in eighth and face the most taxing start to this period with Leeds and Wigan back-to-back but they are in good health and Kear knows how to get the best out of a side in a short space of time, as shown when he saved them from relegation with six games to go in 2006.

With Hull KR, it is hard to know which side will turn up next and their lack of a half-back seems set to torment them further. Catalans on Sunday is a prime chance to regain some confidence but only Castleford will have to work harder than them to make the top eight.