Lure of Wembley drives Peacock

The England captain is preparing himself for another bruising battle with St Helens in the Carnegie Challenge Cup semi-final at Huddersfield as the West Yorkshire club seek to win the trophy for the first time since 1999.

But, with champions Leeds having slipped back down to fifth in Super League following last week's loss against leaders Wigan, pressure is on more than ever before as they look for success on two fronts.

"We need to get back to winning big games," said Peacock, one of only two Leeds players to have won a Challenge Cup, having lifted it twice with Bradford but still yet to play at Wembley.

"For us, it's just play-off football all the time now because we've got this against Saints which is a must-win and then next Friday we're going to Castleford which we need to win to stay in fourth or fifth.

"Then it's like that every week. Realistically, we've got six to eight weeks of must-win football so we need to start winning them."

The experienced prop embodies fighting spirit and his presence will be vital in overcoming Saints' powerful pack, including England team-mate James Graham and Kiwi force Tony Puletua.

But the 32-year-old insists lessons were learned from the Wigan loss when Leeds had opportunities to take hold of the game but failed.

"We were in it but lost the big moments," added Peacock, who conceded "growing a few more grey hairs" after one unexpected and surging 50-metre charge.

"We'd defended well for 76 minutes but had 30 seconds of madness three or four times and conceded tries.

"Get rid of that and we'll go a long way to playing better. It gives you more chance of building pressure and we need to do that against Saints but we've got the kind of players who can rise to the occasion."

Leeds are without back-row forwards Ali Lauitiiti and Greg Eastwood through injury and Carl Ablett starts a three-game ban but hooker Matt Diskin is set for his first game since June. Second row Ian Kirke is fit again and centre Lee Smith is recalled.

St Helens – who enter a record-extending 10th successive Challenge Cup semi-final – are boosted by the return of veteran Australia centre Matt Gidley and winger or full-back Jonny Lomax.