Buderus is man to fear, says compatriot Richards

Prolific winger Pat Richards played alongside the veteran hooker with the Exiles when they defeated England earlier this summer.

The Wigan star realised fully then what impact Buderus, 33, can have on any side after spending the week in camp with the New South Wales hero.

“I’ve admired Bedsy for years and I never thought I’d get the chance to play alongside him, so it was great to do that for the Exiles,” said Richards

“He’s a terrific player and a great bloke as well.

“He’s been one of the best hookers for more than a decade. He’s got a lot of experience and he’s definitely one of Leeds’ big players – he’s their go-to man.

“I think it’s his toughness which makes him who he is.

“When you play with or against him, you realise he’s going to be giving his all and I think that’s why all the players respect him so much.”

Although Buderus endured a miserable afternoon at Wembley last year, producing some rare glaring handling errors as Leeds were vanquished by Warrington, it is unlikely a player of such calibre will fail to shine twice.

Reigning Man of Steel Richards feels his compatriot’s presence alone means the bookmakers have been foolish in writing off the West Yorkshire club’s chances.

“They won the Super League title for three years in a row, and every time we’ve played them it’s been a tight game,” he said.

“It’s a final – the form-book doesn’t matter.

“We know they’re going to turn up and perform. It should be an entertaining game.

“But we really feel like we’ve earned the right to be at Wembley. We had a tough game at Bradford in our second (Cup) match and then we faced Warrington and St Helens; you can’t really get a tougher run than that.

“Now it’s all going to come down to 80 minutes.”

Meanwhile, Wigan colleague Thomas Leuluai has revealed he had never even seen his father’s own Wembley try until last year.

Former Kiwi Test centre James Leuluai played for Hull FC against Wigan in 1985 – rated by many as the greatest final of all time.

It came just six weeks before Leuluai Jnr was born and Hull narrowly missed out.

But the Warriors hooker, who won the Harry Sunderland Trophy as man-of-the-match in Wigan’s Grand Final success last year, said: “My dad’s really humble and quiet.

“He never spoke about his career or anything. To be honest, I only just knew that he used to play.

“It was only when I got to Wigan that the fans started telling me about his try in the ’85 final.

“I’d never seen it, but someone sent me a tape of the game last year and I watched it.”

Leuluai, who will be facing his cousin Leeds prop Kylie tomorrow, said: “There were some great players in that final like Peter Sterling and Brett Kenny.

“It was a decent game and my dad scored a decent try... he wasn’t too good on defence, though!

“But it’s nice that I’ve got a chance to play at Wembley because I’ve been so close, so many times. I want to win this cup more than anything.”