Dave Craven: Ingredients in place for this to be the Challenge Cup final cracker we all crave

THE image of Mariah Carey frolicking around in that Santa suit is swirling around my head.
Over to you: Hull FCs Gareth Ellis, left, and Warrington Wolves Chris Hill have the potential to produce a classic final. (Picture: PA)Over to you: Hull FCs Gareth Ellis, left, and Warrington Wolves Chris Hill have the potential to produce a classic final. (Picture: PA)
Over to you: Hull FCs Gareth Ellis, left, and Warrington Wolves Chris Hill have the potential to produce a classic final. (Picture: PA)

Fear not, I’ve not gone mad and started writing a festive column four months too early.

And I’m not obsessed in any way with Mariah, either. Honest.

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But her yuletide favourite All I Want For Christmas Is You is playing somewhere in my mind, not far away, only with the words altered slightly to All I Want For Wembley Is A Classic Challenge Cup Final...

I’m already feeling a slight tinge of deja vu. Have I written this column before longing for a vintage Wembley showdown for the first time since, well, it became the new Wembley.

That’s right, I have, and just three years ago when – as they are today – Hull FC were featuring in the finale of the sport’s most prestigious competition.

Back then, they were playing Wigan Warriors and everyone was getting a little giddy at the prospect of a first cracking Challenge Cup showpiece since Hull’s shock 2005 win over Leeds Rhinos in Cardiff. But, instead, the Airlie Birds became the first side to fail to score in such a contest for 24 years.

And it rained. And rained.

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In all reality, therefore, it was the biggest dud for some time.

Maybe it should not have been a surprise; everyone was reminiscing fondly about the 1985 meeting between the two sides – arguably the greatest Cup final in its 120-year history – and believing they would somehow conjure up the same sort of magic.

But, no disrespect, Jacob Miller is no Peter Sterling and never will be.

Neither is Blake Green a Brett Kenny.

The same could be said of today’s protagonists, of course, but the prime difference is we do have two excellent teams – Hull are first, Warrington second in Super League – both in fine form, playing genuinely attractive football and, it is believed, picking from full strength, too.

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Back in 2013, Peter Gentle’s Hull side, for all it was talented in parts, had little of the team ethic, resilience, consistency or cutting edge developed under Lee Radford’s tutelage. That was highlighted when they bombed out of the play-offs in embarrassing fashion at Huddersfield the following month. Furthermore, for all Wigan went onto complete the double in ‘13, their side was hardly the most exciting vintage.

Sam Tomkins’ instinctive brilliance aside, it was a very functional, organised and methodical Shaun Wane outfit.

But today there is so much potential for greatness.

Whether it be the mighty collisions up front with homegrown Hull prop Scott Taylor out to prove he is every bit as good as Warrington’s England front-row Chris Hill, or the fascinating battle between FC’s ironman Kiwi second-row Sika Manu and Wolves’ Ben Currie, the talented 22-year-old who has come of age in 2016.

At hooker, there is the industry and kicking class of Danny Houghton versus the pace and panache of 2014 Man of Steel Daryl Clark, two examples if ever needed of just what great players the English game is capable of producing.

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Will Gareth Ellis, Hull’s totemic captain, claim the Lance Todd Trophy given he so often produces peerless performances when it matters most, or will it be one of Warrington’s brilliant Australian half-backs Kurt Gidley or Chris Sandow?

Throw in the adventure of both full-backs – Jamie Shaul and Stefan Ratchford – plus the prospect of Hull’s prolific scrum-half Marc Sneyd looking to exorcise his demons of two years ago – he was ‘hooked’ in the first half of Castleford’s defeat to Leeds Rhinos – and there is a real menu for intrigue. For me, one of the highlights will hopefully be FC’s bruising centre Mahe Fonua exploding into open space in that familiar blockbusting style.

With regards who wins, there is a nagging concern Warrington boast a greater number of genuine matchwinners and that could be crucial when tight.

That said, I then recollect Hull’s supreme defensive effort in their epic semi-final win over Wigan. I wrote then that if they defend like that again at Wembley they will win. I think they will.