Grand Final will go to Wire but Trinity could cause upset – Kear

After the gruelling task of 27 regular rounds, the business end of the campaign is now upon us as the battle towards Old Trafford begins in earnest this evening.

League Leaders’ Shield winners Wigan Warriors get things underway with a home qualifying play-off tie against Catalan Dragons tonight before Warrington Wolves host St Helens at the same stage tomorrow evening.

Defending champions Leeds Rhinos welcome Super League’s form team Wakefield Trinity Wildcats in an elimination 
play-off tomorrow night before Hull FC and Huddersfield Giants face each other in another knockout tie on Sunday.

For ex-England coach Kear, who has led both Hull FC and Wakefield in play-off campaigns and was assistant when Wigan reached the 2001 Grand Final, the top-eight skirmishes offer some fascinating potential.

“The good thing about this week’s four games is you don’t really know who’s going to win any of them,” the Batley Bulldogs coach told the Yorkshire Post.

“It’s as tough as it gets calling any of these games which makes it really intriguing but eventually I reckon we’ll see first v second with a Wigan v Warrington final... and Wolves doing the double.”

Here Kear gives his run-down on all eight play-off contenders.

WIGAN (1)

Losing the banned Michael McIlorum is a big blow. He’s very aggressive and very much part of Wigan’s tough middle channel with Sean O’Loughlin and their rotating props. Much depends on how they fill that gap, through Matty Smith or Tommy Leuluai, but it makes a difficult task a very difficult task for Wigan to go on and win it. They’ve obviously got the ability to get to the final given they’re at home, will have a second bite at the cherry and, in Sam Tomkins, have Super League’s best player but I reckon Warrington will beat them.

WARRINGTON (2)

Tony Smith has done a great job and, for me, is coach of the year by a country mile. They’ve won the Challenge Cup and have been competitive and consistent throughout the year while he has their players looking as fresh as daisies going into the play-offs.

I’ve thought all along they could do the double and are now in shape to finish it all off. I think they’ll beat Saints and in Lee Briers and Brett Hodgson they have two brilliant footballers.

Tony’s biggest problem – if you can call it that – is knowing who to leave out. Chris Bridge didn’t feature at Wembley but looked in great form at the weekend.

ST HELENS (3)

Saints are another reason why this is such a good play-off series.

They’re playing pretty good football, looking after the ball well, scoring regularly in the high-20s and not conceding that many.

That’s the art of play-off football – make sure your defence is in order. They’ll always score some points on the back of their strike power and in James Roby they have a simply outstanding player.

CATALAN (4)

They were bottom a couple of years ago but Trent Robinson has turned them around, changed the culture and got them up the other end. Big tough forwards and some real clever playmakers in Scott Dureau, Leon Pryce, Thomas Bosc and Clint Greenshields. They have some strike out wide but their negative is conceding too many points.

I don’t think Robinson announcing last week he’s going back to Australia is a bad thing. It’ll be the opposite. They’ll see this as a last hurrah for him.

LEEDS (5)

Their form is scratchy and they clearly have missed Danny McGuire. Winning from fifth was a massive ask last year which they were able to answer because of the quality of their players but I honestly don’t think they’ll get anywhere near this time. I wrote them off 12 months ago and said I’d never write this Leeds team off again. Well, here I am, doing just that. This is a bridge too far for them and I’m not sure they’ll get past Wakefield. If McGuire is back then he will be the difference but, if not, I fancy Wildcats.

HULL FC (6)

Hull are the perpetual under-achievers and looked like that again this term. But they put a record-breaking 70 points past Bradford and then delivered a very comprehensive win over Cas’ in their last game.

The thing they’ll be most happy about is their home form and if Danny Houghton goes well you can expect Hull to follow. Their hooker has been great and when he fires, Hull are a very good side. When he doesn’t, there always seems to be something missing.

HUDDERSFIELD (7)

If you play with 12 men and win you are doing something right both offensively and defensively.

But when you beat a very good team in Leeds so easily while a man down, as they did on Sunday, you can see how Huddersfield might be thinking things could be happening just at the right time for them.

Undoubtedly they had flatlined completely with that horrendous run they were in but now I just fancy them to turn Hull over.

It was a masterstroke giving Danny Brough the captaincy last week. I’ve always thought he’s destined to be the captain of a club and now he’s matured and ready to lead both on and off it. A good piece of man-management from Paul Anderson.

WAKEFIELD (8)

With seven wins on the bounce, Wakefield have gone more than a quarter of the season unbeaten and defeated teams like Leeds, Saints and a Hull KR side who had plenty to play for.

They have mastered the art of winning close matches and they’ll be a tasty outside bet of going to Headingley and winning again.

They’ve not limped into eighth but surged there and are Super League’s form team. As for Tim Smith, if they score 10 tries, eight will have come through this outstanding player. He’s played this year just like he did when he won the Dally M Rookie of the Year in Australia.