Hometown heroes have the look of winners for Mathers

After all, he was once at the heart of it himself, having emerged through the same academy ranks as Rob Burrow and Ryan Bailey and best pal Danny McGuire.

The full-back may now play for Wakefield Trinity Wildcats but he will forever be a fan of his hometown club with whom he historically won the 2004 Grand Final.

So, when Mathers says he has noted a new edge to his former colleagues ahead of today’s Challenge Cup final, you sit up and take note.

Of course, being in the 2005 side that agonisingly lost to Hull FC, he knows all about the ongoing heartache they have endured in the competition.

Mathers, this time as a Warrington player, was then inspirational as they denied Leeds glory once more two years ago.

They have lost all five finals played in since last winning in 1999 but, speaking to the Yorkshire Post, he feels that sequence is about to come to an end.

“It was a massive boost for them beating Wigan in the manner they did in the semi,” he said.

“But just being around the boys, which I am a lot as we play golf together and socialise a fair bit, I’ve noticed something else.

“Whenever the conversation comes to the Challenge Cup, I see a shift in their mentality.

“There looks to be a real steely look in their eye that this will be the year.

“It’s quite uncanny and something I’ve not seen before.

“Leeds have proved that they can beat anyone on their day.

“We have two evenly-balanced squads and it’s now who goes on to perform the game-plan and handles the pressure.

“Warrington have an abundance of options and I honestly think it’s going to be won in the pack.

“It should be a fearsome battle. Warrington have a great set of forwards but Leeds have taken a lot of heart from the way they dominated Wigan’s.”

As Leeds bid to avoid a third successive Wembley defeat, it would be remiss not to look back at Mathers’s remarkable contribution to their downfall in 2010.

Warrington, coached by the same Tony Smith who had led Leeds to that 2004 title, produced an epic performance to win 30-6 in a game where the full-back seemed to be omnipotent.

Three times Mathers held his former team-mates up over the line as he seemingly made it a one-man mission to thwart Leeds’ attempts to score.

“It was just one of those days when everything seemed to click, not just for myself but the whole team,” he recalled.

“We were on fire that afternoon and, defensively, it was probably one of my best games ever.

“Ever since I’d started working with Tony (Smith) at Leeds when I was 19, he’d absolutely hammer me on my defensive positioning.

“I’d think I’d had the best game ever but I’d go into video sessions with him and he’d absolutely ruin me, kick me to pieces as we trawled through it.

“I’ve always been proud of that side of my game. There’s a lot of things that go unnoticed where you do a lot of running but if you’re not there, they score.

“That day, though, everything seemed to happen in slow-motion. All the time Tony spent with me over the years, to try and get me in the right positions, paid off as I came up with a couple of crucial tackles.”

The first came as early as the fourth minute when he somehow denied a marauding Bailey, who would surely have scored if he had not attempted to power through his old colleague.

Many felt it could have changed the course of the contest and Mathers recalled: “It would have been the opening score but I’d played with Ryan not only at Rhinos but since we were 
Under-9s at Milford, too.

“We came through together in Leeds schools, Yorkshire and then England. I knew just exactly what he was going to do. Any other full-back, he’d have stepped or gone to the side of but, with it being me, I could see a glint in his eye.

“I knew he’d try running right over the top of me. He had about 30 kilos on me and I just wanted to break his momentum.

“I knew he’d be too big to stop and I hurt myself in the process but, fortunately, Louis Anderson came in to help me.

“To be perfectly honest, I think we’d have beaten any team that day. We were just primed for it. Leeds were off but not by much.

“Our forwards were immense and it was one of those games that everything we practiced during the week came off. Everything we expected to happen did and I can’t remember another game when that’s happened.”

Mathers, who also featured when Warrington defeated Huddersfield in the 2009 final, even had some fortune with him when officials missed Chris Riley stood in an offside position when the full-back spilled a hoisted kick.

“You get a sense when those things happen that it’s going to be your day,” he said.

“My old mucker Danny (McGuire) had put a huge bomb up which I wasn’t happy about – we’re supposed to look after each other – and it ended up hitting me on the backside.

“But it got a lucky enough bounce and Riley went racing up field. He was caught but, from the next play, Ryan Atkins scored.”

Smith also caused a stir by dropping star scrum-half Richie Myler.

Mathers added: “There’s always going to be someone who misses out. Richie was heartbroken and we really felt for him.

“But Tony is ruthless. He left Matt Adamason (Leeds) out of the 2004 Grand Final and Barrie McDermott out of the Challenge Cup final the next season.

“There are no big names to him. It’s all about the team. Jon Clarke had missed the year before through injury but he started him at hooker and Michael Monaghan at scrum-half. It worked a treat.”

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