York Valkyrie desperate to be involved in Wembley first with significance not lost on Lindsay Anfield

The former Castleford Tigers boss has been involved in two League Leaders' Shield successes, as well as the 2021 cup final and last year's Super League Grand Final.

However, the carrot of participating in the first-ever women's Challenge Cup final at Wembley raises the stakes this week.

"It's probably the biggest of my career, both playing and coaching, in terms of the reward at the end of it," said Anfield, who represented England as a player.

"There's no point dumbing it down and saying we're not bothered because we 100 per cent are.

"We've got players in our team that played for Castleford Academy in the Year 7 final when they went on the bus with the boys. The girls would get dropped off at Richmond to play in a park and the boys would get taken to Wembley. The girls would then get picked up and get the chance to walk around the edge of the pitch after the boys had played on it.

"There's a bit of parity for the girls now – 'I'm 23 and am finally getting to do what I should have done 12 years ago'.

"You say Wembley to anyone anywhere and it's viewed as the best stadium in the world. The fact we've got the opportunity to play there is massive."

York warmed up for the semi-final with a hard-fought draw against Leeds Rhinos after succumbing to a second-half fightback.

Anfield believes the Grand Final rematch was the perfect preparation for a date with the Challenge Cup holders.

"We knew it was going to be tough because it's Leeds and they're always going to come at you regardless of who is playing," she said.

"They had nothing to lose and just threw everything at us. Potentially some of our players had one eye on this week knowing this was the big one.

"It was a really important hit-out. The pace of the game is just so different. To execute against Leeds and Saints is completely different to all the other teams. Hopefully that will play to our advantage."

Prior to playing York, the Rhinos romped to a 52-0 victory over Sunday's semi-final opponents Wigan Warriors.

But Lois Forsell's side are on their guard after being made to work for an 8-0 half-time lead.

"There's no complacency," said Forsell.

"We've got to recognise how good Wigan were in the first half and how much they challenged us. They've got a few players to come back as well.

"It was a massive wake-up call that we need to be good for the 80 minutes and not just the second 40.

"They're going to raise their game and anything can happen in a semi-final so we've got to be at our best."

Whereas the first semi-final will be played on neutral soil in Warrington, Leeds will have home advantage at Headingley.

But the Warriors will relish playing before the men's clash between Wigan and Hull KR, according to Forsell.

"We've done what's best for the overall game with it being a double-header," she said.

"Wigan have one set of fans for two games so that will bring them a lot of support and boost them."

In contrast to Anfield, Forsell refuses to look beyond the semi-finals at the bright lights of Wembley.

"The incentive is to have a real good performance, leave everything out there this weekend and if we do that, we should hopefully get a result and can look towards that," she added.

"This week, it's about 80 minutes of rugby and making sure we come out with the result."