Rugby League: Anderson - Leeds are our biggest threat yet

Oct 13 2007

St Helens coach Daniel Anderson believes Leeds’ little men will pose the biggest threat to his side’s 100% Grand Final record in today's engage Super League showdown at Old Trafford.

Saints have won all four of their previous Grand Finals and victory over the Rhinos would enable them to make modern-day history with back-to-back clean sweeps.

The Challenge Cup winners are marginal favourites to retain the Super League trophy but bookmakers have reported a surge of support for Leeds, who are aiming to send departing coach Tony Smith out on a high with a second Grand Final success in four years.

Great Britain skipper Jamie Peacock was the Rhinos’ man of the match in their 36-6 win over Wigan last week but Anderson has identified diminutive half-backs Rob Burrow and Danny McGuire as the players the champions need to keep an eye on, along with Brent Webb at full-back.

“There are probably only three blokes on each team who can break the game open,” said Anderson. “Everyone else will play their role.

“Burrow and McGuire are fantastic players, as is Brent Webb. Jamie Peacock has been absolutely outstanding in the play-off series, better than he was in last season’s international fixtures.

“But it’s usually the little men who create the most havoc. The big blokes trundle it up and get bashed by everyone to make space for the little men, that’s the way it is.”

Anderson has yet to reveal which of his own little men will carry out the crucial scrum-half role at Old Trafford.

Sean Long, who has played only two matches in the last two months because of calf and hamstring injuries, has been included in Anderson’s final 18-man squad but so has his understudy Matty Smith and the Rhinos could be kept guessing until an hour before kick-off.

Whoever gets the nod will have the added responsibility of goalkicking in the continued absence of Paul Sculthorpe and that is an area where Leeds look to have a decisive edge.

Rhinos captain Kevin Sinfield, who has agreed a new four-year contract that will keep him at Headingley until he is 31, is the leading scorer in Super League this year and tomorrow has the chance to become the first Leeds player in the club’s history to play and score in every match throughout the season.

Only two points separated the sides when they met a fortnight ago and another close contest looks to be in store but Sinfield plays down the significance of a top-class marksman.

“I think St Helens have a lot of good goalkickers with or without Sean Long,” he said.

“When Matty Smith played against us the other week he never missed a goal and that shows the talent he’s got. If Sean does play then I think he’s a world-class kicker too.

“Paul Wellens has done a bit in the past as well so, although it’s an important area, I don’t think St Helens will be too worried as I think that the talent they’ve got covers them.”

Saints’ other injury doubt, Samoan forward Maurie Fa’asavalu, is set to return after missing their 10-8 win over Leeds in the semi-final qualifier with a hamstring problem.

Fa’asavalu recently made himself available for Great Britain and will be out to impress Smith, who becomes full-time coach with the national team after the weekend when he will pick his squad for the Test series against New Zealand.

Smith, whose four-year contract with Leeds runs out this weekend, worked alongside Anderson on the backroom staff of Parramatta before he came to England six years ago but he knows he can expect no favours from his former work-mate.

“We’ve known each other for a very long time but we’re competitors and rivals and we’re going for the same trophy,” said Anderson, a former New Zealand head coach. “You probably try a little bit harder against your friends.

“It’s an enjoyable rivalry Leeds have had with Saints since I got here. Every game has been very entertaining and has contained a lot of spice and I can’t see it being any different.

“I’ve coached some boys in that team and I know them well. I’ve got a lot of respect for the players they have there. I’m a big fan of teams that produce their own talent and they should be commended for where they are with the local players they’ve got in their team.”

Leeds are injury free and Smith has named the same 18-man squad for a third successive week for a match they still believe they go into as underdogs.

“It doesn’t bother us that people don’t seem to have taken any notice of us this year,” said Sinfield.

“We were happy for everyone to keep talking about Wigan, we didn’t have a problem with that.

“We all knew that, if we turned up and put a decent performance together, we’d be able to get a win.

“I don’t think a lot of people gave us a chance but I thought we played very well, but it doesn’t mean anything if we can’t back it up against St Helens.”