80 minutes from Old Trafford – Super League play-offs return

Then four followed.

Super League braces itself for the play-off semi-finals with four teams remaining, all tussling for their spot in next week’s Grand Final at Old Trafford.

Following last week’s elimination matches, there was a controversy that dominated the agenda, with a try-that-shouldn’t-have-been-a-try and a row over ticketing.

What can we anticipate seeing when Leigh travels to Wigan Warriors on Friday and Hull KR’s meeting with St. Helens as a result of the team’s situation?

After finishing second and one place above the Leopards at the end of the regular season, Warriors travel to Leigh for their place in Friday’s all-Wigan borough derby play-off semi-final against Leigh.

Leigh won 0-1 in a stunning season opener in February, where Gareth O’Brien scored a golden-point drop-goal in a historically low-scoring game at the Brick Community Stadium, which could bookend either team’s season.

Leigh come into the game off the back of an impressive season and having comprehensively beaten Wakefield in their home eliminator last week.

Despite having a formidable recent record, including two successive Grand Final victories, Wigan boss Matt Peet claims he has no problem motivating his players to succeed.

He told BBC Radio Manchester, “I can’t manufacture that,” adding that “It’s on them, it’s the players.”

“They’re just a determined bunch and group of lads. This time of year, every coach will feel the same way. If every team didn’t arrive motivated and hungry, you’d be surprised.

Leigh’s one-point defeat at the start of the campaign caused another defeat for Wigan’s close-knit neighbors in July.

Liam Farrell, the captain of Cherry and Whites, claimed Wigan has benefited greatly from those two defeats, having also defeated them at home in a close encounter in May.

” The 1-0, we took a lot out of that game and I thought we were conservative in that game, “he told BBC Radio Manchester.

The fact that this is the first game of the year and likely not to overplay in the circumstances, is a major factor.

Leigh probably deserved it on the night because we needed to be better with the second one. We probably gave them a little bit too much field position in the back end of the second half and the penalties and errors cost us. We’ll leave out a few things from the game.

A ticketing problem has somewhat overshadowed Friday’s play-off, with Leigh reportedly telling Wigan they “do not intend to fulfill” the fixture.

Despite this, both sides have claimed they are preparing as normal for the tie.

Peet, on the other hand, is anticipating a close fight with their rivals and is aware of what this means.

He continued, “It’s always been a special fixture and it’s always had a rivalry that’s determined by the two teams’ geographic situation.”

Adrian Lam, the manager of Leigh, has won six games in a row, including last week’s Wakefield victory in the elimination game.

If they defeat Wigan in their own backyard, the Leopards will add their name to the exclusive list of teams that have reached Old Trafford.

Lam has enjoyed the 2025 campaign and told BBC Radio Manchester he is not ready for it to end.

I understand the steps involved, but what we see as an opportunity for this group to take this journey, he said, “I’m not ready to not be coaching next week.”

“It’s been nice to see us tick some boxes this year, as we have done every year, and the club’s progression to the top definitely shows that.”

” The more of these games we play, the better we’re going to be. It’s incredible to think that the Leigh Leopards will be 80 minutes away from Old Trafford twice in a row.

After earning promotion from the Championship in 2022, Lam has led Leigh to play-off campaigns in each of their three Super League seasons.

” We want to achieve things we’ve never done before as a club and winning our first home eliminator last week was one of those, having a home tie was one of those and we’ve got to do things we’ve never done to get what we deserve, “he added.

We are aware that we must perform better than we have all year. We are aware that beating Wigan at Wigan will require a lot of effort, and we are aware that not many people will give us a chance.

After falling to Salford Red Devils in a nail-biting “Million Pound Game,” Gareth O’Brien scored the team’s golden-point drop-goal, Hull KR was relegated from Super League a decade later.

Now, they are on the cusp of a historic treble, having already wrapped up the Challenge Cup and League Leaders ‘ Shield this term.

Willie Peters, the team’s manager, doesn’t anticipate St. Helens rolling over in Saturday’s semi-final despite their relative success.

The key to success in the semi-finals is to make sure we’re happy to win the game in the final second, according to Peters, who spoke to BBC Radio Humberside.

“When you’re playing in big games, it’s not about trying to win the game in the first 10 minutes, it’s not how semi-finals are aligned.

Similar to what we did in the Challenge Cup, “You’ve got to build games and be happy and prepared to win,” and that’s how we go about doing that for big games.

Peters disagrees on whether the honors for this season have lessened the pressure.

” That’s in the past, “he added”. We’re just concentrating on the weekend. That game is currently most crucial to us. We’ve achieved that and we’ll have the time to reflect on that at the right time after the season.

St. Helens travel to Hull KR having spent most of the latter stages of their play-off eliminator at Leeds Rhinos believing they would not reach the semi-finals.

After the hooter had sounded for full-time, Paul Wellens’ side kept the ball alive and fed it to Shane Wright after a whopping 16 passes for him to score the try that would have won them.

Wellens’ side, according to Wellens, is having a “dare to dream” when they travel to Craven Park after spending last week at Headingley.

“It’s given us a lot of belief going into this game, although we’re under no illusions over how tough the game is going to be”, he said.

“With and without the ball, Hull KR have consistently been the top team.”

It’s difficult to go anywhere and play because the environment is so hostile. We’ve got to view that very differently. Both our team and we are facing a great challenge.

“We’ve been boosted by a fantastic win in fantastic circumstances at the weekend, which gives us a lot of faith going into the game.”

St. Helens have received criticism for not being able to see out games against the leading teams this term, but Wellens points to last weekend’s game against Leeds and their regular season win against Rhinos in July, as examples of where they have overcome real quality.

He continued, “I believe there are a lot of opinions about us outside of this environment, but internally we don’t share the same feelings that people outside of that place do.”

I believe that going there after winning a play-off and returning there a few weeks later qualify as winning big games.