Leeds will look to Grand Final to help offset latest Wembley woe

The pain of losing a Wembley final for the third year running was etched in the faces of the demoralised squad on Saturday evening.

Brian McDermott’s side fell 
35-18 against favourites Warrington Wolves, frustratingly their sixth defeat since last lifting the trophy in 1999.

It is an irritating sequence that has proved the bane of this Leeds squad, especially considering they have shown their vast match-winning credentials elsewhere by proving victorious in five of the last eight Grand Finals.

When asked to sum up his emotions, England winger Ryan Hall admitted: “I feel the same as last year and the year before – terrible.

“I’m sick of losing this now. It’s getting stupid.

“We felt really good in the camp but just didn’t perform again.

“Credit to Warrington. They played really well in the second half.

“The first was quite close but they came out, changed a few things and unfortunately it worked really well for them.”

The game, however, seemed to turn on a controversial video referee decision by Phil Bentham.

He ruled out what looked like a legitimate Leeds try from Brett Delaney, apparently for a knock-on, when they were behind just 12-10 in the 43rd minute.

“I don’t really want to get into the should-have, would-have, could-haves,” insisted Hall.

“We’ve done that for the last five years. It’s not going to change anything.

“We’ve just got to look forward now, just like we did last season.

“That was a very, very similar situation where we lost here and were fifth in the league.

“Now we’ve got a Grand Final to win.”

Last year, of course, after losing the Challenge Cup final against Wigan, Leeds memorably won their last six games of the season to lift the Super League title.

They have Salford City Reds at home on Friday in their penultimate regular fixture of the campaign and Hall admitted: “It gives us something to hold on to.

“We know we can do it and are able to do it again.”

Admittedly, Leeds have only a few days to draw a line under their latest Wembley misery.

Immediately afterwards, captain Kevin Sinfield could not even contemplate any thoughts about rugby.

“I don’t want to think about Friday, if I’m honest,” he admitted, after receiving a fifth Challenge Cup loser’s medal.

“We’ll get back to work on Monday, roll our sleeves up and get ready to go,.

“But at this moment in time, being honest, that’s the last thing I want to think about.”

Sinfield’s pre-match assertion that his side would have to play fully to their best to end that losing record was proven correct.

They were far from poor at the weekend, proving competitive up until just before the hour mark when Tyrone McCarthy’s try ended the game as a contest.

But their Wembley opponents, who have now won three of the last four finals and will be heavily backed to go on and reach a maiden Grand Final, demonstrated far greater control and execution to ruthlessly punish Leeds.

Sinfield added: “We are still alive and I think there’s far worse things that can happen.

“We’re obviously disappointed but I think the best team won.

“Ultimately it is a game. It does hurt a great deal but we’ve got to get ready to get back up off the canvas and go again.”

As for Bentham’s decision, he said: “I’d like to see it again. Warrington seemed to get the ascendancy from it.

“But I am not one to moan about referees’ decisions. I thought Warrington played the last 30 minutes of the half really well.

“We gave too many penalties away and invited them to attack us too much. They are too good a side to do that.

“In the second half at times we struggled to get out of our own 40. We didn’t have much ball and that shows how well they played.

“Sometimes you’ve just got to cop it on the chin but the lads put so much in throughout the year, your families and friends are here and it’s tough.”

As Leeds became the first side to suffer three successive Challenge Cup final defeats since Hull more than a century ago, McDermott echoed Sinfield’s thoughts.

On Bentham’s decision, he said: “I didn’t see a knock-on from anybody. I just thought the ball came out of the back of his (Brett Hodgson’s) arm.

“That said, Warrington were the better team on the day. They played well and deserved the win.

“We dust ourselves off, stay tight as a group, learn from it.

“We have got one hell of a lot of young players in that group who have gained some valuable experience from that.”

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Wembley final report, more reaction and analysis: Page 5.