Rhinos and Saints ready for Grand Final showdown
The Super League Grand Final pits Leeds Rhinos against St Helens at Old Trafford
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By Alistair Potter. |  |
Saturday, 10, Oct 2009 01:00
By inthenews.co.uk staff.
Leeds Rhinos and St Helens are set to go head to head at Old Trafford later today for the right to claim the 2009 Super League title.
Both sides have appeared in each of the last two rugby league Grand Finals, with Leeds emerging victorious on both occasions.
However, Leeds front-row Jamie Peacock has played down talk of Saints looking for revenge, saying: "The last two years don't come into it."
"You can't afford to spend time thinking out that," he continued.
"It would be nice to win three in a row but, if you concentrate on that, you've a chance of slipping up.
"We've got to concentrate on performing and, if we do that, history will take care of itself."
Tonight Saints will make it four straight Grand Finals - having beaten Hull FC in 2006 before the back-to-back losses against the Rhinos in 2007 and 2008.
Those defeats were attributed to a more positive gameplan by Leeds on both occasions, with pundits also pointing to the Headingley players' greater poise and calmness under pressure.
And England captain Peacock believes keeping emotions in check is a big part of succeeding on the big stage.
"Emotions are part of the game," he explained.
"It's all about controlling them and using them in the right way.
"If you become too emotional, it becomes detrimental to how you perform so it's about who deals with that best on the day."
There are plenty of players on both sides of the ball who are well used to dealing with Super League showpieces - the last Grand Final not to feature either Leeds or St Helens was back in 2003, when Bradford Bulls beat Wigan Warriors 25-12.
Tonight's showdown at Old Trafford kicks off at 17:30 BST.