Get back in the top 8? With one eye on the CC and playing teams who need league points to keep in a good position for the playoffs can they catch up to London and make up the points difference?



Looking at the league positions and the run up Warrington have every game is critical for them to win, but it's equally critical for the opposition. Wakey, Hull KR and London are not going to be giving anything away while some have them have "easier" games in the run up.



I'm 50/50 as to Warrington making the top 8 with the distraction of the CC.

Could be a real " or bust" season for them... I just hope that if it all goes belly up for them, that their fans stick with them...

Next week is very important for them, if they lose it will be difficult for them to make the 8. Would be a terrible shame if Hudds were to smash them at Wembley too

We are fortunate that we are playing the teams directly in front of us at home; Wakefield and Harlequins. Hopefully we will take points off them to drag them down/us up. Either way, we won't make much of a dent in the playoffs.

It's always been difficult for any team - unless they're a genuine superteam, a la Wigan in the 90s or Saints in more recent times - to win both the title and the CC. Most teams who get to Wembley (rightly) regard that as the high point of their season. The title, which is traditionally much harder to win because there's no possibility of getting lucky draws, etc, will always seem like a bridge too far for a team who've thrown all their eggs into the Wembley basket, even if they lose in the final.

I think TS signalled his intent last night in not risking his 'big names' [Carvell, King, Clarke etc last night. He must think his best chance of silverware is the CC and to hell with the playoffs. Which is foolish. Warrington will not beat Huddersfield. They are too big, too agressive and too well drilled. I wouldn't be at all suprised to see them to the GF & CC double they are playing that well. If TS has decided the CC is all thats worth going for at this point he needs a swift kick up the back bottom, as Warrington, as a club, need to be in the top 8 come mid-September.

Think they have put all their eggs in one basket and both fans and coach appear to be gambling all on winning the Challenge cup, Huddersfield are a very different outfit under Nathan Brown and I don't think Wire have much chance against them so they need to keep in the 8 otherwise they will have a lot of disappointed fans again.

Can see Huddersfield beating them in the final and not making the top 8 end off season for them like you say you can not put all your eggs in one basket. Bet Huddersfield dont rest any players.

The worry i'd have as a Wire fan for the final would be the fact that there defence is very poor. Even against us in the Semi Final of the cup it was shocking and against a team as well drilled as Huddersfield your unlikely to stick 39 points on the board.



I believe to win the final Wire will have to keep Huddersfield to less then 20 points. I don't see the Giants conceding more then that so it's going to be a tough ask.

We put 40 on them at our place.

The 'saving players' thing is a negative approach to a final, IMO. Wigan rarely, if ever, did this when they were on their famous cup run. It was a case of one match at a time, and they never thought about the final until it was the next game. That's why they won it so often and won so many other trophies at the same time.



This idea that the final is the most important thing in your life only gets players upright and nervous. I mentioned in another thread that Hull KR were there in - I think it was 86. They wrapped themselves in cotton wool, and the week before the final played an inferior Wigan side, who beat them something like 46-0. The following week at Wembley they were also well beaten.



Getting into a losing habit is not the way to approach a cup final. And just saying "it's okay, we're saving ourselves" doesn't help. It's all about psychology.

It's been pretty much a one off for Huddersfield this year.



In a final when they're all pumped up i expect them to be as tight as they were in the semi.



I'm far from writing Wire off, your probably my slight favourites because i do believe your defence can lift in the final but it will have to. In a final when the refs are under pressure and tend not to keep blowing the whislte every 2 minutes i can see Huddersfield really trying to grind Wire down.



It should make for an interesting game.