There has been a lot of talk about fate in Hull this week. At times this season the treble has looked every inch a realistic possibility for Hull FC, at others a ludicrous proposition. However, last Friday it seemed the fight had moved out of their own hands once and for all.
With half an hour remaining in the match between Warrington and Wigan, the Wolves – leading 28-14 with a man advantage – looked set to secure the League Leader’s Shield with a round to spare and deny Hull a thrilling climax to the Super 8s. That reckoned without a dramatic comeback whereby Wigan not only kept alive their own slim hopes of top spot with a 35-28 win but sparked celebrations in Hull with the realisation their treble hopes, too, remained alive .
Last year it was Leeds who survived a final night of suspense to win the Shield.On Friday night Hull and Warrington will do battle in front of FC’s biggest crowd of the season to secure the £100,000 prize money and the trophy.
“It’s like somebody’s looking down on us,” said the Hull prop Liam Watts. “Is it meant to be? Is it not meant to be? We’ll find out on Friday. It’s going to be a great spectacle for the fans and they’ll have all the lights out, I guess, but it’s just another game.”
Not since 1983 and the days of Lee Crooks, David Topliss and James Leuluai have Hull finished top of the league – a point not lost on Lee Radford, the Hull coach, who grew up idolising the last batch of heroes to wear black and white. “I really want to reiterate that this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see this,” he said. “I only had to look at my phone last Friday after the Wigan win to see how pumped our group was for this game and how excited everybody was that the rugby gods had smiled on us to put the competition back in our hands.”
There is not only the Shield at stake. Perhaps more importantly victory also guarantees a home semi-final in the following weekend’s play-offs, opening up the possibility of the loser travelling to Wigan if the Warriors beat Catalans on Friday.
“Sealing a home semi-final will be huge,” Radford said. “You’ll see that this Friday; we love playing at home and it just adds to the buzz for the future if we can get a few more thousand in through the gates.”
Back-to-back defeats after the Challenge Cup final last month had suggested Hull’s season could peter out but the victory against Wakefield, which helped set up the winner-takes-all showdown, put their season back on track.
“We got over the line against Wakefield, got the two points and that was all we wanted. It’s difficult backing up after such a long season but we’ve got the chance to rewrite history again with this game,” said the Hull forward, Frank Pritchard.
Radford said: “I think everyone is aware of the situation and the size of it. It doesn’t take much selling. . I’m obviously going to say that as a biased coach but I think we have been properly consistent all year. To finish the league on a high? It would be incredible.”
Given how starved they have been of success since the mid-1980s, the Challenge Cup alone would have consisted as success for Hull when pre-season began in those long, dark November days last year. Now, however, with destiny back in their own hands and Wembley out of the way, fate has once again conspired to create another potential history-defining night for Radford and his players – with leg two of the treble now only 80 minutes away.
