Two of the Super League's most successful clubs do battle for a place in the 2022 Grand Final on Friday evening when Wigan Warriors welcome Leeds Rhinos to the DW Stadium.
Wigan go into the semi-final showdown having enjoyed a week off last week courtesy of their second-placed finish in the regular season, whereas Leeds battled past Catalans Dragons in Perpignan.
Match preview
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Old Trafford beckons for one of these two teams as they face off for a place in the 25th Super League Grand Final, but while their desired destination is the same, their journeys to this stage have been vastly different.
Wigan have been in and around the top of the Super League table all season - eventually finishing only four points adrift of League Leaders' Shield winners St Helens - in addition to winning the Challenge Cup, while Leeds have had to overcome a torrid start to the season.
Indeed, the unthinkable prospect of relegation appeared more likely than a title tilt until relatively recently, but Rohan Smith has come in and spearheaded a remarkable revival to leave his side just 80 minutes away from a first Grand Final in five years.
It took a late comeback in their winner-takes-all final game of the season against Castleford Tigers to secure their place in the playoffs, and last week's 20-10 triumph in France kept their hopes of a most unlikely route to glory alive.
A poor start to the season may have hampered their hopes, but their turnaround does now mean that they are hitting top form at the opportune moment, making the trip to Wigan with eight wins from their last nine games.
However, they will still be underdogs for Friday's contest given a lengthy injury list and the fact that Wigan have home advantage and had the bonus of a week off last week.
Matt Peet's side have won every single one of their home games this season - 13 in Super League and one in the Challenge Cup - including an emphatic 48-4 triumph over Catalans in their most recent outing.
That eight-try showing put the icing on a free-scoring campaign for the Warriors, who ended the regular season with 818 points to their name - 118 more than any other side.
With silverware under their belts already this season too, the hosts will be coming into this match full of confidence themselves, even if their form is slightly worse than Leeds' heading into the contest.
Both sides will harbour genuine hopes of making it to the Grand Final, then, and past results this season offer little in the way of guidance as to which way this one might go, with Wigan winning the first meeting between the two sides 34-12 and Leeds winning the return at Headingley 42-12 in July.
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Team News
Both sides will be without key players for this match, although it is Leeds whose options are most limited through injury - due in part to playing last weekend when Wigan had earned a break.
The hosts will be without Cade Cust for the match, though, while Liam Farrell remains sidelined.
It could be a landmark night for Sam Powell, who would make his 250th appearance for Wigan if he features, while Man of Steel contender Jai Field will look to inflict further misery on Leeds after scoring a hat-trick against them earlier this season.
Bevan French is also likely to be an important figure for the home side, having ended the regular season with league-leading 31 tries to his name.
Leeds, meanwhile, will not be able to call upon their leading points-scorer Rhyse Martin after his ban was upheld, nor will they have their leading try-scorer available with Ash Handley ruled out through injury.
Harry Newman and David Fusitu'a also miss out, while Morgan Gannon has failed to recover from a head knock sustained last week.
Bodene Thompson is back available for Smith, but Mikolaj Oledzki and Aidan Sezer - the latter of whom scored the try which confirmed Leeds' place in the playoffs - are doubtful.
Head To Head
The success these two teams have enjoyed over the years has inevitably stirred up a rivalry, and in the Super League era that dates back to them meeting in the first ever Grand Final.
This is the eighth time that they have faced off in the semi-finals, and the record in those games is evenly split at four wins apiece ahead of Friday's meeting.
The most recent of those was in 2013, although when these two have met in the semi-finals, the winner of that contest has gone on to lift the trophy seven times out of a possible eight.
Leeds stunned Wigan with an 8-0 win in the playoffs last season, while this season their head-to-head record is split at one win each.
We say: Wigan to win
This has all the makings of a fascinating contest which really could go either way. Leeds will be underdogs but also fancied by many to pull off an upset having hammered Wigan in July and gone on to beat fellow playoff participants Salford Red Devils, Huddersfield Giants and Catalans (twice) since then.
However, Wigan's 100% home record this season, and their phenomenal scoring rate over the course of the campaign, give them the edge for us, particularly with Leeds missing so many important players including both their top points-scorer and top try-scorer.
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Barney Corkhill
