Anti-climax: Nothing to be won in NL1 final
Last updated 11:43, Friday, 26 September 2008
I MIGHT take the kids for a game of footy in the park on Sunday afternoon. Could fix the kitchen blind that I broke weeks ago. Or I may watch National League Finals Day on TV.
For so long the highlight of my end-of-season, the NL1 final will feel a little less grand this year.
Promotion is usually at stake for the winners, which ensures a terrific atmosphere and often a close hard-fought match – I’m still trying to banish the memory of Haven’s nightmare against Castleford in 2005.
But with finalists Salford and Celtic Crusaders already assured of three-year Super League licences from 2009, Sunday’s clash will surely lack the usual intensity.
Of course, some players on show are likely to be playing for top-flight contracts, and both clubs will be keen to come out on top.
But it is almost certain to lack the edge that comes with the knowledge that you MUST win.
For that reason, I’d have been happy to see these full-time sides excluded from the play-offs and allow the next six on the league ladder to contest the play-offs.
A £100,000 prize was on offer to the Grand Final winners, if they had not being promoted to Super League as a result of winning the Grand Final..
It would have been a terrific added incentive, especially for part-time players on big win bonuses.
I guarantee the difference in quality on show between the City Reds and Crusaders, and, say, Haven versus Halifax or Leigh against Widnes in the final, would have been negligible.
My hopes are on Salford coming out on top, simply because coach Shaun McRae proved so helpful and affable in my three interviews with him this year.
It was said that his job could have been on the line if Salford had lost their semi-final against Haven. Every cloud has a silver lining, and all that.
At least the NL2 final should be a tense, exciting affair. Doncaster and Oldham both appear to have invested heavily in their squads this term and will be desperate to move up to League One.
I won’t embarrass myself by trying to pick a winner. But if I were to make a forecast based on what I’ve seen of the two clubs this season, it would be no contest.
I was at Derwent Park on a Friday night in May to see Workington run riot against previously-unbeaten Doncaster. Town produced one of their best performances of the campaign in the 32-10 victory and Ellery Hanley’s men were second best in every aspect of play.
Contrast that with Oldham, who thoroughly deserved their 16-6 Northern Rail Cup last-16 home win over Haven, in Ged Stokes’ first game in charge, in April.
Watch out for French bulldozer Said Tamghart off the Oldham bench on Sunday.
Roughyeds centre Mick Nanyn did not enjoy a particularly strong game against his former club, but he went on to set new scoring records at Boundary Park and has been snapped up by Harlequins.
The only surprise is that it has taken a top-flight club so long to sign him. Going forward, there are few outside the top-flight who can match his power.
Incidentally, only joking about mending the kitchen blind. I will watch the finals. But I don’t expect to spend too long perched on the edge of my seat.
MARTIN MORGAN
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