Warrington v Wakefield: 70 years of hurt meets fairy tale at Old Trafford
Warrington Wolves meet Wakefield Trinity in the Betfred Super League Grand Final at Old Trafford on Saturday.
Kick-off is at 6pm on 3 October. The winners will become only the sixth different club to lift the Super League trophy, according to Sky Sports.
For newcomers, the Grand Final is rugby league's championship decider. It is 13-a-side, played at breakneck pace, with each team getting six tackles to score before the ball is handed over. The top sides go through to the play-offs, and the last two standing meet at Old Trafford. Neither Warrington nor Wakefield have ever won it.
Warrington know that pain better than most. They last won a league title in 1955. They have lost all four Grand Finals they have reached. Seventy years. Four defeats. One more chance, per The Guardian.
Wakefield's story is wilder still. Two years ago they were playing in the Championship, the division below Super League. Now they are in their maiden Grand Final and chasing a first major trophy since 1968.
Few people feel Warrington's wait like Danny Walker. The Warrington-born hooker, the busy number nine who fires the ball out after each tackle, watched three of those four defeats from the stands. He was there in 2018, shortly after signing for his hometown club.
Saturday is also a farewell. George Williams will play his final game for Warrington before returning to Australia, five years after rejoining Super League from the NRL in Australia. It caps a sharp turnaround under head coach Sam Burgess, after Warrington finished eighth last season and the club held an internal review into Burgess's future.
Both sides tore up the form book to get here. Wakefield stunned Wigan Warriors 33-6 in the semi-final, ending Wigan's hopes of a treble, the league, Challenge Cup and Grand Final treble, according to the BBC. A night earlier, Warrington beat Leeds Rhinos, who had finished second in the table, to reach their first Grand Final in eight years.
Warrington have named a 21-man squad for Old Trafford, including Cai Taylor-Wray and Josh Thewlis, according to Warrington Wolves. Tickets for the final are officially on sale.
What makes this stand out is the guarantee of something new. One set of supporters will celebrate a first Super League crown late into the Manchester night. The other will have to wait again, but will have played their part in a final neither club will forget.
