Leeds club set for 1st final in 10 years: Hunslet RLFC buoyant ahead of Keighley Cougars clash
Hunslet RLFC will go into Sunday’s League One play-off final at Keighley Cougars as underdogs, but with the belief they can cause an upset.
The victors will face one more game, at the Betfred Championship’s 12th-placed side Swinton Lions, in a winner-takes-all shootout for the 14th and final spot in next year’s second tier. Whatever happens this weekend, it has been an encouraging campaign for the Parksiders, who finished fourth on the table and coach Dean Muir stressed they aren’t in the final to make up the numbers.
“It is nice to get there, but you don’t get anything for just being in a final,” he stated. “We want to go there and give a good account of ourselves. That’s all we’re focussed on this week, just us and being together and making sure we replicate some of the stuff we did that got us to the final.”
Hunslet ended the regular season two places and five points behind Cougars. Sunday will be the sides’ fifth meeting this year, following three encounters in League One and a Challenge Cup tie.
Hunslet won 26-18 at Cougar Park in May, but the three other results went Keighley’s way, including a 40-22 success in West Yorkshire in August. “Keighley go in as favourites,” Muir, who is a former Cougars assistant-coach, admitted.
“They have spent a lot of money and they are at home, so it is just about us going there and making sure we perform to the best of our ability. This is the fifth meeting so everyone knows everything about each other.
“We know they are a club that want to be at a higher level, similar to ourselves. It doesn’t matter about the past and the last few times we’ve played them; it’s a final and it comes down to individuals making sure they achieve what they want to achieve.
“The boys are really buying into what we are doing and I just hope they go out and enjoy it. That means they have to perform well, there’s nothing worse than coming off the field and having regrets, thinking ‘I could have been better’. We have to make sure we leave everything out there.”
Keighley have played only once since the regular season ended on September 1, beating Rochdale Hornets 26-22 in a semi-final two weeks ago, but Hunslet are more battle-hardened. Their play-off campaign began with a 30-18 loss at Rochdale, but they bounced back to defeat Midlands Hurricanes 18-14 and then won 46-26 in a rematch with Hornets last Sunday.
“Some of the stuff we played was really good,” Muir - who is on the shortlist for League One coach of the year - reflected of that win. “Some of our defensive efforts were outstanding.
“Rochdale are a good side, well coached by Gary Thornton and to go there and come away with a convincing win does give us lots of confidence to say if we play how we want to play and do the things we’ve worked on, we’ll be there or thereabouts.”
Hunslet RLFC (at Keighley): from Ferreira, Goddard, Beharrell, Hallas, Jordan-Roberts, Levy, Knowles, Whitmore, Syme, Wray, Berry, Carr, O'Hanlon, Coventry, Render, Fletcher, Flanagan Jnr, Rhodes, Turner, Tetley, Wood.
Referee: Cameron Worsley (Castleford). Kick-off: Sunday, 3pm.