Wolves Must Turnaround Away Form

The Wolves travel to the Headingley Carnegie Stadium on the back of nine successive away defeats; including a 54-16 loss at the hands of Leeds three weeks ago.

But head coach Paul Cullen points out that form goes out of the window at play-off time, and that loss to the Rhinos in the regular season along with a home win over them will have little effect on the eventual outcome tonight.

"The first game didn't have much relevance to the second one and the second one won't have much relevance to the third one," Cullen said.

"This is play-off football. We are a better side than we were three weeks ago. Our performances against Hull and St Helens indicate that."

Leeds captain Kevin Sinfield who has seen the Rhinos finish outside the top two for the first time since 2002 shares Cullen’s belief that previous results will have no bearing on tonight’s clash.

"They smashed us earlier on this year at their place but I don't either game will have any bearing on this," he said.

"League matches are a bit different to play-off matches. There is a lot more at stake.

"And they have a few players back from injury and suspension that were missing on the night we won. I think it will be a great game, I really do. They are two fantastic squads who are coached very well."

Sinfield’s opposite number Lee Briers reckons the Wolves have turned things around since their nine-try loss at Headingley, having beaten Hull and given a very creditable performance against St Helens.

"Before these last two performances we were struggling but we knew we had the quality in the side to find our form," said Briers.

"We've never won a play-off match so that's a massive incentive. We don't want our season to finish on Friday, we want to keep going as far as we can.

"I remember last year when Andrew Johns came over and we beat Leeds and Hull, we were buzzing.

"We probably went into the play-offs against Hull under-estimating them because we felt we were a bit invincible. They came here and smashed us.

"Now we're the underdogs again. We're running into a bit of form but we know, if we don't perform, we're going to get absolutely smashed.

"Our away form isn't good but there is no better place to turn it around than Headingley on a Friday night in front of a 17,000 crowd."