9 mins. Trinity are starting to exert a greater physicality in their attacking sets, with metres coming easier through their carries in the early tackles. This is followed by a pinpoint kick and good chase to pin Warrington deep in troubled territory.
7 mins. Jazz Tevaga has left the field to have a head bump checked. Jay Pitts replaces him.
6 mins. Tevaga puts Wakefield on the front foot on the 3rd tackle in the Wire half. It gives a glimmer of a chance with the defence scrambling but a loose pass to Sinfield slows the momentum down. Not that this matters as up the short left side on the next run a quick two passes find Johnstone with about 18 inches of space to get over in the corner. He dives and grounds it with three tacklers converging.
Ref Moore gives it on the filed, but the video ref will have a look…. NO TRY! His left hand was in touch a split second before the ball was grounded.
4 mins. A strong carry from Scott takes Wakefield near to the Wire 20m line, but a mix up late in the set leads to an offside off a poor kick. Williams clears the Warrington lines from the penalty.
The next attack from the Wire has Walmsley claiming a towering kick close to the Trinity line, but he can't do much when he lands and the ball is turned over.
2 mins. Trinity receive possession deep for McMeeken to have a drive up. The ball goes left quickly on the second tackle before cooler heads call for some settling carries and relieving kick on the 5th. Perfect opening set.
Warrington have a similar effort before returning the ball on the final tackle.
Ref Liam Moore blasts on his flute of discipline and we're underway!
Adopted son of Wakefield, Chris Kamara is in the crowd and has been described as a "superstar supporter" by Sky.
They love some hyperbole do the space telly lads.
Speaking rugby league knights as I was earlier, Sir Kevin Sinfield has entered the stadium at the end of another ridiculous endurance test fuelled entirely by love for his now passed friend, the great Rob Burrow.
He and his team have completed seven ultramarathons in seven days to raise money for the MND Association. You can donate here.
After this he will take his seat to watch his son Jack start the game for Trinity.
Wakefield have never reached a Grand Final in the Super League era, while Warrington have made four losing appearances.
A related bit of trivia: this is the first Super League showcase event without the presence of either Wigan, Leeds or St Helens. What's not to like about that?
Get in touch!
Kick off in just over half an hour, in the meantime you can let me know all your thoughts, or question my view of rugby history on the email. I look forward to hearing from you.
Josh Thewlis; Matty Ashton, Toby King, Arron Lindop, Albert Hopoate; George Williams, Ewan Irwin; James Harrison, Danny Walker, Liam Byrne, James Bentley, Sam Stone, Ben Currie.
Sam Powell, Joe Philbin, Kelepi Tanginoa, Luke Yates.
Max Jowitt; Lachlan Walmsley, Corey Hall, Cameron Scott, Tom Johnstone; Jake Trueman, Jack Sinfield; Mike McMeeken, Tyson Smoothy, Ky Rodwell, Zac Lipowicz, Isaiah Vagana, Jazz Tevaga.
Jay Pitts, Caleb Hamlin-Uele, Caius Faatili, Mason Lino.
Why not read about the respective journeys to the final here…
Sport and history at their best are about the stories. Rugby league feels the weight of history more than any other football code in this land and has the best story.
Ask most rugby union or soccer fans when their game was founded and their response will be an "Errr?" followed by a quick Google, but put the same question to RL followers and "1895" is the immediate response. The year of the Great Split, 21 clubs in the George Hotel, the canary issue of broken-time payments and a clear throwing off of the rugby, and therefore society's, establishment. A move that same establishment never forgave, as demonstrated by their active and relentless ignoring at best and persecution at worst of RL over the next century: league wasn't allowed to be played in the armed forces until 1994, the sport didn't get it's first Knight until Sir Billy Boston in 2025, and don't even get me started on what they did to RL in France.
It's hard to thrive when everyone in power would rather you didn't exist. Yet heritage through this adversity is a hell of a story and one that tonight's teams know plenty about.
The oppressive heft of the past is something Warrington & Wakefield have grappled with to a greater extent that most clubs. Two sides from two of the largest human settlements in England that do not possess a professional team of any other code – there is only the Wire and Trinity in these places – so how difficult it has been for their fans to not win a league championship for over half a century of deindustialisation, Thatcher and all that this brought. At least when the government abandoned Liverpool in the 80s their soccer teams were hammering everyone.
Warrington's lack of a title since 1955 is the regular subject of opposition terrace chant mockery (told you, league fans know their history), while Wakefield's legendary team of 1968 featuring Neil & Don Fox ('the poor lad') and Harold Poynton were the last to hoist the trophy high in their city.
One of these teams has to win the Championship again over the coming hours and etch some history in real time. Both as a name on the trophy and into the culture and tales of their community. What an event it will be down by the Mersey or in West Yorkshire when a victorious team is welcomed back after so many decades, writing another story for this brilliant sport.