Rugby League / Ralph Ellis / 02 October 2008 / Leave a comment

Leon Pryce maybe speak as a fan when he demands that other clubs step up to challenge the big two but come Saturday he will have his player cap on, says Ralph Ellis.

Two things you'll never hear: Sir Alex Ferguson wishing somebody would give Manchester United a tougher game, and Roman Abramovich saying how good it is that Manchester City have now got even more money than him to spend on players.

So it's a bit peculiar this morning to read St Helens stand off Leon Pryce grumbling that his club and Leeds Rhinos are so far ahead of the rest of the Super League pack. Pryce will be making a record equalling eighth Grand Final appearance at Old Trafford in two days time and isn't happy about the eight point gap that separated Saints and the Rhinos from third placed Catalans Dragons in the final regular season table.

"You don't want to be watching the same final year in, year out," Pryce tells Martin Richards in the Daily Express. "We want other teams to be competing and being stronger. That's the thing the salary cap is supposed to do.

"We've been the best two teams for the last two years, but I'd like it if my old club Bradford got strong again because at the end of the day do we really want to see the same final every year? The competition as a whole needs to be stronger. I'm just thinking as a rugby league fan, not as a player."

It's an interesting viewpoint, and reflects the sort of thing you hear in other sports. Formula One tried rewriting their rules in the days when Michael Schumacher dominated every Grand Prix in an effort to handicap him, while tennis chiefs made Wimbledon use slower balls to try to take the edge of the big serves of Pete Sampras.

Come Saturday night, however, you can expect Pryce to be thinking like a player instead of a fan. And from that standpoint he'll be more than happy for St Helens to be miles in front of everybody else! Last year they were hammered 33-6 by the Rhinos in the final, but even at a price of [3.65] don't be tempted to back that sort of upset again.

"Last season we were tired, we were injured, and Leeds were playing good rugby. This season is totally different because we are healthy, confident without being over confident, and we believe in each other," says Pryce.

The key this time is that Saints have been the best team in the competition, and their 38-10 win a fortnight ago also earned them the chance of a full week off and to rest some knocks to get ready to take their revenge for last year's humiliating reverse.

Saints are [1.4] to win the match, and [2.4] to repeat their semi-final triumph with a winning margin of more than 12.5 points - although that price might get better nearer to kick off time.

Five things you might not know about St Helens

1. Founded in 1873, Saints played the very first game under the new 'Northern Union' system which developed as rugby league when they beat Rochdale Hornets 8-3 in 1895

2. They also played in the first Challenge Cup final in 1897, although they lost that one 10-3 to Headingley

3. The club runs an annual Tag Rugby festival for Merseyside Year 6 schoolchildren, and last year more than 1,200 played in it.

4. The 'red vee' on their kit is iconic - but it wasn't introduced until as late as 1961 when a special strip was manufactured for a Challenge Cup final against Wigan. Saints won 12-6 and it was kept as a lucky symbol

5. If they ever need the mood lightning, Johnny Vegas and Ricky Tomlinson are among their celebrity fans