Leigh chief shares why there'll be "sadness" if club seal playoffs vs Wakefield
Leigh head of rugby Chris Chester admits there’ll be a “touch of sadness” on Friday if his club book their play-off spot for the first time.
That’s because it will also mean his hometown club Wakefield are relegated. Trinity - where Chester was boss from 2016 to 2021 - are already all but doomed. Defeat will seal things but also mean promoted Leigh secure their top-six place.
Chester, who memorably helped the Leopards win the Challenge Cup last month, said: “It will be sad. Don’t get me wrong: being a Wakefield fan myself, I hate seeing them in that position. I had some good times - and not so good times - with Wakefield and I wished things could have been different there.
“But I’m a Leigh Leopard now and must make sure I do my best for this club. We want to make sure we keep hold of fourth. We’d be really aggrieved if we didn’t after being in the top four most of the year. We’ll be going all out to get that home tie in the play-offs.”
At the start of the season, many people would have looked at Leigh v Wakefield on the penultimate round of the campaign and ringed it as a potential relegation dogfight. How different things have been in reality, for the Leopards, at least. They arrive at the September 15 date having lifted the Challenge Cup for the first time in 52 years and proving to be one of the most dynamic sides in Super League.
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Chester insisted: “In house we knew the quality of the team we’d assembled. We laughed at the start of the year when we were tipped as relegation favourites: We went through last season breaking every record to break in the Championship.
Leigh Leopards' head of rugby Chris Chester (PA)“We knew with a few more quality additions we’d already made we’d be a real force. We lost our first two games and did think ‘hang on, maybe we’re not as good.’ But what we all took into consideration is the fact we got another 13 or 14 new players at the start of the year. It’s been a really good season for us. We’ve competed really hard and been in every single game. With people writing us off, we enjoyed that and wanted that for us to just fly under the radar.”
And what of Wakefield? Perennial strugglers, they have staged so many Great Escapes since being promoted to Super League in 1998 and have never suffered the drop. When they signed the likes of David Fifita and Luke Gale mid-season and won four out of six games, it seemed another dramatic recovery was on. But they have dipped again and now sit four points adrift with only two games remaining, needing a minor miracle to stave off the drop.
Chris Chester in his days as coach of hometown Wakefield Trinity (Getty Images)Did Chester think they would survive again? He said: "I think you always think that with Wakefield. It’s almost 25 years now where they’ve managed to survive. I don’t like using that word but they have survived. It’s always very, very difficult to compete in any sport when you’re so under-resourced. “Those two years we had in ‘17 and ‘18, I wouldn't say were a bad thing, but expectation levels all of a sudden jumped.
“We finished fifth both years and people think you should then be aiming for top four. But we’d probably over-achieved and some clubs under-achieved. “That’s not taking anything away from the players and staff that did a great job of making sure we got that top five. It’s so difficult to compete when you spend £1m less than others. You’re constantly behind the eight ball. Sometimes I think fans just need a bit of a reality check.”
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