Tuesday 3 October 2017 10:56, UK
Typically, the format of this column is good week/bad week. But in this entry, I want to focus on a stunning weekend of action as we look ahead to Saturday's seismic Super League Grand Final between Castleford Tigers and Leeds Rhinos at Old Trafford, live on Sky Sports.
Driving home from Castleford versus St Helens on Thursday night, I felt a little drained after witnessing an unbelievable contest of sporting theatre in which Luke Gale kicked the winning drop goal in golden-point-extra-time.
That cool strike from his boot booked the Tigers their first Grand Final place. And it came after one of the best Super League contests I've seen in years.
That afternoon, we had all headed up to Castleford hoping for a good contest. But as we gathered after Gale's winning kick, amid euphoric scenes, some of the Sky team were so overawed by the drama that they didn't know what to say!
It was exhausting to watch so I don't know how the players felt.
Some of the tension was born out of the fact that Castleford arrived into the game as the best team over 30 rounds of league action. They were 17 points ahead of St Helens in the table, but vulnerable to having their season blown apart by this one contest.
St Helens had beaten Castleford twice in the league - most recently in the opening round of the qualifiers - so there was that bit of doubt among some Castleford supporters that they were playing a team that had their measure.
And by half-time with St Helens leading you could sense a feeling in the air that this might be heading for a disappointing conclusion to their season. But then as the game wore on, Castleford started dragging themselves back into the contest and they responded by building a 10-point lead.
Then something remarkable happened and St Helens hit Castleford for three quick tries. And had Mark Percival had a better day with the boot then you'd be looking at St Helens in this Saturday's final.
You need a bit of luck to get to a Grand Final and Castleford got theirs because had just one of those Percival kicks gone over then we'd be having a different conversation.
These misses allowed Castleford to stay in touch and by the time Luke Gale kicked a correctly awarded penalty to send the game into extra time, the tension was such that Jamie Jones-Buchanan from Leeds Rhinos - who was in the commentary box beside me - turned and joked: 'I'm not sure if I can take this - we got to play yet tomorrow!'
Both teams had chances to win the game with drop goal attempts in extra-time and when Gale nailed his effort there were joyous scenes. It was just pure sporting theatre.
Driving home that night, my thoughts were already turning to the following evening's action in Headingley between Leeds and Hull FC. An interesting backdrop to this semi-final was a Hull losing record at Leeds dating back to 2007.
But this was only really a quirky fact for us to speculate upon in studio rather than something that would make it impossible for Hull to win there. Significantly, Hull had already accounted for Leeds in the Challenge Cup this year.
For Hull to enter this game with a full-strength squad was a great bonus for coach Lee Radford. It's amazing to think that Leeds were fighting for their survival this time 12- months ago and on Friday they were back trying to contest for Grand Final honours.
And just like Thursday night, the contest was another ripper. It was a game that could have gone either way. But Leeds edged Hull by a couple of points and while Mark Sneyd is a fantastic kicker, it was unfortunate that he clipped the upright with a crucial conversion attempt. That's how close it was - there was only a kick in the game.
On Saturday, we had the 'million-pound-game' and Catalans Dragons survived in the Super League with Leigh Centurions relegated. While Leigh will be hugely disappointed with this result they have a shining light in their owner Derek Beaumont who has pledged financial support to the club. This means there's a major light at end of what would otherwise feel like a very dark tunnel.
For Catalans - huge congratulations are deserved. I feel they are huge important part of Super League. But I'm delighted Leigh have an owner like Beaumont because it gives the club hope of returning to the top table.
Looking ahead to this Saturday, I haven't been as excited about a Grand Final in a long time because on one side you have a team in Leeds that's on the cusp of one of the most remarkable turnarounds you can imagine - going from treble winners to fighting for Super League survival and then back in the Grand Final and winning it.
And on the other side, you have Castleford making their first ever Grand Final appearance and coached by a player - Daryll Powell - who played in the first ever Grand Final! It's important to stress that they've achieved this by playing really attractive rugby.
I fully expect this game to deliver and be a real spectacle. There is no evidence that either team will try and grind out the match in an unattractive way. That hasn't been their style. You will not be bored by Saturday's game. Make sure you get yourself down to Old Trafford.
