The Championship season all comes down to 80 minutes at Leigh Sports Village on Sunday.
The game sees Leigh Centurions take on Batley Bulldogs in a battle between the Championship juggernauts who, since over taking once fancied Fev at the midway point, have been backed for Super League and the ultimate underdogs.
Written off in a league where many of their rivals have spent far more than them, some expected Batley to miss out on the playoffs all together and no one saw them reaching the Grand Final and being 80 minutes away from Super League. But here they are.
Can they take that last step and back up their shock win against Featherstone last week with the biggest shock we’ve seen since Sheffield beat Wigan at Wembley?
Star player Luke Hooley certainly things they can but has given credit to the best side in the league “by far”:
“We’re confident. I think anyone we’ve played this year we’ve been confident, but Leigh have been by far the best team in the division this year and deserve to be where they are, it’s going to be a tough game but it all comes down to 80 minutes.”
Hooley is already proud that they have defied the odds and proved the doubters wrong describing it as an “unbelievable achievement”:
“At the start of the season our goal was to match what we did last year or even go one better! We reached the semi-finals last season but I don’t think anyone expected us to back it up this year but to get to the grand final is an unbelievable achievement!”
Win, lose or draw it could be his last in a Batley shirt with a move to Leeds widely expected to be confirmed after the game against the Centurions.
Should Batley win, it will be interesting to see if Hooley could pivot his future back to Batley, however it does seem that a move to Headingley is all but done.
