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Leeds are not on their own

Leeds are not on their own
Before last night, you'd have struggled to find someone with a belief that the Leeds juggernaut was anything but in full flow. But following Wigan's determined display that resulted in a 14-10 win for the Warriors, consigning Rhinos to their first home defeat of the season, the rest of Super League may just be starting to believe that Leeds aren't as invincible as they have been made out to be.

Christopher Irvine makes an interesting comparison between this World Club Challenge-winning Leeds team and their counterparts of 2005. In that year, the Rhinos were seemingly invincible until a defeat to St Helens rocked the boat a little bit. It took a battering by Bradford in August before the wheels started to come off, as the Rhinos lost their grip on the league leaders shield, before falling to defeat in both the Challenge Cup Final and the Grand Final.

Irvine draws parallels between the 2005 campaign and how the 2008 campaign has gone so far. Castleford defeated Leeds back in Round 5, yet that game remains their only win of the season to date. Defeats of Melbourne Storm and last season's World Champions St Helens, amongst others, have only gone to enhance Leeds' status at the top of the tree, but last night, Wigan might have just found a vulnerability that some other Super League teams will be eager to take advantage of.

The win also saw Wigan shoot down the theory that they are a one man team, as they picked up the two points without arguably the best player in Super League, Trent Barrett, and instead gave the opportunity to a young Thomas Coyle to show his potential.

Wigan's production line over the years has been second to none, but where teams like Leeds and St Helens are filled with homegrown youngsters (the likes of Burrow, McGuire, Sinfield, Jones-Buchanan and Roby, Graham, Eastmond), Wigan's youngsters for the main part are plying their trade elsewhere.

Huddersfield are one of the main beneficiaries of Wigan's reluctance to stick by their own home grown players, as they currently boast no less than six ex-Wigan academy players in their squad - Wild, Aspinwall, Brown, Robinson, Hodgson and Jones. In fact, if you look at the players Wigan have let go over the years, you'd have to wonder if the Warriors would have been a bit more successful in recent times.

Here's a team made up of players from the Wigan production line:

1. Shaun Briscoe
2. Martin Aspinwall
3. Paul Johnson
4. Stephen Wild
5. David Hodgson
6. Kevin Brown
7. Luke Robinson
8. Paul Prescott
9. Mark Smith
10. Bryn Hargreaves
11. Bob Beswick
12. Gareth Hock
13. Sean O'Loughlin

Now imagine that team with just Trent Barrett, Pat Richards and Iafeta Palea'aesina. Interesting.

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Stats

vs
Round: 7 Fri 19 Mar 20:00
vs
Round: 7 Fri 19 Mar 20:00
vs
Round: 7 Fri 19 Mar 20:00
vs
Round: 7 Fri 19 Mar 20:00
vs
Round: 7 Sat 20 Mar 17:45
vs
Round: 7 Sun 21 Mar 15:30
22 - 26
Twickenham Stoop Sun 14th March
26 - 20
The Galpharm Stadium Sun 14th March
33 - 8
Halliwell Jones Stadium Sat 13th March
16 - 20
Stade Gilbert Brutus Sat 13th March
37 - 30
GPW Recruitment Stadium Fri 12th March
18 - 31
New Craven Park Fri 12th March
Pos Name P W D L Pts
1 Wigan 6 5 0 1 10
2 Warrington 6 5 0 1 10
3 Huddersfield 6 4 0 2 8
4 St Helens 6 4 0 2 8
5 Hull FC 6 4 0 2 8
6 Wakefield 6 4 0 2 8
7 Leeds 6 3 0 3 6
8 Bradford 6 3 0 3 6
9 Hull K R 6 3 0 3 6
10 Castleford 6 2 0 4 4
11 Crusaders 6 2 0 4 4
12 Salford 6 1 0 5 2
13 Catalans 6 1 0 5 2
14 Harlequins 6 1 0 5 2
vs
Round: 3 Thu 18 Mar 19:30
vs
Round: 3 Fri 19 Mar 19:30
vs
Round: 3 Sat 20 Mar 19:00
vs
Round: 3 Sat 20 Mar 18:30
vs
Round: 3 Sun 21 Mar 15:00
vs
Round: 4 Thu 25 Mar 19:30
20 - 20
LSV Thu 25th February
32 - 26
The Shay Sun 28th February
36 - 10
Chris Moyles Stadium Sun 28th February
72 - 10
Stobart Stadium Sun 28th February
26 - 22
Sun 28th February
24 - 34
Mount Pleasant Thu 11th March
Pos Name P W D L Pts
1 Widnes 2 2 0 0 6
2 Featherstone 2 2 0 0 6
3 Halifax 2 2 0 0 6
4 Leigh 2 1 1 0 5
5 Whitehaven 1 1 0 0 3
6 Toulouse 2 1 0 1 3
7 Barrow 1 0 1 0 2
8 Sheffield 2 0 0 2 1
9 Dewsbury 2 0 0 2 1
10 Batley 2 0 0 2 1
11 Keighley * 2 0 0 2 -9
vs
Round: 3 Sat 20 Mar 15:00
vs
Round: 3 Sun 21 Mar 14:00
vs
Round: 3 Sun 21 Mar 15:00
vs
Round: 3 Sun 21 Mar 15:00
vs
Round: 3 Sun 21 Mar 15:00
vs
Round: 4 Sun 28 Mar 15:00
40 - 12
South Leeds Stadium Sun 28th February
20 - 38
Sedgley Park Sun 28th February
56 - 24
Spotland Stadium Sun 28th February
36 - 8
Huntington Stadium Sun 28th February
22 - 20
Sun 28th February
16 - 29
South Leeds Stadium Fri 12th March
Pos Name P W D L Pts
1 Oldham 2 2 0 0 6
2 South 2 2 0 0 6
3 York 2 1 0 1 4
4 Workington 2 1 0 1 4
5 Blackpool 1 1 0 0 3
6 Swinton 2 1 0 1 3
7 Hunslet 2 1 0 1 3
8 Rochdale 2 1 0 1 3
9 Doncaster 2 0 0 2 1
10 London 2 0 0 2 0
11 Gateshead 1 0 0 1 -6
vs
Round: 4 Wed 10 Mar 18:00
vs
Round: 4 Wed 10 Mar
vs
Round: 4 Wed 17 Mar 19:30
vs
Round: 4 Sun 21 Mar
34 - 12
Huntington Stadium Wed 10th March
62 - 18
Craven Park Wed 10th March
0 - 68
South Leeds Stadium Thu 4th March
22 - 44
Tetley's Stadium Wed 3rd March
56 - 10
Chris Moyles Stadium Tue 23rd February
22 - 24
Boundary Park Mon 22nd February
vs
Round 1 Fri, 12 Mar 19:35 Suncorp Stadium
vs
Round 1 Fri, 12 Mar 19:35 Parramatta Stadium
vs
Round 1 Sat, 13 Mar 17:30 ANZ Stadium
vs
Round 1 Sat, 13 Mar 19:30 CUA Stadium, Penrith
vs
Round 1 Sat, 13 Mar 19:30 Toyota Stadium
vs
Round 1 Sun, 14 Mar 13:00 Skilled Park
Pos Name P W D L Pts
3 Dragons 1 1 0 0 2
11 Sharks 1 0 0 1 0
15 Wests 0 0 0 0 0
6 Broncos 1 1 0 0 2
8 Bulldogs 1 0 0 1 0
1 Roosters 1 1 0 0 2
14 Rabbitohs 1 0 0 1 0
4 Storm 1 1 0 0 2
8 Cowboys 1 0 0 1 0
2 Panthers 1 1 0 0 2
6 Knights 1 1 0 0 2
15 Sea Eagles 0 0 0 0 0
12 Eels 1 0 0 1 0
13 Raiders 1 0 0 1 0
10 Warriors 1 0 0 1 0
5 Titans 1 1 0 0 2
vs
Round 1 Mar 12 5:20pm Suncorp Stadium
vs
Round 1 Mar 12 5:20pm Parramatta Stadium
vs
Round 1 Mar 13 3:15pm ANZ Stadium
vs
Round 1 Mar 13 5:15pm CUA Stadium, Penrith
vs
Round 1 Mar 13 5:15pm Toyota Stadium
vs
Round 1 Mar 14 10:45am Skilled Park

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