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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: 27 Fri 3 Sep 20:00
vs
Round: 27 Fri 3 Sep 20:00
vs
Round: 27 Sat 4 Sep 16:30
vs
Round: 27 Sat 4 Sep 18:45
vs
Round: 27 Sat 4 Sep 18:45
vs
Round: 27 Sat 4 Sep 18:30
18 - 38
New Craven Park Sun 22nd August
52 - 4
The Galpharm Stadium Sun 22nd August
38 - 28
Grattan Stadium Sun 22nd August
40 - 28
The Jungle Sun 22nd August
10 - 36
Racecourse Sat 21st August
36 - 18
Halliwell Jones Stadium Fri 20th August
Pos Name P W D L Pts
1 Wigan 26 21 0 5 42
2 St Helens 26 19 0 7 38
3 Warrington 26 19 0 7 38
4 Leeds 26 16 1 9 33
5 Hull FC 26 16 0 10 32
6 Huddersfield 26 15 1 10 31
7 Hull K R 26 14 1 11 29
8 Castleford 26 11 0 15 22
9 Crusaders 26 11 0 15 22
10 Bradford 26 9 1 16 19
11 Wakefield 26 9 0 17 18
12 Harlequins 26 7 0 19 14
13 Salford 26 7 0 19 14
14 Catalans 26 6 0 20 12
vs
Round: Play Offs Thu 2 Sep 19:30
vs
Round: Play Offs Sun 5 Sep 15:00
vs
Round: Play Offs Thu 9 Sep 19:30
vs
Round: Final Sun 26 Sep
26 - 12
Recreation Ground Sun 22nd August
24 - 32
Cougar Park Sun 22nd August
72 - 20
Bigfellas Stadium Sun 22nd August
24 - 38
Sat 21st August
29 - 28
Don Valley Stadium Thu 19th August
14 - 32
Craven Park Wed 18th August
Pos Name P W D L Pts
1 Featherstone 20 18 0 2 56
2 Halifax 20 16 0 4 50
3 Leigh 20 12 1 7 43
4 Barrow 20 12 1 7 39
5 Widnes 20 11 0 9 38
6 Sheffield 20 10 1 9 35
7 Batley 20 7 0 13 29
8 Toulouse 20 8 0 12 27
9 Dewsbury 20 6 0 14 26
10 Whitehaven 20 4 0 16 16
11 Keighley * 20 4 1 15 10
vs
Round: Play Offs Sun 5 Sep 15:30
vs
Round: Play Offs Sun 5 Sep 15:00
vs
Round: Play Offs Sun 12 Sep 15:00
vs
Round: Final Sun 26 Sep
18 - 48
New River Stadium Fri 27th August
32 - 24
South Leeds Stadium Sun 22nd August
16 - 26
Spotland Stadium Sun 22nd August
94 - 0
Sedgley Park Sun 22nd August
46 - 12
Keepoat Stadium Sun 22nd August
16 - 18
Sun 15th August
Pos Name P W D L Pts
1 Hunslet 20 18 0 2 55
2 Oldham 20 17 0 3 52
3 York 20 12 0 8 39
4 Blackpool 20 15 0 5 38
5 Rochdale 20 10 0 10 37
6 South 20 9 0 11 34
7 Workington 20 8 1 11 33
8 Swinton 20 9 1 10 33
9 Doncaster 20 8 0 12 28
10 London 20 2 0 18 10
11 Gateshead 20 1 0 19 -2
25 - 24
Bloomfield Road Sun 18th July
18 - 48
Cougar Park Sun 20th June
4 - 25
Leigh Sports Village Thu 17th June
6 - 42
South Leeds Stadium Sun 6th June
26 - 16
Mount Pleasant Sun 6th June
32 - 6
Cougar Park Sun 6th June
Pos Name P W D L Pts
1 Dragons 23 16 0 7 205
2 Wests 23 15 0 8 37
3 Panthers 23 14 0 9 118
4 Titans 23 14 0 9 19
5 Roosters 23 13 0 10 39
6 Warriors 23 13 0 10 39
7 Sea Eagles 23 12 0 11 41
8 Raiders 23 12 0 11 4
9 Rabbitohs 23 11 0 12 31
10 Broncos 23 11 0 12 -25
11 Knights 23 10 0 13 -40
12 Eels 23 10 0 13 -64
13 Bulldogs 23 8 0 15 -51
14 Sharks 23 7 0 16 -217
15 Cowboys 23 5 0 18 -232
16 Storm 23 13 0 10 96

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