Skip to content

Phil Clarke: Is form the only factor needed to make the play-offs?

Huddersfield Giants Aaron Murphy celebrates a try during the Super League match against Leeds Rhinos
Image: Have Huddersfield got the biggest point to prove?

There is a cliché in the commentary box that says that 'form' at this time of the season is the most important thing to make the play-offs. But is it?

They may reduce the workload at training, but getting your players to play at their best isn't as simple as something like a runner preparing for a 10,000 metre race. I have concluded that it's the players with a point to prove that have the advantage. For the last two years that team have been Leeds. There's a powerful motivation to being told that you 'cannot do it'. Nobody, myself included, believed that Leeds could win the Grand Final from fifth spot. So who has the biggest point to prove this season? Warrington, perhaps, after losing last season? Or St Helens after the season that they've had? Possibly Wigan after the disappointment of 2012 when they finished the regular season on top or the Catalan Dragons who feel that they have been treated unfairly by referees and the disciplinary committees? I've left the most obvious for last. Huddersfield Giants are the ones who are tired of being told that they' choke' in pressure games. Their supporters say that I never praise them or say anything positive about them. Well, here goes - they have got no chance in the play-offs! Prove me wrong!

Around Sky