Rugby League: Depleted Leeds still a threat to Wigan

TIME HAS run out too quickly for two of Leeds' big guns and one of their most effective wild-cards as they prepare to resume their struggle for supremacy against Wigan.

Their coach, Graham Murray, has named a team without Richie Blackmore, Adrian Morley and Marcus St Hilaire for tonight's match at Headingley, although all three are now close to fitness.

The loss of Morley, in particular, would have been crippling not long ago. Wigan will not believe he is out until they see him in the stand but Andy Hay - so often a substitute last season - has proved a capable member of the starting line-up lately.

Hay scored a hat-trick against Widnes in the Challenge Cup last Sunday and will have the same players around him - with Murray selecting the same 17 - but predicting a bigger role for 18-year-old Kevin Sinfield.

"He might find himself on the park a lot earlier than last week," said Murray. "He played 25 minutes at Widnes and changed the whole complexion of the game."

Only a month after Leeds' victory in the Challenge Cup, this match means enough for Wigan coach, John Monie, to abandon his usual detachment.

"Every time you pick up a paper, it's all about Leeds for the double. It's starting to grate with us and I'm sure it's grating with Bradford," he said. "We seem to have gone from champions to also-rans. It's building up a really strong rivalry between the two clubs - but I think that's a good thing."

Wigan lost twice to Leeds in Super League last year, before beating them in the play-offs and the Grand Final. "But I don't want to leave it until the semi-finals before we beat Leeds this time," Monie said. "That made it such hard work last time."

For tonight's showdown, which could attract a Super League record crowd now that Headingley has been restored to its 23,000 capacity, Monie is still without Denis Betts, Tony Smith and probably Simon Haughton as well. Against that, he has a squad of players - particularly the newcomers, Mark Reber, Greg Florimo and Brett Goldspink - who know each other's play far better than they did when they were last there.

Unlike Leeds, they do not have a Challenge Cup semi-final hanging over them - and that can still be a factor in matches like these.