Huddersfield Giants are desperate to beat leaders St Helens at the John Smith’s Stadium on Friday night and secure a top-four Super League finish.
If Huddersfield triumph and deny Saints the League Leaders’ Shield, they will pip either Warrington or Wigan (who meet at the Wolves’ Halliwell Jones Stadium on Thursday night) for that significant fourth place.
But why is finishing in the top four so vital when it comes to the top-eight play-off series and the start of a campaign that will finish at Old Trafford for the Super League Grand Final on Saturday, October 11?
For starters, it guarantees the two losers in the opening week a second bite of the play-off cherry, while earning the winners the following week off.
That’s not the case for clubs finishing fifth to eighth, whose season ends if they lose or are ‘rewarded’ with a trip to the opening week’s top-four losers in week two if they win.
