Ellery Hanley has adapted superbly to a tailing-off in pace and his ability to be in the right place at the right time is evidenced by his season's tally of 41 tries, a world record for a forward.Another player in his thirties, Alan Tait, has never performed better than he has this season. Last season, Leeds, back at Wembley for the first time in 16 years, got it all wrong but still got within 10 points of the all-time Wembley specialists.Through a combination of fitness problems and ill-advised foxing, they lost their form before the final. The one thing that all Leeds players are emphatic about is that, with that experience behind them, their preparation has been much better this time.Their young brigade, especially Francis Cummins and Graham Holroyd, are better players than they were at this stage last season, but again it is the veterans who have contributed much to their Wembley return. "The notoriety of that might even be be greater than the memory of all the victories." It is a variation on the imperative that stops Australians losing a Test series and it ensures that there will never be any question about Wigan's appetite for the big occasion.And yet, if there was ever a team equipped to give them a run for their money, it is Leeds this year. All the more reason why they want to leave the club - Clarke to Sydney City and Betts to the Auckland Warriors - as the winners they have perennially been."Nobody wants to be part of a Wigan team that loses at Wembley," Betts says.

As veterans go, Phil Clarke and Denis Betts are very much in their prime, but with 10 winners' medals between them, their depth of experience of the occasion is invaluable. But there are other injections of new blood from Martin Hall, excellent at hooker all season, and, if the winger Jason Robinson does not recover from a broken bone in his foot, Kris Radlinski.The 19-year-old Radlinski, the grandson of a Polish immigrant to Wigan, has enjoyed a recent run of appearances in the first team, deputising for either Robinson or Martin Offiah, and he has looked another of the club's seemingly endless sequence of gifted young players.It is the oldies, though, who do much to establish the right Wembley tone. If ever a young player seemed custom-built for Wembley, he is it. Newcomers come no fresher than the New Zealand utility back Henry Paul, whose ebullience has made him one of the personalities of the season. But, come Saturday, they will be focused on the task once more.Part of the secret is that there are always men for whom the experience is fresh. There have, admittedly, been times - like in the aftermath of an uninspiring semi-final against Oldham and during their annual pre- Wembley photo-call last week - when they have looked and sounded just a little bored with the whole thing.

There is no reason to expect Wigan to fall down on a job that they have carried out successfully for the past seven years. It will be fitting, then, if Wigan and Leeds can mark the end of an era next Saturday by producing a Wembley classic. There is every chance that they can do so. There are two rules in rugby league: don't vote for anything until you have read the small print (frequently disregarded); and never bet against Wigan at Wembley (always observed). The final will be played in April next year, but that will be Month One, Year Zero - four weeks into the inaugural Super League. It won't be the same occasion then and it will be even less recognisable in future seasons when, in order to make any sense of the new calendar, it will have to be played later in the year. Amid the sound and fury of the Super League, the long-term future of the Silk Cut Challenge Cup and its present status as the climax of the rugby league season, is uncertain. AFTER the Championship to end all Championships, what should come creeping along, almost unnoticed, but the Cup final to end all Cup finals.

Dunn had been sent aqua-planing as he thrust to the byline and Ronnie Jepson did the necessary with the penalty kick.Now it was all hands on deck as Jepson headed another inches wide and Pat Scully added his bulk to the assault, only to scoop a volley over the bar from six yards.An unholy scramble in which both Jepson and Cowan had shots blocked by desperate Shrewsbury bodies brought the game to an end and a postponement of the Huddersfield celebrations.. But the goal that could have transformed Huddersfield's fortunes came too late - seven minutes from the end and from the penalty spot. Paul Evans drove the penalty wide of Steve Francis's left- hand post. The visitors' assault was resumed and was reaching a frenzy as Dunn's accurate corner kicks added to the pressure.

Andy Booth, their much coveted young striker, flashed a header past a post and had another kick cleared off the line.Shrewsbury were handed the perfect opportunity to soothe their by now shattered nerves when Tom Conway took the legs from Mark Smith in the 55th minute. The visitors never recovered from the one-two Shrewsbury landed in the first 15 minutes, as David Walton and Ian Stevens waded through the defence to score. Walton volleyed the first goal in off a post in the eighth minute and six minutes later Stevens met Mark Taylor's cross from the left with an unstoppable header. Huddersfield started the second half with Simon Collins and Ian Dunn replacing Chris Billy and captain Paul Reid, and threatened to tear apart the home defence. Huddersfield came ready to break out the celebratory champagne for a victory that would consolidate their promotion to the First Division. It is still on ice and they will probably have to settle for a place in the play-offs, their hopes sunk into a sodden pitch that would have defied the game's finest to produce meaningful football.