2012 was possibly "peak Wire" in the TS era. We were better in the league overall in 2011, but 2012 was certainly peak Wire pack as we added Chris Hill and Trent Waterhouse to the 2011 pack, and it was the last year when both Adrian Morley and Michael Monaghan were MoS contenders. In the backs we had lost King but gained Ratchford.
As others have noted, both sides had class teams that year and we contested both finals. What was interesting that year was the different levels of comfort the two teams had in playing at Wembley and Old Trafford. It was like playing them home and away and they were a completely different prospect in the Grand Final.
By 2012, none of the Leeds players had won a Challenge Cup, it had become a bit of a monkey on their back, whereas we had won there twice in the last three years, including against them. So at Wembley after it had been a tight game in the first half, they had a try ruled out and then we went straight up the other end and scored, it rattled them, and we ended up scoring three times in ten minutes and they were making errors and getting frustrated and had no rhythm, while we were full of confidence feeling like we could punish them at will. They were a team clearly affected by the fact the last prize that had eluded them was slipping away again, and they couldn't handle us. On the train back I was chatting to some Leeds fans, who were on a real downer, saying they had an ageing team and were second best to us in every department and needed major change. Trying to cheer them up I said, well you never know, you still might end up playing us in the Grand Final, and straight away one of them said "aye, we'd win that" and you could see they believed it.
And when we played Leeds at Old Trafford I felt like their players had the same attitude. There was a different belief and Sinfield was well in control. In those days I used to go with the same group of lads every year to the Grand Final who were all Leeds fans plus me and a Hull KR fan, so I ended up watching it from the Leeds end. We had the lead a couple of times but I never felt confident and there was a sense of calm in the Leeds fans that they were just waiting for the inevitable.
The other thing I remember from that game was not being too upset that we had lost, because I thought, we're getting closer, reaching Old Trafford was a watershed for us and we'll have a great chance next year. Also on a subconscious level I liked the feeling of still having a prize to chase for. RL took on a different meaning for me after our 2009 Challenge Cup win. I used to take RL a lot more seriously, my dream was to see us win a major trophy, and I used to feel the hopes and disappointment more intensely till we won our first. After that I was a lot more chilled: I've seen us win at Wembley and nothing can take that away. But I like having a dream of chasing something we haven't done yet.
A year later, I thought we would beat Wigan and if it hadn't been for the injury to Joel Monaghan we would have done. After we lost that one I felt very differently - it had an end of an era feel and it felt like a window had closed and I did feel regret that that great team's days were at an end without the Grand Final win we wanted.
