PREM FINISH NEEDS TO BE GRAND
TV star Hills reckons top-flight football should copy winner-takes-all decider
AUSTRALIAN comedian Adam Hills is not joking when he says the Premier League needs to get itself a Grand Final.
The TV star, a massive rugby league fan, has been leading Channel 4’s coverage of Betfred Super League this season.
It is the first time the competition has been shown on free-to-air television in its 26-year history.
The coverage, largely on Saturday lunchtimes, has been a big hit and the latest in the 10-match deal will be Sunday’s battle between champions St Helens and Castleford.
The play-off series is fast approaching and Channel 4 will show one of those every Saturday as the race for Old Trafford hots up.
Hull KR, Leeds and Hull are outside the top-six but have not given up with six games remaining.
Hills, born without a right foot, plays physical disability rugby league for Warrington and will represent Australia at this autumn’s World Cup.
He believes the end-of-season drama of rugby league far outweighs what happens in the Premier League.
“I can’t get my head around the Prem,” said Hills, who presents Channel 4 comedy show The Last Leg.
“It just gets to the end and it’s like, ‘Well, you’re in front, you’ve won’.
“At the risk of sounding overly northern, ‘I love a Grand Final, me!’.
“I grew up in Australia with the concept of the Grand Final being the biggest match of the year. Everyone wants to make it. Watching the Premier League, I always end up thinking, ‘There’s no Grand Final’. I don’t understand it.”
Admittedly, some rugby league fans would prefer to go back to the old first-past-thepost system.
But the Old Trafford Grand Final, on September 24 this year, has grown and grown since its inception in 1998.
Leaders Saints, who have lost winger Regan Grace because of a season-ending ruptured Achilles, are hotlytipped to make it four titles in a row.
But Sunday’s shock 44-12 loss at Salford reminded everyone how nothing is certain.
Hills added: “That’s what you want at the end of the Super League season – not being sure who’s going to end up where.
“It is tight particularly with Salford, who are sixth, beating Saints on Sunday.
“It’s a cliche but genuinely anything can happen from here.”