Toronto Wolfpack: Can Canadian club complete journey to Super League?

Toronto won 26 and lost only one of their 27 Championship games on their way to lifting the League Leaders' Shield

From pipe-dream to the edge of reality, Toronto Wolfpack are just 80 minutes from a place in Super League.

After three years of playing their way through the lower leagues, the Wolfpack find themselves in a promotion decider against Featherstone Rovers.

And on the back of their bid for a place in rugby league's elite, a sport that was born in the northern towns of England is beginning to find it's place in one of North America's coolest cities.

"I think there is a huge opportunity out here," said Jon Wilkin, a multiple Challenge Cup and Grand Final winner with St Helens, who this year has been helping spearhead the Wolfpack's on-field bid for promotion.

"I suppose the concept is wild and whacky, but it's a very professional set-up we've got out here. It's just not a traditional heartland," Wilkin told BBC Radio 5 Live's Rugby League Podcast this week ahead of Saturday's game.

"We had 9,500 people at our game last week (against Toulouse), and for me that's astonishing.

"The Toronto Argonauts, from the Canadian CFL - the equivalent of the NFL - they had 12,000 people go to their game and they play in a huge 40,000 stadium and it's on TV over here.

"So for the Wolfpack to get 9,500, that's huge. An attendance like that is not something to be sniffed at."

'Flat-cappers' stand in Wolfpack's way

Promotion is far from a formality for the Canadian side.

This year Toronto, led by four-time Grand Final-winning former Leeds coach Brian McDermott, were runaway leaders of the Championship, finishing 12 points clear of second-placed Toulouse.

But who goes up to Super League is decided by a series of play-off games, culminating in a one-off decider.

The Wolfpack were in the same position last year, only to be shot down by London Broncos.

This year it's Featherstone who stand in their way and the contrast between the two clubs could not be sharper.

Featherstone beat Barrow at Wembley to win the first of their three Challenge Cups in 1967

Featherstone - whose fans rejoice under the self-styled nickname 'the flat-cappers' - is a village that rests right in the middle of the rugby league heartland.

A stone's throw from Super League clubs Castleford and Wakefield Trinity, with Leeds not far beyond, they are often cast in the shadow of their neighbours.

But their history shows up some glorious moments. Their most recent day in the sun was a Challenge Cup final Wembley win in 1983 and they have an appetite to compete with the elite again.

Despite finishing fifth in the regular season this year, they have defied the odds by beating Leigh, York and Toulouse - all away from home - to claim a place in this so-called 'Million Pound Game'.

And Wilkin is not surprised that they are Toronto's opponents for this winner-takes-all contest.

"No, not at all," he said. "Everyone from the outside looking in would say Toulouse and York have been up there, the next best two teams in the competition.

"But the toughest two games we've played all year have been against Featherstone. They've been the most Super League-style games that we've played in, where it's very much a tussle and there's not many breaks in the game, and they seem to relish that as much as any team we've played at this level.

"We're excited to be there and to be playing them."

Is rugby league catching on in Toronto?

Toronto's Lamport Stadium hosted last year's Million Pound Game between the Wolfpack and London Broncos

Earlier this week the Wolfpack reported that 8,000 tickets had already been sold for Saturday.

That's sold, they say, not given away.

And they expect to turn fans away on the day when the "house full" signs go up.

But win or lose, the Wolfpack will go on, and Wilkin says his season with Toronto has shown signs that the rugby league seeds in the city are beginning to take hold.

"I think it's growing," he said. "The area of the city where the stadium is - an area called Liberty Village - is a sort of a hipster area, Google have their offices there. It's a trendy, bohemian work area, but there's residential areas around there as well.

"I'd say pretty much everyone in that area knows about the Wolfpack. People stop you in the street and chat to you. They know about the game, they say things like 'good luck in the final'.

"But the challenge is downtown, the main part of the town. Obviously the Blue Jays and the Maple Leafs are such huge brands and I don't think there's as much visibility there, but that's growing.

"I jumped on a street car the other day, the tram, and the tram driver 'high fived' me. It was a Wolfpack related high five. Just as a little bench mark, I thought that was interesting."

Will pressure play a part?

Jon Wilkin joined Toronto for the 2019 season after 16 years with St Helens

The odds are stacked in the Wolfpack's favour for this final game of the season. Featherstone, a mainly part-time team, had just a three-day turnaround from flying back from their victory in Toulouse before jetting off to Canada.

The Wolfpack have had a week off and no need to travel from their Toronto base.

And Wilkin says he and his team-mates are focused.

"You can build things up too much. It's a Grand Final and the implications of us winning, we'd go into Super League," he said.

"But the consequences of the game's result don't effect the processes on the field, or they shouldn't do. You can get too overawed by the emotion of it, by the scale of the task, but realistically, like anything in life, when you break it down into small bite-size chunks it's very achievable.

"Big games and pressurised environments change people's behaviour. The challenge for us is that we don't have to change anything to win the game.

"We are very respectful of Featherstone, they have a great young coach as well, but if we perform at our best I believe we win the game and that is what we have to do."