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By Dave Woods
BBC soccer league correspondent
By pipe-dream into realitys edge, Toronto Wolfpack are only 80 minutes from a place in Super League.
Following three years of playing with their way the Wolfpack locate themselves at a promotion decider from Featherstone Rovers.
And on the back part of their bidding for a place in the elite of league, a sport that has been created in Englands towns is starting to find its place in one of the coolest cities of North America.
I believe there is a enormous opportunity from here, said Jon Wilkin, a multiple Challenge Cup and Grand Final winner using St Helens, who this season was serving spearhead the Wolfpacks on-field bidding for promotion.
I guess the concept is crazy and whacky, but it is a very professional set-up we have out here. It is simply not a traditional heartland, Wilkin told BBC Radio 5 Lives Rugby League Podcast this week before Saturdays game.
Wed 9,500 people at our match a week (against Toulouse), and for me personally thats astonishing.
The Toronto Argonauts, in the CFL – the equal of the NFL – theyd 12,000 individuals go for their match and they play in a tremendous 40,000 arena and its on TV around here.
So for the Wolfpack to get 9,500, thats enormous. An presence like that is not something to be sniffed at.
Promotion is for the side far in the bible.
Toronto, headed by Grand Leeds coach Brian McDermott, were leaders of the Championship, completing 12 points clear of second-placed Toulouse this year.
However, who moves up to Super League is decided by a run of play-off games, culminating at a one off decider.
The Wolfpack were in exactly the same position this past year.
This year it and also the contrast between the two clubs couldnt be sharper.
Featherstone – whos fans rejoice beneath the self-styled nicknamethe flat-cappers – is a village that rests in the middle of the league heartland.
A stones throw away from Wakefield Trinity and Super League clubs Castleford, together with Leeds not much beyond, they are often cast in the shadow of their acquaintances.
However, their history reveals up some glorious moments. Their most recent afternoon in the sun was a Challenge Cup Wembley triumph in 1983 and they have a desire to compete with the elite.
This year despite finishing fifth in the regular season, theyve defied the odds away from house – all by beating Leigh, York and Toulouse – to claim a place in this so-calledMillion Pound Game.
And Wilkin is not surprised they are the competitions with this winner-takes-all competition of Toronto.
Nonot at all, he said. Everybody in the outside looking in could say Toulouse and York have been up there, the next best two teams in the competition.
However, the toughest two games weve played all year have been against Featherstone. They have been the Superb League-style games that we have played , theres not many fractures in the game and where its very much a tussle, and they seem to relish that as far as any team weve played this level.
We are eager to be there and so are playing with them.
Earlier this week that the Wolfpack noted that 8,000 tickets had been sold for Saturday.
That is sold, they state , not given away.
And they hope to turn fans off on the afternoon when thehouse full signs go up.
But lose or win, the Wolfpack will go on, and Wilkin says his season with Toronto has revealed evidence the French league seeds from town are beginning to take hold.
I think its growing, he said. The area of the city where the scene is – an area called Liberty Village – is a type of a hipster place, Google have their offices there. It is a cool work area, but there areas around there.
I would say pretty much everybody in that region knows about the Wolfpack. You are stopped by people today and chat for you. They know about the match, they state things likefortune in the last.
However, the battle is downtown, the major portion of the town. Of course the Maple Leafs and the Blue Jays are such brands that are huge and I do not think thats growing, although there is as much vulnerability there.
I jumped onto a street car the other day, the tram, and the tram driverhigh fived me. It turned out to be a Wolfpack. Just as a little bench mark, I thought that was intriguing.
The odds are stacked in the Wolfpacks favour for this final game of this season. Featherstone, a mostly team, had a turnaround before jetting off to Canada, in flying back out of their success at Toulouse.
The Wolfpack have had a week away and no need to travel in their Toronto base.
And his is said by Wilkin and his own team-mates are concentrated.
You can build up things a lot. Its a Grand Final and the implications people winning, wed enter Super League, he said.
However, the consequences of the matchs result do not impact the procedures on the field, or else they shouldnt do. You may become overawed by its emotion, by the scale of the endeavor, but realistically, like anything else in life, if you break it down into small chunks that were bite-size it achievable.
Big matches and pressurised environments alter peoples behavior. The challenge to us is we dont need to change anything to win the match.
We are very respectful of Featherstone, they have a excellent young coach as well, but if we perform at our finest I think we win the match and that is what we must do.
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