“WE’VE played better there than we have at our home stadium!” joked Lindsay Anfield as her York Valkyrie prepare to do battle at Leeds Rhinos for a place in the Betfred Women’s Super League Grand Final this evening (5pm).

The sides faced off in both the 2022 and 2023 Grand Finals - winning one apiece - but only one can take on either St Helens or Wigan Warriors in the trophy-crowning match on October 6.

Despite being without influential captain and reigning Woman of Steel Sinead Peach for the entirety of the campaign and seeing key figures in Tara Jane Stanley, Lacey Owen and Rhiannion Marshall sidelined for long periods, York battled back to earn a third-placed finish.

Anfield’s side needed to overturn a points difference in excess of 80 to leapfrog Leeds into second, but came up short of a coveted home play-off tie with a 32-6 victory at Featherstone.

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But the director of rugby insists a semi-final at Headingley is as favourable a tie her side could have wished for.

“It was a tough ask,” she told BBC Radio York. “It was massive, and we didn’t expect to get anywhere near that. It wasn’t on the agenda.

“Not in an arrogant or complacent way, but we play well at Headingley and we have done for the last few years. It’s a place that we enjoy going. 

“We’ve played better there than we have at our home stadium unfortunately!

“Getting that draw is probably one that we would have picked anyway. It’s the one that we’ve been building for since April or May this year.

“We had the spate of injuries, we knew that Sinead wasn’t going to be playing, there were all sorts of things going off in camp that we said ‘make it to the play-offs, and whoever we get, prepare for them’.

“We are, and we just need to make sure that we do a good job and perform on Sunday.” 

York have an excellent record at Headingley, including a 32-6 victory earlier this month.York have an excellent record at Headingley, including a 32-6 victory earlier this month. (Image: Alan Milner/Milner Creative/York RLFC)

York have won on each of their last three trips to Headingley, including a comfortable 32-6 rout three weeks ago.

Anfield is relishing the magnitude of the match, which will also be broadcast on Sky Sports, but hopes her side will not become complacent with their good record at the Rhinos.

“It was a great win and it was a good performance, but we just can’t count on that happening again whatsoever,” she stressed.

“We can’t be complacent, we know it’s going to be a fight - it’s the last game of the season for one of us so everything will be left on the field.”