McClennan has shrugged off Rhinos' underdogs tag, but he feels they will need their best performance of the season to retain the trophy.

Saints are unbeaten in 23 matches and are odds-on favourites to regain the title Leeds snatched away 12 months ago.

But the Rhinos coach is adamant there is little to chose between the sides and he feels if Leeds can regain the form which won them the Carnegie World Club Challenge back in February, they will pull off a shock.

"I know they are red-hot favourites, but this game has the recipe for being one of the great games," said McClennan.

"In my mind, I don't believe in favourites – that's for the punters and bookies.

"It is 50-50. One thing I know for certain is when the two teams run on the field and everyone looks at the scoreboard, both teams will have a zero underneath their name.

"It is up to us to perform the best we can to get that scoreboard ticking over in our favour."

McClennan rates Rhinos' performance against Aussie champions Melbourne Storm, on a rain-lashed evening seven months ago, as their best of the year.

"There were 800 tackles in that match," he said. "There hasn't been one that's come close to that since.

"It is going to be that type of effort that's needed now. It's forecast for drizzly conditions, so if it gets down to that war of attrition it is going to take some brave performances by both sets of players.

"We will roll our sleeves up and have a crack at being the best we can be in those conditions too."

Rhinos will be without full-back Brent Webb, due to a recurrence of a back injury he originally suffered in July.

That is a savage blow for Rhinos, but McClennan insisted: "We have trained well and prepared well this week.

"We are quietly confident we can perform really well on the night.
"Last week's game (against Wigan in the final eliminator) was good for us. It blew out the cobwebs and got our timing right.

"Reviewing the game, we thought we advanced a bit, especially in defence. We are able to get a bit better line speed and we were a bit more aggressive.

"That was a good step forward and it gives us a bit of confidence that we can be a very good side on defence.

"On attack we weren't that far off jagging a few more tries and putting a bit of a score together.

"But we will have to be better (tonight). They are in a rich vein of form and they are a team with Grand Final experience, which makes it dangerous and which I think makes for a terrific match-up.

"We are also a team that has experience in big games and that's a huge benefit. When young players get a chance to take the field with older players, they'll always tell you they feel a lot more comfortable around experienced players.

"That's the case for both teams. They are well-coached, they are well managed and they have been successful over the last few years.

"They have won a Grand Final in the last two years too. We can draw a lot on the fact we won in 04 and 07 and won the World Club in 05 and 08.
McClennan added: "That makes this a really mouth-watering match."