'The ultimate dream': Leeds Rhinos chief hails coach and players ahead of Grand Final clash with St Helens

“We’ve been on some remarkable journeys, but this tops the lot,” Hetherington said of Leeds’ transformation from relegation candidates to Grand Finalists.

Rhinos were the first team to lift the trophy three in three successive years and to reach - and win - the title from fifth on the league table.

They featured in the inaugural title decider, in 1998, just two years after the club was in financial crisis, their victory in 2004 was Leeds first championship for 32 years and they completed an historic treble - of Challenge Cup, league leader’s shield and Super League crown - in 2015.

But this year has seen Rhinos recover from the poorest start to a season in their history, having won just one of their opening 10 competitive games, to stand 80 minutes away from a ninth Super League title and Hetherington insisted: “This is the best storyline ever.”

He said: Everyone talks about Leeds being the only club to win it from fifth - and we’ve done that twice - but if we win it on Saturday we will have won it from 11th!

“That’s where we were half way through the season. Firstly, under [interim-coach] Jamie Jones-Buchanan it was survival, just trying to avoid the possibility of getting relegated.

“Under Rohan Smith we have effectively been playing knockout rugby to climb the ladder. We went to the death against Castleford [in the final league game] and just scraped into the play-offs, we had a great win at Catalans, great win at Wigan and here we are in the final. It is quite a remarkable journey in that regard.”

Leeds have had their fair share of adversity this year and Hetherington reckons that makes being at Old Trafford even sweeter.

“We have been beset by injuries and suspensions, which have been very significant,” he recalled.

“We’ve had key players missing for big chunks of the season. Tom Holroyd hasn’t played a game all year and we have had a significant injury list.

“We also probably top the league when it comes to suspensions, but Zak Hardaker has made a real contribution since he joined us and we’ve seen the emergence of some young players who have been thrown in at the deep end, gained experience and played a really important role.

“It has all come together, we are going back to Old Trafford, the Theatre of Dreams and it would be the ultimate dream to win this one in such adversity and against all the odds.”

Smith’s appointment was seen as a gamble by Hetherington, who initially seemed set on bringing in a more experienced head coach following Richard Agar’s resignation in March.

It is the first time Smith has been in charge of an elite-level team, but Leeds have won 13 of their 18 games since he arrived and Hetherington said: “He has done a terrific job, as indeed have all the coaching staff. It has been a real team effort, everybody has pulled together.

“I met quite a number of candidates, in Australia and the UK - who could, I am sure, all have done a very good job, but Rohan was the stand out.

“He ticked all the boxes I felt you needed to have if you are going to come and coach at Leeds.”

Saints are bidding for a fourth successive Old Trafford triumph in Leeds’ first visit there since 2017, but Hetherington said a tried and tested plan has been put in place.

“I am not superstitious, but we are basically repeating all the arrangements of our last 10 Grand Finals,” he revealed.

“We got into a regular routine in terms of what we did, timings for the team, where it stayed, where it went and so on and we are doing all those again.”