Wednesday 10 May 2017 13:52, UK
I love the Challenge Cup and have done since I was a little boy. I watched my first final at home on TV and there was just something different about it.
It's not just in St Helens, Salford or Siddal that the people get excited when the Challenge Cup talks place. Even supporters in Sydney want to know who's going to Wembley this year.
The first final I ever went to was to play there in the curtain-raiser for Wigan schools U11s against Morley. The next year I returned and had caught the Wembley bug. It makes you go back whenever you can.
Some describe it as a rugby league pilgrimage, a long journey to a sacred place where lifelong memories are made. We watched as the underdogs of Featherstone beat Hull FC by 14-12. It was the last time that Featherstone played at Wembley.
We are now left with 16 teams who dream of walking out at Wembley in August but this week's games aren't normal ones.
Somehow a cup game differs from a league fixture. I know that it's still an 80-minute contest, played under the same rules against the same opposition that you face most weeks in Betfred Super League but every player will tell you that there is something different. (I know that some games are against some lower league teams, but these are the exceptions)
The teams even use the same tactics and game plans that they employ in their league games every week, but there's still a distinctly different feel to the match. There's almost a different oxygen in the dressing rooms.
I'm not sure if it is down to the fans expectations and hopes, or that of the family and friends of the players and their coaches who have set their hearts on a trip to the cup final and all that entails.
The clock seems to tick faster, especially when your team are behind on the scoreboard. Everybody is more conscious of how long has been played and how long there is left to go when you play in a Challenge Cup game. It makes you realise that nothing lasts forever.
Ultimately, it is because of the pressure that a sudden death cup tie provides. It adds to the excitement and manages to evoke the greatest memories from the past to inspire the next generation.
There are eight fascinating contests this week with the possibility of some giant-killing should the underdogs of Swinton repeat their performance from the last round.
Barrow have nothing to lose by taking the game to Leeds and I've no doubt that Dewsbury Rams will throw everything that they have got at Wakefield.
St Helens face the toughest trip to Tiger town but you can never write them off and I think Widnes will give Warrington a run for their money.
Thirty-four years after travelling to watch them at Wembley, I'm travelling to watch Featherstone take on Halifax on Thursday. Jon Sharp and Richard Marshall are two great coaches of two equally matched teams on paper.
The idea of a knockout trophy has helped to provide some of the best games over the last 100 years and I am sure we will see some more this week.
I've no doubt that there will be one player on show who goes on to do what Zak Hardaker or Alex Walmsley have done by progressing from a lower league team to the very top of the game.
Those types of players are often discovered in this round of the Challenge Cup and I can't wait to see if I can spot one at Featherstone.
