GRAND FINAL: Leeds v St Helens
Venue: Old Trafford Date: Saturday, 10 October 2009 Kick-off: 1800 BST
Coverage: Live on BBC 5 live sports extra, BBC Radio Leeds and BBC Radio Merseyside, with text commentary on BBC Sport website. Live on Sky Sports 1.
Highlights: Super League Show on BBC Two on Sunday at 1830 BST

Keiron Cunningham is playing in his penultimate Super League season

Keiron Cunningham will play through the pain barrier on Saturday in a bid to prevent more Grand Final heartache.

The St Helens great will have a pain-killing injection on his fractured hand as Cunningham bids to win his sixth title and end Leeds Rhinos' dominance.

"I'm not going to miss the biggest game of the season, this is what we play rugby for," said the Saints skipper.

"The Grand Final is the elite. It's the pinnacle of the season and it's what you want to play in."

The Rhinos, who have beaten St Helens in the last two Grand Finals, are aiming to become the first team to win successive trophies.

But Cunningham's physical pain is outweighed by the former Great Britain star's disappointment at the outcomes of the last two end-of-season showpieces.

The talismanic 32-year-old hooker, voted the number one player in the Super League era, is set to skipper the side despite a fractured knuckle and torn ligaments in his finger.

St Helens edged out Wigan 14-10 in the play-offs to secure a place in the Old Trafford final. And Cunningham is confident of their chances despite facing a formidable Leeds side.

I was going call it a day after this one. I had some big discussions with the chairman and we both felt it was best for the club if I did one more year St Helens captain Keiron Cunningham

"To get there and not win it is so disappointing, you'd rather not get there at all," he told BBC Radio Wales' Back Page show.

"We've rolled them a couple this season and they've rolled us, so it's anybody's game."

"The last two play-off games we played against Huddersfield and Wigan have been two tough battles.

"Defensively we were outstanding. We're picking a bit of form up and going in the right direction

Saints' veteran Sean Long will be making his final appearance for the club in the final after agreeing to move to Hull FC in the winter.

And Cunningham has admitted that he will miss the charismatic scrum-half, who has spent the last 12 years at Knowsley Road.

"It's going to be a very emotional time for a lot of people," said Cunningham.

"Sean has been a very close friend of mine since I was 11. We've played a lot of rugby together at different levels.

"He's my right arm at the club. It'll be difficult to move on and have life after Sean. He's a fantastic bloke.

606: DEBATE Cunningham and Long are the players who dictate play for Saints, manoeuvre the team around the park and both were sorely missed when they were out through injury at different points during the season electricsaint

Cunningham is considered one of the finest players in the modern era and has played nearly 450 games for the Saints, winning five Super League titles, seven Challenge Cups and two World Cup Challenge Winners medals.

His legendary status at St Helens is such that the club have commissioned a statue to be cast of him the town.

The former Wales international signed a contract extension until the end of next season but admits he considered calling it quits at the end of the current campaign.

"I was going call it a day after this one," said Cunningham.

"I had some big discussions with the chairman and we both felt it was best for the club if I did one more year."

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