I'm not doubting wigans credentials to win over the coming season(s) (though I think they have more question marks then they did this year) BUT what makes me say they are no where near the standards of the two teams you mentioned is that both of them are so far ahead of everyone else at the time in different areas and I don't see any which area where Wigan blow everybody else out of the water.

Saints in 2006 were the definition of consistency, they lost 4 games all year and never more than 4 points (aka they were 4 tries away from the perfect season).

Leeds over the last 5 season have been the ultimate play off team, for so many years you said well they can't do it again and they did, and probably matched saints in 2006 with there playoff record.

Wigan have done fantastically well to develop their own and will certainly compete but still have a way to compete against the the very best in the sl era.

As Roosters fan and a Wigan fan I cant argue with this. I am looking forward to the game and it will be great having it here in Sydney, but if the Roosters play like they can then this game is going to be a very one sided one. The Roosters defence this season has been incredible. 6 NRL teams including Manly have failed to score against them this season.

I really want it to be a close game but I just can't see it. Regardless though, it will be a fantastic trip for the club and any fans who come down here.

A young hard working squad,yes.Cant see many world beaters in there though TBH and you have just sold your crown jewel and also lost a points machine in Richards.The signing of a fringe NRL forward does not cover these loses.Congrats on your double win, but im afraid hopes of a domination of SL are just a pipe dream.

If we had this years team playing the WCC I think we'd put in a decent account of ourselves but its going to be difficult minus Tomkins, Richards and Mossop to keep this game competative. We'll have either youngsters in the team like Burgess and Burke or our new 'project' signings like Sarginson and Clubb and whilst Wigan will work hard and improve them lads it will take longer then a couple of pre season games to get them up to speed.

Wigan will keep churning these young lads out and will keep improving their project signings like they have with Flower and Dudson and I'm confident we'll stay around the upper end of superleague but I think any English club is going to struggle to win a WCC going forward unless things change.

LOL

On paper it should be a clear win for the Roosters, but I think Wane will have Wigan pumped up and ready for it. I don't expect a win, but I certainly don't think Wigan will be embarrassed.

Taking the game to Sydney is a mistake.
They will be lucky to get the SFS half full.
The Roosters will virtually be the same again, Wigan will be minus some very good players.
The other anolmaly are the refs. If an Aussie ref, Ashley Klein apart, runs the game Wigan will get battered on the penalty count (like 12-2) and it could be a cricket score. That's happened before in Internationals and could very well happen again.
IL and SW need to think long and hard about this.
The game could lose money by being held in Sydney, it could be also be an awful night for Wigan and British Rugby League.
If Sonny Bill Williams is playing as well as the Roosters other stars then the DW will get over 20,000 in. It will make money.
We would have a SL ref who wouldn't spoil the game and get a great contest.
Only one venue makes any kind of sense to me and that's the DW.
(From someone who went to Brisbane in '94 too)

Why?


True it will be full.


Well if the players learn and play by the rules then they won't get penalised. It really is that simple!


Why, if Wigan win, and there is no reason they may not why is that bad for British Rugby League?

Well it isn't so they won't. Unless there is one of Mo & Ron Balls games on the DW will be empty

It's never the referees who spoil the game. It's the players who don't know the rules or try to ignore them or bend them. They get penalised when caught and get away with it when not caught. If the whistle is going 20 to the dozen who is at fault? The coaches?, the groundsman?

That will not be true.

SFS (i.e. Allianz Stadium) has a capacity of 45,500.

There will be 20,000 Sydney Roosters fans.
There will be 10,000 South Sydney fans supporting Wigan.
There will be 3,500 Manly fans supporting Wigan.
There will be 5,000 neutrals.

Total crowd: 38,500

We'll see!

Why would Manly/Souths fans go and support Wigan? I've found myself cheering for Leeds & Saints in some WCC games.

Souths and Easts (Sydney Roosters) fans have an intense more than 100 year old rivalry that borders on the pathological. Russell Crowe has gone out of his way, since he bought South Sydney Rabbitohs, to stir up this rivalry.

Manly fans are a bit of a sour grapes crowd -- though most of them are too lazy to travel across the Sydney Harbour Bridge, unless it is an occasion when their team is in the Grand Final.

I think that the prospect of the Sydney Roosters winning a second Grand Final in 2014 -- an unprecedented, for the NRL, "back to back" win -- thanks in part to Sonny Bill Williams, will enrage the fans of South Sydney and Manly in particular. They will want to see the "tall poppies" known as the Sydney Roosters, brought down a notch.

I expect to see the Burgess brothers, Greg Inglis and Russell Crowe, in the crowd at Allianz Stadium to support Wigan.