I really do admire the OP optimism however, after years of watching this team try and fail on so many occasions it is has meant the very essence of my being is fearing another loss....even with the team we have....even after the progression the club and team has made since moving to the HJ.....even if we had a 16point headstart on Saturday!!

I love this club, but too many instances in the past will mean I'll never be confident going into any game, let alone one of this magnitude!!

I honestly feel sick to the stomach with nerves and we still have two days to go!!!

I hope that you are right NtW and whilst I agree that we have a decent record lately against Wigan I am a bit more cautious/bordering on but not quite pessimistic about our chances.

They, like us have players leaving so it's a last chance saloon for quite a few and our success may have been linked to keeping Tomkins relatively quiet (one more time please)?

Also, I don't get these Matty Smith jibes. I don't watch a lot of SL apart from our games, but, he's not the worse scrum half in the league and he has always done ok against us even when playing for Salford at their vulnerable 'best'.

Contentment = Actuality - Expectation

i just know that wire will have learned from last years defeat and this will finally be!our year!i also think the scoreline will not be as close as some ppl think,cant wait for sat!bring it home wire!

Saints obviously learned from all their defeats to Leeds and Wigan.

My current thinking is that we will lose. That's not based on any rational thought though, just horrible anxiety.

When iestyn brought his lad to rylands, he was asked will Wigan win sl? He said he didn't recon they had a strong enough team to finish top, but if they make a final...they'll win it.

I refer you to an interview with Kenny Dalglish just after an FA cup draw :-

Plank - "Kenny, You've got Arsenal at home - That's a tough draw?"
KD - "Not half as tough as the draw Arsenal got"



Games between us this year have shown Wigan have got to be 100% and we've got to be less than 100% for them to give us a game on Saturday, and I'm sure TS will be reminding the players of that right up to the kickoff.

Ours to lose .....

- i was actually talking about warrington learning from their defeat last year, not interested what saints did or did'nt do after their defeats

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I can only think that it the reason behind the general consensus on here. People certainly seem to be trying to manage their own expectations!

Please don't think I'm some kind of newbie fan-I'm certainly in the long suffering camp having started watching the Wire in 1988. I've seen us lose a couple of finals to Wigan; I was there for the 80-0, and the 84 off Bradford, and all the other disappointments and let downs along the way.

My optimism and relaxed state comes not from an overbearing confidence that we will win (I think it will be a tight, nervy game), but from the fact that I've seen enough of our side in recent years to know they can deliver when it matters, that it doesn't matter that we're playing 'the famous Wigan rugby league team', that it doesn't matter that we've not won it for 58 years, that it doesn't matter we lost last year. This team is more than capable of being crowned Champions, and they know what it takes to do it. I see my responsibility as being one of the thousands cheering them on to hopefully do it-so I'm going to enjoy doing that, not pooing myself that Riley might drop a Matty Smith kick right into Tomkins' arms in the last minute to seal a 2 point defeat!

I'm refusing to get confident because it just makes the letdown more painful, if we get beat.

However, as I constantly go over the form lines, omens and all that type of stuff, the one thing that gives me huge hope is our record of gradual improvement under Tony Smith,

2009 - 9th
2010 - 3rd, played 2, lost 2 in the play offs
2011 - 1st, got beat in heartbreaking fashion in the semi to Leeds
2012 - 2nd, this time we made the final but got beat

2013??... Surely if that record of gradual improvement is to continue, then Saturday has to be ours, doesn't it??...