At least it will mean a decent crowd & decent atmosphere

This.

Time was that this would strike fear into the heart of any Warrington supporter, and more importantly every Warrington player.

Happily those days are long gone, besides a few jessies like Roddy B and Dropkick Murphy, whose choice of trainer in the lead-up to the game will be a hot topic.

We played within ourselves and still rinsed the one-dimensional Saints at Langtree Park, and I expect us to do it again next week.

Gotta agree with Mr. Murphy and Roddy B on this one. Although i think we'll win next sat i don't want to be playing saints in the semi final that matters. Forget about league positions, i would rather face wigan any day of the week, even at their place. Besides that challenge cup tie(minus briers and morley) i can't remember the last time we lost to them. Aren't saints the only team to win at the HJ this season?

Cant wait for this as a neutral.

Exactly what I'm talking about above.

You keep ramping up that expectation and let's see how your players cope with it, as from past experience, they haven't coped well with it at all in a play-off situation.

You're right, the current Saints side could teach us a lot about turning it on in the play-offs, plenty of Grand Final experience.

To be honest, I'd be surprised to learn that Briers, Morley and co read my contributions on here and think: 'ooh, we're under pressure now.'

If the weather is like this I'll be in Havaiana's.



Fully agreed. If we win next week and Wigan lose thus giving us Clubcall I would pick anyone besides Saints in week three - even if it is Wigan.

I don't care if that makes it look like I'm running scared of Saints - I'm on an internet forum, not the Warrington training ground, so it doesn't matter if I'm scared or not - they are masters of getting to the Grand Final and masters of beating Warrington. Yes the "hoodoo" might be over, but they're still the only team to beat us on our own ground this year.

I'm not saying Wigan, Leeds, or even Catalans would be easy - Wigan finished top for a reason, Leeds have an outstanding play off record including the ultimate heartbreak for us last year, and Catalans beat us once away and gave us a very tough game at home this season. All would be tough opponents, but I'd choose any of them - or indeed anyone else if they were to make it through - before Saints all day long.

Yes agreed, Saints are the only ones I'm really worried about.

Big Benny Westwood is a big miss.

Our record in the playoffs is very poor.

The challenge cup final and subsequent celebrations take alot out of the team mentally.

Therefore im going for a Warrington win.

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err umm ,the wire players seemed to *cope* okay with all the so called pressure games this season i-e catalan away in cc,leeds at wembley,wigan home and away ,saints away,(home one a blip )i think you will find wire have a better mindset than they did last year,although having said that , imo,leeds were lucky to beat us last years in the play off game, as in ,some of our players were not actually fully fit on the night and a very ,very dubious last min penalty kick to leeds cost us the game,the way some ppl talk about last years play offs you would think we got battered out of the game and bottled it so i for one im not losing any sleep about the saints game nxt wk also i tend to be more of a *positive * type wire fan and i actually believe we can get to the g/f and ,wait for it,actually win it.like i say,its just my opinion,no doubt some of the more doom and gloom type fans will disagree,but hey ho we all have our own opinions,cant wait for sat,will be a great game,with a wire win

Next week's top 4 games are quite pointless really. 2 games where the losers are rewarded with another chance is bizarre and stupid, but those are the rules and that's that.

As is said above, I'd have preferred to play Wigan. Catalans are still being under-rated, when in all fairness, they are equal to Saints. They won at Saints, and if it was'nt for a couple of bad reffing calls, they'd have won at home aswell. Catalans record against Warrington ranks alongside Wigan and Saints over the last few years. Saints, yet again, are peaking at the right time. They may not have a good a squad as in recent years, but as a club, they know how to get to a grand-final. Wigan are rightly favs, but are becoming vulnerable. Young Sam under a high ball for a start, and KR going 26 points clear at 1 stage last week is another.

The weather is set to change next week, which is good for Leeds. No coincidence that they have won grand-finals and world champions games during the colder months, their major problem is no McGuire forcing Sinfield to play out of position.

If a weather change is good for Leeds, it's bad for Warrington. Our play is just not suited to bad weather ( note the 10 minute downpour at Wembley). A major advantage about these comps is experience. We have not been to a premiership/ grand final since 1987, 25 years, and in that time, we've only won a handful of games when we have qualified for the play-offs.

This superleague season has been poor quality-wise, hopefully the play-offs will be far more exciting, with the above 5 teams, having,imo, just a good a chance of winning the GF as each other.

I'm going to tempt fate, i'm wearing all my 'unlucky' gear and see if i can get the wife to the game, she's been to two previous games before, both loses to Quins/Broncos at The Stoop, i'm also going to say We'll batter them and i'm going to bet on Wire to win, i'll also be bringing my pet Magpie(just the one) walking under plenty of ladders, smashing mirrors and walking over 3 grids.

WIRE to win, easily, by plenty

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