So, regardless of the result of next week's final, have we all been suckerpunched by SW and the team when we look back over the performances over the last 12 or so weeks?

From up there looking sublime, 5 points clear in the league around the time of the Etihad match. Then down to resting players and putting the shutters up in the final third if the season, winning ugly at Wembley and finishing off the regular season with a win/loss ratio similar to the likes of Salford & Cas (and looking poor along with it).

Then producing two stunning playoff performances against two top teams in good form whilst beating them quite comfortably in the end?

I certainly didn't see this coming, I thought we'd perhaps blown our load.

Have we (and the rest of SL) been hoodwinked by SW?

I've gone from someone who thought...'nah, can't see it' to "maybe, just maybe"...!!!

The double is on (hopefully)!

Well, let's hope it's a master stroke by Mr Wane.
Do we get a refund on our season tickets for the second half of the season?

Good point

Do they do a half season membership for the first half of the season like they do the second ?

I thought Wanes masterplan was to finish 4th thus avoid Wire

We had this debate a couple of weeks ago.

Was it the plan to get to the CC final and the GF? Of course.

Was it part of that plan to have a poor second half of the league season? No.

I can't remember who it was but someone else summed it up perfectly the last time we had this debate when they said this isn't a computer game where you can set the team to run at 70%. They go out to win every game. I agree and they also said the poor second half of the league season was simply down to a loss of form which happens to all sides every now and again. Whether that loss of form was down to the wrong tactics, injuries or players such as Green looking like he lacked his early season confidence on return from inury, who knows but I think they were right to say it was just a loss of form.

Credit needs to go to Wane for getting the players up for the big games given the poor league form.

My opinion all along was that we were playing our cards close to our chest and conserving energy for the proper stuff. The game that convinced me we'd do ok in the play offs was the Leeds league game at home funnily enough. They mullered us up front and we was missing the spark to give us a chance but we stuck in all the way through and kept it respectable with a big effort, an effort that got us in play off mode.

I think it was Jonh on here who started a thread that night saying he was convinced after seeing that game that we could win the grand final and I fully backed him. A lot of people weren't convinced but there was just a few little signs that night that we were back.

If you mean you felt the loss of form was being reversed I'd agree with you but as whoever it was who made the post said, there is no way you can set the team to play at 70%. If you tried that you wouldn't just loose you'd get mullered. They tried to win every game they played IMO and it's to be hoped they did or otherwise a season ticket would be a pointless purchase. I am sure this is not lost on any club hence the Saints chairman having to make statements to fans apologising for their poor form early in the season. I also don't think it is possible for any fan to go to game and sit there not givign a toss when it going pear shaped because they are thinking its all part of a master plan. Anyone who did ought to apply for chairmanship of the happy clappers club.

There was certainly no master plan and no purposeful defeats but the lads quite clearly struggled to lift themselves for the games that didn't mean a great deal due to our great start to the season.

I think that's the thing though, I felt we weren't playing well because we just lacked that little bit of motivation as opposed to us just being off form. We certainly weren't throwing games but the energy wasn't there in the big moments.

I always felt that could come back and it has.

While I don't for a minute think we deliberately lost all those games towards the end, I do think there was a drop in intensity at that time, whether deliberate or not. I see it as somewhat analogous to a distance runner, who typically sets off at a good pace to establish a strong strategic position in the leading pack for the first half of the race, then cruises for a while to conserve energy (both physical and emotional) for the final sprint to the line.

Well I am very much in the loss of form camp as I am sure you can tell and as I said credit to Wane for turning that around. A reason I am is I don't think both Smith and Greens performances, (for example which were sub standard and certainly contributed to losses), after they came back from injury were poor because they lacked motivation.

It may well be that Wane said after a loss its not the end of the world as we have points in the bag but equally I don't think his comments to the press after a loss expressing his frustrations were a con trick or spin. It's just not in his nature IMO.

That would be a deliberate tactic though. Do you honestly think the coach or players were pacing themselves from one week to the next based on the league tables? Fans do the over-analysis IMO and I don't think Wane or the players do in terms of how to approach games. I think Wane and the players just want to win. OK Wane won't risk players with niggly injuries given the competition structure but unless I am mistaken that isn't the contention.

I'm thinking about motivation rather than player selection...the difference between "right lads, go out and win this game" and "right lads, play as if your lives depend on this game and there's no tomorrow"...

We'll probably never know though, and I'm just happy with the outcome, whatever the cause!

Me to! Never expected it to be honest.

If we beat Wire in the final here is an interesting stat. We will have played and beaten all the sides who finished above us in the league.

All this talk of a plan makes me cringe. You don't plan to lose games. The best position to finish regardless of how much of a joke the play-offs are, is 1st. I was pleased we finished 4th as it gave us the best chance of getting to the GF but you couldn't have foreseen that Huddersfield would finish top when we started to play poorly.