Putting aside thoughts about tickets and crowd numbers, how does everyone think the game will go on Saturday?

I'm not feeling overly confident personally. Huddersfield have an 8 point start with the bookmakers though. We certainly have the players to score points and hopefully the pace of our back three will shine on a big pitch. Our defence has not exactly been watertight as of late though and we definitely have to cut down the basic errors and penalties. Huddersfield look very strong across the park to me - no clear weakness. Their pack looks stronger on paper. Russell and Fages facing late fitness tests.

Its clear thr club has highlighted the cup as a big priority this year so hopefully we will bring our best.

I felt confident the day after the Semi final.

The more I’ve looked into Huddersfield to more I think that 8 point start should be about 2/4. Even perhaps scratch.

Played us very well in the game at the DW and we’re missing Fages and Levi.

They’ve barely any injuries and a couple of good players will miss out on selection for them.

Hill and Yates provide good platform and the spine works really well (late shifts to the opposite side of the ruck to create numbers).

Great outside backs too.

If I were Watson I’d be going at gap between Thornely and Smith all game long.

Really tough test, clique but should be a cracker for the neutral.

As much as I really like O’Neill I’d be more confident with Powell playing. Just a machine defensively.

Fages will be fine reading between the lines but they might not risk Russell. They’ll be strong whatever happens and it’s a genuine 50/50 IMO. I rate them massively and actually said about 6 games in that I think they’re the best chance of anyone stopping Saints cleaning up.

In terms of us we need to try and replicate that semi final. Cut out the silly errors, the penalties and get our defence back to the level it was at for 60-65 minutes of that game. In tight games your desperate to have a couple of game breakers in your side and we have Field and French. I’d even put Mago in there and a game like this. He might only play for 10-15 minutes but one individual moment could crack it open.

I really rate Watson, he’s a smart coach and we are going to need to be smart to win this one.

Underestimate Huddersfield and we lose.

Don’t think our preparation has been ideal with our attitude against Hull being very questionable.

Weather could play a part too, think the rain could suit them.

Wigan by 2 & Harry Smith gets the Lance Todd.

Forecast for Saturday
rlhttps://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/2635608rl
Fine and sunny no rain click to Saturdays weather

Bring the trophy home. All that matters.

He's a shrewd coach Watson and they are a good team but unfortunately I can only see a Wigan win although I think it will be close. I think Wigan's big game experience will be a key factor and if it is a dry day they will have too much pace in the backs.

Huddersfield could potentially freeze on the big occasion but its clear that Wigan have put all their eggs into the CC basket these last two weeks and will be more than ready.

Would absolutely love to be going to that stadium on Saturday.

Reckon we could all name the team right now, Bibby seems to be the only question mark, if he is missing I'd imagine Peet will go safety first and put Bateman at centre with Isa back in rather than giving Halsall the centre spot

Huddersfield have a very good pack, very good spine, a top quality centre, and a smart coach.

We will have to be on top of our game to beat them.

I'm hoping we've been working on our defence - they have some very smart switch plays which can easily expose our outside backs in defence so we have stop them getting field position in the first place.

Looking forward to seeing if Field and French have been working on some combinations to get themselves into the game more and on the shoulder of some of the forwards - just need to put a little more doubt in the defenders minds. Looking forward to seeing them both hopefully Field can bring his form into the final.

Will Pryce back from suspension too, they say they’re ready to throw him straight back in if Russell/Fages miss out. Peet said Bibby will be fine for the final, was just a precaution. Luke Yates is a great player, I think he might be a handful for us, Danny Levi too, but I’m confident Wigan win on Saturday. 8-12 points.

I see this one as a scratch game too. Whilst I can understand the last couple of weeks wobbly performances, I can't entirely dismiss them when thinking about this week. So much of defending in crunch games is a mindset of discipline which I think is a lot harder to flick a switch on and off from as opposed to attacking structures.

Attack wise, our real advantage comes from being able to score from any part of the pitch due to the pace in our back 3. Watson still coaches in the 'grind out sets' style which can go one of two ways with us. If we have one of our ball-juggling jittery performances it leaves us pinned on our line as per 2 weeks ago.

That said as others have mentioned I feel the cup has been targetted this year. Our cup performances this year have been a cut above most SL ones and our points difference in the cup just from a handful of games can't be far of our league tally. They have us in the centres but I feel our back row - both in attacking threat and in game experience - may be the difference. Pre-match ales for nerves will help.

Not overly confident for Saturday, would of liked to go into the game in some kind of form rather than off the back of a couple of defeats.
Smith needs to have a good defensive game on Saturday, he has been a weak point lately and has been skinned a few times this season, if we can stay switched on and keep the penalties to a minimum then I think we should win, get on the wrong side of the whistle and we invite Hudds to take the spoils, very evenly matched teams at the moment.
If we can get some quick plays and ship the ball out to field and french to attack at a broken line then we should get some good breaks and hopefully some break away tries.

It’s a good summary. I can’t say I was particularly pleased with the mentality in that first 20 minutes at Hull on Saturday. I’ll give them credit because they did put it behind them and got back to playing properly but for 20 minutes, it just felt like a small club mentality of ‘I’ve got a cup final to play in next week, so screw this’.

The proof will be in the pudding on Saturday but I always feel momentum is tough to create and easy to throw away and we had great momentum going in to the semi. We’d been excellent at Wire and took it in to the semi and whilst I wasn’t against the rests at Huddersfield, we have lost some momentum. I suppose on the plus side, we did play pretty well outside that first 20 minutes, so maybe we can get straight back in the grove.

I’m nervous already and don’t have a great feeling about it but that’s probably just natural final pessimism.

James bloody Child.

They are very well coached and you can bet that they will be exploiting any perceived defensive weakness from Wigan (Smith certainly, O'Neil potentially). They are a real handful to defend against aswell. Watson has been a bridesmaid a couple of times with Salford and he'll have them busting a gut to finally get a trophy.

That said I just think Wigan have that bit more class, and the pace of the back 3 is bound to make a difference at some point in the contest. I think Wigan will win by the odd try.