Safe to say I'm very confident. Hope it doesn't bite me on the ass later.

If our forwards dont dominate that pack then they dont deserve to win.

Graham with a back injury
LMS is a soft shíte
Clough is coming back from an long term injury (is he even a prop?? thought he was SR)

If Graham really does have an injury then Tony P is the only one that scares me from the props.

LMS has been playing very well for a few weeks now. I think he has a tendency to be a bit lazy rather than soft. Jammer is a doubt but from our POV I hope he is fit. Clough returned from his shoulder injury a few weeks ago but turned his ankle and so went back into the Saints ward. However, he played a full 80 minutes in the u20s last week so I would imagine he can do his usual spells on the pitch tomorrow. He's a tackling machine. With the absence of Perry, Puletua has been playing prop and he looked well on form last week.

Our team looks very different with Leon Pryce in it. We have badly needed his experience and command in the centre of the field. He's still not match fit but apparently he made it through the full 80 last week without problems. However, I will only believe that when I see him on the pitch tomorrow!

Wigan will test Pryces fitness very early in the game.

As expected.

Soliola puts in some big shots and Wilkin is a dangerous player with ball in hand, but I have to back our forwards to do the job. In the recent big games against Saints, Huddersfield and Warrington our forwards have completely dominated.
We just seem so driven and motivated. It's like the lads have a different level for the big games and so far no team has had an answer for it. As Billy Boston
has said this week - if Wigan played like they did against Warrington they'll win

It is the Saints back line that doesn't look half as dangerous as it has been. Paul Wellens is too slow, Magennis is very inexperienced, Shenton has been dodgy in defence and Meli/Foster don't really strike fear into me. When you compare that to the mercurial Sam Tomkins at fullback, the strike power and speed of Josh Charnley, the Dream team duo of Carmont and Richards our back line looks far superior. Pryce and Lomax are very dangerous in the halves and Saints will be a different prospect to the last time we met with those two playing, but Pryce's match fitness (a bit like Gaz Hock) has to be questioned. I've seen Lomax play in three big games against Wigan, the Grand Final, Good friday and the demolition at the Stobart. Now while he has always been a threat, he's never controlled things against us. When you compare him to the experience of Deacon and Finch who can just dictate the flow of the game so easily - it's easy to see why we're top of the league and in the semi-finals of the Challenge Cup.

Then the Stains bench. Gaskell and Moore don't really strike fear into me either. I'd sooner have Eastmond on the bench for his defensive frailties, but sadly it looks like he will be injured. Clough and LMS don't compare to Andy Coley and Paul Prescott/Ben Cross IMO and that could be a telling difference.

But games aren't won on paper and anything can happen on derby day. I'm confident of the win though and believe this is Wigan's to lose. Setting myself up for a fall, but I'm being honest.

And Graham's.

He won't be played unless he is properly fit. Any doubt and he'll be out as his injury is the same as Pryce had, and it is career threatening.

I'm glad our backline doesn't feel threatening to Wigan fans. That's ok by us!

As will Saints test Sam's fitness. The Wigan team are in Warrington tonight and Sam is still suffering pain from his shoulder injury and is on tablets for it.

A Saints fan has pm'd me asking to delete my post of the team, i've tried but dont know how too but now im thinking... why should i ?

i know were the wigan team are and its not warrington

The worry I'd have as a Saints fan would be the bench.

Graham must be a touch under 100%, so you'd want more than 2 forwards on the bench surely?

Sam has always took some form of medication or something for his shoulder according to form, so that is just a normal weekend for little Sam.

I wouldn't underestimate Scott Moore. Despite him not being the biggest, he provides some sensational impact of the bench with his aggressive nature.

I would have banked with a wigan win and still think you'll get through but saints having pryce back could make things interesting.
the saints pack on paper is top quality. at the start of the season I said to my wire friends that the best pack
is the saints pack if fully fit. having said that though, the way o'loughlan and co performed v us 2 weeks was outstanding.
Our forwards were kept fairly quiet including westwood who seemed to be unrecognizable.

I'm really looking for to this one. If saints can overide the speed and movement you had v us in the first 20 then it's anyones game.
I honestly think that stains could have you in the forwards with Puletu, lms driving and a speedy roby. but you've got o'loughlan
and hoffmann and an improving lima with finch showing how good he is. It'll be a fantasic game and i'm getting the goose bumps
already. May the best side win.