Saints will still have the Grand Final temperament, while we won't. That could count for a lot. Whatever game-plan Wigan hatch this week, they MUST stick to it in order to have a chance of winning.

True, but that could work both ways, they also have the losing habit.

And we have a bunch of players desperate to make a mark in their first final.

For me, Fielden, Lockers and Gleeson will be invaluable as the only ones having played at OT before. There'll be times when we need to calm things down and play cleverly, and these need to set the example IMO.

Stop cunningham you stop saints on friday they looked like rabbits in headlights when he was off the pitch

Tbh after our defence on sat it will take something very special to break it

Hasn't Deacon played (and won) at OT?

im sure MM has the saints weaknesses sussed..........for me they look very dodgy in defence down the wings.......and with us having 2 wingers who came 1 & 2 in try chatrs...thats where we should concentrate our attacks.

i think our defence will look after itself

If we defend as we did on Saturday, they should be reduced to however many points Cunningham can get by flopping over from a yard out. Keep it tight and don't take any chances - that was key at Headingley - the couple of drop-outs we gave away with some scrambling defence in the second half were fine because we were strong enough to withstand repeat sets.

Kicking needs to be better; I like Tommy, but it seems that four in every five of his kicks are straight into opposing arms on the full. Mix it up a bit - when was the last time we kicked a 40/20? Has it even happened this season? Leon Pryce banged one for Saints at our place earlier this year and it gave them the momentum to take a grip on the game.

Tactically we need change nothing really. We're going into this having finished first in the table, and having beaten the reigning champions away in our last game. There's good reason for that. If the execution of our play is as good as it's been on most weeks this year, that should see us home. No need for changing now.

Phil Clarke made excellent points when he was pre-viewing the game at KR on friday night, Saints are extremely dangerous inside the oppositions 20 metre zone. They have used the barge overs well all season with JG and TP.

IF we allow them field position with silly needless penalties we could be in trouble. We need to be squeeky clean from the off and for the full 80 minutes.

I agree that our backs are better, Richards could have a field day against either Meli or Foster, we kick high towards him and he could be in for memorable game.

Defensively the stats speak for themselves, last weeks game against Leeds was a defensive masterclass, we conceeded 6 against a side who can score lots of points which they showed against Saints in the CC Semi Final.

Puletua, Graham and KC were superb aginst Huddersfield, they smashed them up big style. These are the three key players we need to keep an eye on imo. Discipline will decide our fate imo, discipline like Leeds away we win, discipline like Leeds at home we lose.

If Wigan defend anything like the way they did against Leeds, then Saints are going to struggle to score enough points to win the game, especially with their weak backline. That said Saints are a bit smarter through the middle and have a much better pack than Leeds.

In the end I can see Wigan containing Saints through the middle and having the beating of them out wide. Unfortunately.

Ruck defence and completion.

Nowadays saints tend to feed off cheap penalties to get field position and then apply pressure to score from close range. Huddersfield found this out to their peril at the weekend and played right into saints hands. I don't think they've got the speed of thought or footwork to score from distance any more so if we can keep ruck penalties down to minimum and play in their half we'll go well.

If there's one thing I'm going to be sick of hearing before the weeks out, its going to be "Saints deserve it for Cunningham", or "what a fairytale finish it would be for Cunnigham to win the Grand Final". www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2010/se ... per-league

If there's one thing I'm going to be sick of hearing before the weeks out, its going to be "Saints deserve it for Cunningham", or "what a fairytale finish it would be for Cunnigham to win the Grand Final". www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2010/se ... per-league

Simple. Bomb the hell out of Meli and attack him at every opportunity. Get the ball in behind him when we kick and turn him around as much as possible. If we defend as well as Saturday the rest will look after itself.

I wouldn't try to win the forward battle, our forward pack is solid, our backs are definitely the weakness, I think you may be given a gift of Meli on the wing, outside Soliola, running at this pair is insane, but bomb them to death and you have a 50/50 or better chance of a loose ball over or near our line every time.
As for beating you, i really hope they dont try what other teams have done in smashing Sam and hoping he'll bottle it, he wont, he's hard as nails, bash your forwards has to be our best option with some quality grubbers from Matty Smith thrown in.