Hard to call this one - Saints certainly look the part and appear to do all the right things, but they seem disjointed, and their finishing is poor. It's winnable - but it could easily go the other way.

Thats exactly how I see it bren2k.
Saints are not a team you can allow to grow in confidence . A good starts a must and put them under pressure from the off. They tend to become frustrated when things are not quickly going there way.
They also have a couple of players who like to ref the game so a strong man in the middle is a must.

This is a winnable game, but which Saints team shows up depends on which halves they go with. Fingers crossed Matty Smith gets the nod as they look much livelier with that young lad (Richardson?) playing. He had a great game against us back in July!

Probably the most important game of the year so far. If we can turn over saints then we've got 1 hand on a semi final spot, if Hull and Cas then beat wigan over the next two rounds, or we also beat Hull, then we will have secured our place in the top 4 with one game spare.

Saints are looking very hit and miss lately, they took us and Castleford apart a few weeks ago, and then have been unable to close out games since.

Thing about last time is...their forwards dominated from early on and laid a great platform for Roby and the two half backs...

Walker had a poor game and his head was probably elsewhere...I definitely don't think Fifita was right that day and possibly Huby too...Hirst didn't play either...

If we go with the same four props as against Salford I just don't see any way possible how their pack will dominate us like last time...we also have Miller and Randell this time pace, creativity and flair we didn't have last time...

This is a real chance for us to make a massive statement because people are still seeing us in a false position and expecting Saints and Wigan to go past us...you only need look at odds for us to win the grand final...40/1 as opposed to Saints at 10/1 who are three points behind us....let's end their season Thursday night!

Also if I recall correctly it was their coaches first real game in charge? They also had some extreme good fortune that day with every ball bouncing the right way for them.

That said we can't afford to get off to as slow a start as we did against Salford - Saints would be far more punishing.

He took over in May

I was thinking the same thing - he has to be one of the most overrated 7's in SL - he's slow, doesn't organise their attack and his kicks are predictable and easy to deal with.

That said, they have tremendous threat elsewhere - Walmsley, Makinson, Percival, Lomax and of course Roby; and their ref's assistant, Wilkin. On paper, they're miles better than us, but it depends on who turns up and how we handle them.

On this seasons form I don't think any club are miles better than us however the regular top 5 teams probably have better last plays and make the better choices .
It should be a very close game but as a Wakey fan you can not help but think something will happen that will see the game change. History will have to be overturned for Wakey to progress but I see no reason why we shouldn't get the 2 points .
Keep it tight and contain saints they will become frustrated. DONT GIVE STUPID PENALTIES AWAY STAY FOCUSED FOR THE FULL 80.

That's why I said on paper...

I'd like to hope that with it being on TV we get one of the better refs who will not allow himself to be "guided" by Wilkin.

If we can avoid giving the ref any chances early on to give them a piggy back upfield then i think we have a great chance.

Yeah he took the job then but did he not arrive a bit later, not sure just something in the back of my mind.