It's on!

watching leeds/wire the other night i didnt think Leeds were particularly good. Maguire has definitely lost a lot of pace and sinfield isnt the player he was. Peacock still has some class though.
Ours for the taking i think, lets send Jammer off in Style with a(nother) winners ring

A 50-50 game.

Chance to put some OT ghosts to rest. I really hope they do it for Jammer.

A game that will be completely different to the last three Leeds V Saints games. Both teams will feel lucky to be there, both teams will be confident they can win it.

Maybe the pressure is still on saints - 5 final defeats in a row is surely going to be in the back of their minds?

Either way, I believe the fans and players will enjoy the occassion more than previous finals.

Bring it on!!

Pace wins finals and Leeds have that over us.

I fear they will employ the kick and chase game again to force us to grind it out from our own line.

Fact is their side knows how to defeat us when the chips are down.

I expect another Leeds victory

But fingers crossed we can do it.

Times have changed Chair. Makinson is very fast, faster than any leeds player imo. Lomax is faster than Maguire and Burrow. Foster is a better kicker than Sinfield.
The new generation of Saints are very fast, we're back to having massive centres in the forwards like Soliola. The good times are back

I will be doing a rain dance saturday morning! We could do with some help though......will Leon pryce be playing?

Yes pace is very important,but more so are the forwards and i think that is where we have the advantage over Leeds.Also if Gaskel plays then we have a field kicker that can play Leeds at their own game.It will be a tight game and you cant for a second write Leeds off but overall i think we have the advantage.

Tough to call , assuming we got through tonight with no serious injuries (I think I saw Wilkin leaving the field near the end) its certainly a game we can win.

If possible same team again next week with Leon as the bench bitch in place of the Man of Cheese

COYS

Straight 50/50

Could go either way.

Will be a great game. I suppose we'll have to carry the tag of 'favourites' which isn't always the best thing, but Leeds can definitely turn us over if we don't play to our full potential. They have strike players all over the field - underestimate them at your peril.

I have to say, that's just not true. We ran Wigan ragged in our last two meetings because we have pace all over the place these days. Wello is the only one who struggles, and bless him a few times I've seen him trying to catch his breath! Have you seen LMS at full stretch? He is fast. Even Jammer has some pace.

What might undermine us is what threatened to undermine us in the early part of the semi - nerves, especially among our younger contingent.

Have you ever thought of doing a bit of stand up comedy ? Going to a team that scored over a 1000 points while conceding the least and you didn't think we were "particularly good" after putting them to them to the sword. As for the Sinfield comment............well,well,well.
For me it's a hard one to call, the young saints lads made some bad decisions last night and that could be your undoing next saturday. If we win i'll be sloshed for a week but if you beat us, fair play to ya, you've done it tough. Six consecutive finals takes some doing and nobody can deny you a win in this one. I'll look forward to this game and enjoy the build up, something i couldn't have done had we been playing wigan. The mere thought of losing to them would have made me feel sick all week. Whoever lifts the cup, normal service has been resumed.

Tough one to call, Leeds have been looking very good over the last month and saints have clicked in the two games against Wigan due to the halves clicking.

I think the best kicking game will win the match, both teams will wanna pin the other deep in there own half.

I think we just have the edge over Leeds if Gaskell and lomax click, there halves ain't as good as they have been in our previous finals against them.

I've no worries our pack will more than match the Leeds pack as IMO we've had the best set of forwards in super league this year. Our current front row of jammer, roby and TP is the best in super league and with wilkin and sia in the backrow it's a very good pack.

I agree, Leeds are on form, but i just think we've got the class and confidence after back to back wins over wigan to really do this

This Leeds team is the worst Leeds team we've faced in our grand final battles but they still top class team on there day and I can't see much being in it.

We spoke about this yesterday didn't we?

Leeds have the fastest back line in Superleage and are far quicker than their Saints counterparts.
Hall, BJB, Hardaker, Webb and Watkins (if fit) are all faster than the Saints backs. When they introduce Burrow that adds even more zip and McGuire isn't as slow as some are making out.

However I think Saints pack are better and if they dominate then the Leeds pace may not be as important.

I think the better kicking game and better disciplined side will win it.

To be honest, "Marching on together" will be getting a rendition in Rouges Gallery.

Their game has got to be all about stopping Roby! It's every teams game against saints. Obviously easier said than done as we showed Wigan the other day! We have the pack to build the platform for Roby and to build the platform for the halfbacks if they carry on their form. The pressure is going to be on but they've stepped up to the plate when it mattered in the last two weeks! Leeds big game experience will
Count for everything. IMO scoring the first try and calming the nerves is a must!

I think you'll find we have played Leeds this season already and so we are well aware of what they do and don't have.

So had Warrington!!

Indeed.

We had also played Wigan already this season and knew what they did and didn't have. So had Warrington.

What was your point exactly?

Do you think the Saints backline has the pace that Leeds has?
That was the point Chairmaker and I were discussing in a friendly manner yesterday.

Our backline does indeed have pace to burn. So much so that we have to on occasion throw the pass forward of the man, which is a bit of a bugger when the ref gets a bit picky!

It's a genuine 50/50 game for me. We've peaked at the right time both physically and mentally, and that's a big plus after the season we've had.

For me its simple. If the saints team approach this game the same as we would with wigan ie total defence for the opening twenty and our front three running at the centre of Leeds then we will dominate the leeds pack and open them up in the middle.

Leeds have pace but we are no slouches either. This team has a faster line up than last year never mind two years ago. Shenton is fasdter than gidley. Makinson faster than gardner. Lomax is faster than long . gaskell and pryce well thats open to debate. Meli is faster than gilmore. Foster and meli well they are fairly equal for pace. I'm not going to argue who is faster leeds v saints but our pace has increased where as some of the leeds veterans burrows maguire and webb are not as fast as when we last met in a final.

But for me it will be about dominating their pack and the field position. Pace would only come into it if we let them run around our defnesive line.

When was the last meeting with leeds though?

You have to take into account leeds are a completly different beast to the one you faced months back earlier in the season.