Got to say I'm not overly confident, but it is derby day so who knows?

Wigan 16
Saints 20
Mom - J-Lo
First try Liam Farrell
Attendance - full house, 24k

Wigan 28
Saints 12

MoM - Matty Smith (Just to rub it in)
First Try - Richards
Attendance - Full House

As you can tell I'm not in the least bit confident - if Lomax doesn't play for some reason I think we'll struggle to score 12.

Wigan 16
Saints 18
MoM - Lomax
First Try - Farrell

I'm not really that confident, Wigan's overawing enthusiasm for the derby makes me think it'll be too much for us.
That said, I seem to be totally forgetting about performaces like the one against Wire t'other week.
Our forwards [ishould[/i be able to out muscle those whippersnappers that are currently lining up for Wigan, but I have a nagging feeling.

28-10 to Wigan. My negetivity over this makes me a little ashamed of myself.

As it should!

COYS!!!!

O'Loughlin might be out too, cracked ribs against Widnes, but Wigan always seem to be more up for it.

On paper we should win the forwards battle which would set the platform for a win but sadly we have forwards like Perry and games arnt played out on paper.

It's the demolition of Widnes that's throwing me, we're Wigan amazing or Widnes dire? I didn't see the game

I don't like to go down this road, but Widnes were really poor.
Wigan worked hard and ran their moves - which are very slick, but Widnes seemed to do their best to make the holes big enough to run through. Worst performance i've seen in a while.
Wigan could only beat what's infront of them,though, and they did it with aplomb.

Widnes were bad, defence outwide was horrendous

Widnes may as well have taken their wingers and centres off when defending as they continually went missing. Either they were coached wrongly or they lacked effort or something because especially on Ah Van's wing there were yawning gaps every time Wigan went to the edges, which they did on every play (presumably because they knew there would be yawning gaps there!).

If you look at the Sky stats there wasn't a huge amount of difference between the two teams, certainly not that scoreline difference. It was all in the defence, which just wasn't there in Widnes's case.

If we don't put up a better fight in defence than Widnes then I will be ashamed of our players.

I think you can take just as much out of their game as you can out of ours vs Salford.

Widnes were dreadful, the worst SL performance I've seen this season. Wigan put them to the cleaners and played well, but Widnes were just not at it. Similarly, our game vs Salford was played in appalling conditions and we just played for the 2 points, regardless of how we got it.

I think it'll be a close game, but a lot rides on whether or not Lomax plays. I can't see us scoring at all without him AND Roby.

No T.P.Lomax and Roby is too much of a handicap.

Wigan called have Mossop. Lauaki, Prescott, McIlorum, Hansen, O'Loughlin which is near enough there first chioce pack!!! Im confident

I think McIlorum will play, not sure about O'Louglin. You also missed out Dudson, he's broke his hand.

Lomax,Roby and T.P are arguably our most creative players. Most of the above are just grafters,hardly the same.
If Tomkins was missing then Id say that evened It up.

With 8 wins in our last 10 visits to Wigan since 2005, the Piedome is certainly been a happy hunting ground for us.

However, I don't see this continuing on Friday as I see a Pie win by 10 points.

I just hope we aren't 'treated' to hate filled comments from Shaun Wane stirring it up before the game like one of last season's derby's.

Lomax is likely to be playing according to the club.

I am quietly confident. I am not too concerned about Wigans team, 1 superstar and 16 workers.

I just want to see the work ethic we have shown in the last few games. If we tackle hard, kick well, and keep Wigan out of our half we only have to worry about the superstar. If we let Wigan camp on our line then we have lot more than Tomkins to worry about they have some big lads in their back line.

It is all down to how smart we play and how hard we work.

Charnley and Farrell are hardly boring grafters. I think a lot depends on the pace of the game, if its slow and up the middle you will win, if it's quick and the ball gets shifted out we'll win

I think we'll get demolished personally. The derby is all about team spirit and commitment, something we lack and Wigan have by the bucketful.

I'd say 36-10, something like that.

I’m not quite as optimistic as you seem to be at the start of your post. You set it out like it could be a piece of p*ss if you did this that and the other, how often do things go so sweetly, not very. All I can say that at the minute I’d make us very slight favourites, no more than that. It will probably end up like most derbies, the side with the most heart, and who shows the most pride in the shirt on the day.

Mr. Happy is back again I see!

I don't really know what makes you think that.

wi*an are the side of the competition this year IMO. I think that apart from a couple of quality players, their first choice 17 is no great shakes. I mean, FFS, look at their halfbacks! To then lose the core of their pack and still largely keep on winning is an achievement. In recent weeks, they've destroyed Catalans & Widnes, only narrowly losing away at Leeds (after Tomkins pulled out at the 11th hour).

Shaun Wane may be a semi-shaven ape who sounds like the victim of a failed Victorian lobotomising experiment, and has the social grace of a P=#000040 i k e y, but he's taken a pretty average bunch of players and made them more than competitive this season.

I personally think it'll be an arm-wrestle of a game, lit up by some fast attacking play from wi*an, who'll win 22-10