There have been many sporting finals that have seen the major underdog come out on top. For example the 1998 Challenge Cup Final when Sheffield Eagles beat Wigan against all the odds, The 1999 European Cup Final when Manchester United had to totally reconstruct there midfield to compensate for the suspended Roy Keane and Paul Scholes and beat Bayern Munich. That's only mentioning a couple of examples but we are in the same position this weekend. What we have achieved is nothing short of exceptional in 2014. Losing our major players for the year (Lomax and Walsh) added to the fact Jon Wilkin has been out for a good few weeks now makes finishing top and making the Grand Final even more impressive.

As for the game on Saturday its down to us performing for 80 minutes. If we give 100% desire, commitment and never say die attitude we can beat THEM! I would pin up on the changing room wall every bit of extra motivation I could find and drum it into the players that Wigan only feel that they have to turn up on Saturday, they have no respect for us of any kind.

Nathan Brown has to come up with the team talk of his life, if he does this and we show the 100% desire, commitment and never say die attitude like I mentioned before we can take this game.

I am confident, probably more confident on this game than any other Grand Final we have been too before. Nobody believes outside the club that we have a hope in hell of winning. That creates a dangerous animal..

Would just like to say to all have a great day and sing loud and proud on Saturday. Hope you all enjoy yourselves and we get the result that this club deserves.

Agree, but all the exact to what you say is true! in being far too confident!

For me I can't call it, though I do feel with organisers on the pitch Wigan have a slight edge, but on the day it's completely open, anything can happen and that is the games we all enjoy most.

I am confident but not over confident pal. There's a difference

What you say about sides being over confident goes without saying, you know it, I know it and so does SW and the rest of the team. Even if Wigan is slight favourites they are professional enough to know that if they take that thought onto the field it will probably mean defeat for them. The same in reverse can be said for the Saints, you can tell them over and over again that they have just as much of a chance (which I think they have) and they may think the same when they take the field, but the subconscious is a very strange thing, and to how it will play out on Saturday for either side, well we will just have to wait and see. Bear in mind even if the rest of the team have the correct attitude, it will only take one or two to throw a Spaniard in the works!

Your optimism is admirable. I'd obviously love to be wrong but I simply don't see how the style of play we have recently (and necessarily) adopted will get enough points on the board to win.

There's only really one obvious thing that we've got going for us, our big guys are bigger than their big guys.
Unfortunately, Wigan's forwards generally make a mockery of that by out enthusing us.
If the likes of Walmsley, Masoe, LMS, Manu, Soliola, Amor and LMS play like they can, there's a chance we could bust them up the middle.

However, since this is our only plain and viable plan, Wigan will be geared up to resist it.

Our Forwards just need to man up on Saturday and not get bullied, Just play like at they did at the JJB in June.
Mose needs to attack O'lockers again and be the bad boy all over the pitch.

I'd start by pushing your hand into Micky Mac's sore face



Then hope our attack is as good as against Cas in the playoffs.

Spot on.

Yep, that should be the plan. I must admit I like this so inferior, we can't win, underdog tag

Whilst I'm sure Wigan won't take anything for granted, it won't do us any harm.

We used to beat the larger Bradford pack when it counted because for that one week, we could raise our game and play like men 5 kilos heavier, because we knew we had to raise our game. We seem to be in a reverse situation - a bigger but less fancied pack, so if our big lads lose their soft underbelly and we play 5 kilos heavier, just for 80 minutes, then maybe, just maybe...

You gotta have hope.

There's a few things that I feel we must do well in order to win, slip on any of them and we will lose IMO:

1. Shut down O'Loughlin. Smash him hard and smash him early, if he gets his tail up, Wigan will win.
2. Kick early and chase hard, turn around their back 3. You can not give Bowen, Burgess and Charnley too much space in returning the ball. Allowing them to catch it on the fly will only end badly.
3. Do not let Blake Green show and go. He'll ghost through the line in the Second Row/Centre channel as he has done so many times before if we give him space.
4. Be AGGRESIVE. If we lose the collision in the middle it's game over. This also ties in with ensuring good line speed throughout the game.
5. Play error free rugby. If we turn the ball over in our own half like we did against Warrington at LP, they'll put a cricket score on us.

The final point which would help us massively but isn't a necessity to win:

6. Rile McIllorum. Get our forwards to rub their hands on his face, talk to him in the tackles and wind him up. Get him to lash out but don't retaliate, take a punch for the team and Wigan are a man down.

There are other factors that might come into play from the pack.

Soliola and Manu there last chance to get a Grand Final Ring so they may raise there
game.
Wellens could wind back the clock for one final performance.
Walmsley and Amor will play big for this one.
Mose will not fear anyone in this game and play similar to the DW game.


Finally its Brown's last game and ALL the TEAM WILL PLAY FOR HIM.

It's really all about aggression for me. I think we have to really play on the edge in this game. If we can unsettle and intimidate the Wigan pack then they won't be able to put their usual amount of pressure on us and other things - handling, decision making, kicking game etc. - should then be much easier to get right. As we all know, though, it's one thing saying it and another thing doing it. Wigan are seriously tough and are battle hardened after their recent encounters with Warrington. So we're going to have to come out practically foaming at the mouth if we're going to get the better of them. It might be a risky way to approach the game, but it's a risk we have to take, as if we allow Wigan to play in their usual manner then we don't stand a chance.

Need to match the pies for line speed and aggression. Just can't see the Saints winning though, just hope it is not a humiliation.

The biggest concern is we will be penalised in certain areas, too agressive and we get stung, also Wigoon are very good at peeling off slowly from the tackle we might not be as good in this technique and again will get stung for it.
For me good line speed in defence and a slightly deeper attack should disrupt Wigoons control of the game.
In Brown's words we need to PLAY CLEVER.

We will struggle to score IMO as our attack is pretty average and Wigan defend well.

Their back three are devastating with the ball but I feel we can really hurt them with the high kicks. I'd bomb Bowen first chance we get and I'd tell our players to absolutely give him it. Let him know that when that ball goes up catch or drop he's getting smashed. I'd do same with Charnley and especially burgess. Just to let them know they getting it big time. Even if we give a pen away the first time it puts it in the head.

We can't afford to kick to them on the fly or poor kicks to ground as all three and score from anywhere.

Nathan Brown was really good at Huddersfield in sucking our forwards into an 'I'm bigger than you' playground fight. It knocked us off our game and gave them cheap field position and possession.

You guys did the same thing at Langtree Park last season when we gave penalty after penalty away and eventually had Green sin binned which won you the game. It even worked quite well at The DW this year in some ways.

I expect he will be trying to get Masoe and LMS to do the same thing this time around especially with the likes of Micky Mac and Pettybourne.

7. Don’t base your whole game on the opposition... play to your strengths

i do agree that we should be aggressive, suck them into an arm wrestle.

one thing that might be the difference is goal kicking which i think we are better than Wigan IMO

Not necessarily, playing to your own strengths can sometimes also play to your oppositions.

Our best chance of winning is to shut down Wigan's strengths and expose their weaknesses. At the moment we have one strength, a big pack, that is it. The big pack does play into the points set out with aggressive defence and good line speed. If we play to a gameplan based around our game, rather than Wigan's, we will lose. In fact, I've never known a gameplan that doesn't heavily take into account the oppositions strengths and weaknesses, it's the whole point of a gameplan.

Let's just go out and fist them!

When we beat you back in 2007 and 2008 we were underdogs in both as obviously you had a very fine side back then, but we managed to grind you down in both with what was great grand final tactics of making minimal mistakes, having high completion rates and playing the percentages which will frustrate the opposition until they finally break.Basically, play boring for aslong as it takes.As most of you say, your strengths are in the pack and that is one area you can match the pies if the intensity is there.

If that fails you could always just go out there and fist them!

Here Here! well said that man!





(Shame there is no emoticon for fisitng!!!)

I remember it being Cunningham & Grahams last game for you in 2010 but it mattered not.....we still stuffed u