What more motivation does one team need for Saturday. Players overlooked for the dream team and Coach overlooked for Coach of the season. Written off by the written media and everyone including the odd person by everyone outside the town.
Get a photo board in the changing room with all the images of losing the Challenge Cup final and that will be the icing on the cake.

History never remembers losers, unless you're Eddie Hemmings of course.

Write yourself into the history books lads and get the monkey off your backs. And if things get tough and your backs are against the wall!! Remember when you were freezing cold, on that dark night during pre-season training when you thought what the F*7K are we doing here? Well it built character, determination and a willingness to work for each other when the odds were against you. And if all else fails, just keep on knocking them down until they cant get up any longer.

C'mon Wire

It's a tricky business motivation. Increase in motivation can definitely decrease level of performance in certain skills. If anyone things you just whip up motivation and your side gets the win ... they are wrong.
It may be better just to work on keeping a clear head and focused.

I've never understood this 'motivation' stuff.

"Sorry guys, I'm not really up for the game tonight, I fancied a night in watching Strictly with the missus" then you show them a message of someone not rating them and suddenly they are fired up...?

Well if it helps, I THINK DARYL CLARK IS RUBBISH go and pin that on the dressing room wall, he will be like "I'll show that sally cinnamon". If he wins the Harry Sunderland you know who to thank.

Increasing motivation is good for tackling, running & chasing. It can make players worse at kicking, catching & passing.
In a Grand Final I doubt if attempting to rev up motivation will help.

Fat head Wayne, I was told by a player, has a 'C U Next Tuesday' board up at their training facility with pictures up of all the players and coaches he deems to be a *****. This board included a picture of TS and before the finals or big games against us he would make the players stare at it.

Probably far more critical than motivation is knowing how to play the ref. I hope Price will be coaching our staff in this dark art before Saturday. All the successful clubs in this competition know how to stretch legal play to the limit & disregard many of the rules of fair play ,knowing the ref will not penalise everything they get up to in order to win at all costs.

If you can't get fired up for a final then you should be sat at home baby sitting ...

I know what you mean Sal, but you have to admit that a coach like Wane would be able to use these circumstances to motivate his team. Let’s hope Price can find a way of integrating it into his usual pre-match motivational talk. Or at least at half time (remember the poem?)....

That’s the one thing that’s been missing (apart from an attacking half back) from this season’s team.... I guess Price is still working out the reffing over here, but sometimes I do find myself urging the players to follow the opposition’s lead when they know how to play the ref.

Motivation?
For a final?
Seriously, WTF is going on?

And as for this gimmicky b0110cks of getting a sporting "legend" to hand out the match shirts, please pass me the sick bucket.

If you can't get motivated for the biggest game of your life (for some players), I give up.

The motivation should be already inside every player. What is important is belief and how to keep our heads when things are not going to plan.

It's Wigan......it's a final....what more motivation is there!

The only posters that should be on the wall are Corporal Jones & Captain Mainwaring - "Don't Panic!" and "They don't like it up 'em!"

In every Wigan based interview the talk is about sending Fat Head, Rat boy and Batty out on a high. About how its going to be a tough week training, its going to be intense, its a must win ect.

All the talk in the Wire camp seems to be more relaxed, slightly anxious for Saturday to hurry up.

With prep is best? Focusing everything on the grand final and talking it up or training as you normally do and trying not to talk it up too much? In our semi final saints came out later than us, they were in a huddle in the changing room giving it the 'this is our time' team talk. Cas did the exact same before kick off. Both teams looked nervous and apprehensive and both us and Wigan took advantage. Will wigan be so focused of sending Wayne off a winner that they'll lose sight of the game or will our calm and collected approch find us wanting in intensity?

The semi final ties will 100% come into play. We played at a ridiculous pace and test match intensity for large periods and had a real physical battle up the middle. Wigan hardly got out of 2nd gear.

It's going to be one interesting game and as many have said; If as a professional RL player for Wire, you need help getting hyped up for a final against Wigan then you shouldn't be in the game.

Ben Flower looked plenty motivated in the GF against Saints...for the brief period he was present.
Play the opposition not the occasion (no I don’t know what it means either).

I agree lefty, sporting legends meh. Let's get Chris Evans in that dressing room sharpish. Bordering on being a National treasure, a motivational speaker and a ginge!!

An unbeatable combination in anyone's book I'm sure you'll agree?

Do you remember Jedward making an appearance giving out some pre match guidance and tips. Few years ago now mind.

There was a lot of talk from media and players about them being relaxed etc week leading up to CC final and that didn't work.
Get fired up now, keep fired up, then smash them pies with all that built up energy. There is such a thing as being too relaxed so now I'm nervous if this is their plan.

Put it about in the Wigan dressing room that Purple Aki is turning out for the Wire under the name of Akoala.

Had me going for a moment there UR, I thought you were sending out a call for Captain America!

I remember reading a story about the Aussie ARL grand final in 1997, where Newcastle Knights won their first grand final against Manly, I think it was from Mal Reilly. The senior players like Paul Harragon, Tony Butterfield etc had been giving speeches beforehands, about how special it was to be part of this group of players, we're all brothers, how special it was for the town, a poor mining town that breathes RL, never won a Grand Final before. It was pumping them up to the max but there was a danger they were going overboard with the emotion and losing their control. Then Andrew Johns spoke, he was only about 23 at the time but was already the main leader on the field, he was basically like "ok boys, this is what we need to do on the field to win, this is what I'm going to be doing, I'm going to be attacking them here and here, if you follow me we'll win it". He brought it straight back to the functional and because he spoke with so much authority and confidence and they knew he would back up what he said on the field it brought a calm focus to the team.

In big games the risk of freezing in the spotlight is a bigger danger than turning up half-interested and the teams that bottle it in the big time are probably the teams that are overcome by the emotion, which is where pumping it all up too much is a bad idea.

Daryl Powell gave an interview before their semi-final about how they were using the dream team and MoS snubs as motivation. All that motivation gave them exactly 0 points.

He confused it with justification

It’s a tough one, this, because both sets of players have different reasons to be motivated. Call it a cliche but for me it’s down to who wants it more. The glamour club used to winning the damn thing, wanting to give the monkey and the rat a nice send off, or the plucky underdogs who shouldn’t really be there in the media’s eyes. We all know the intensity Wigan will bring to the occasion, we just need to watch our start. We nullified them in the CC but look how we started at Wembley. I really can’t call it.

It will come down to discipline, keeping a clear head if plan A doesn't go to plan and those 50/50 decisions by the ref. Aways an element of luck in these games but we need to make our own luck, in the biggest game of the season.