I predict Matty Smith to have the game of his life on Saturday.
Dumped by his beloved Saints to a Salford club in freefall (pre Koucash), much like we did with Sean Long to Widnes all those years back.

Like Long, I can see Matty being 'up for this' like no other against his former boyhood club. Long always raised his game against us in Finals.

The stage is set for him and he'd be my strongest bet for the Harry Sunderland Trophy.

BTW - I don't think the game will be as easy as some non-wigan supporting fans have suggested with scorelines suggesting Wigan to blow Saints away.

Two words:

Remember Murrayfield.

The game could go either way. Saints have nothing to lose and that makes them very dangerous. They've struggled to match our aggression and intensity in games recently but that shouldn't be a problem in a final.

As for Smith he's in a good place at the moment. He looks like a guy on a mission to take another step in his career and play for England. I remember him playing for them in 2010 and they never really have him the platform to damage us. Hopefully we can buy him some space on Saturday and if we do he'll guide us around the field. I'd be looking for him to turn Wellens time and again and really get his ageing legs working overtime.

Wigan will not turn up to a Grand Final underestimating the opposition. Wigan will not turn up to a Wigan vs Saints derby not wanting a scrap. I'd be very surprised if Wigan lose.

I've read similar comments to this a few times now with remember Murrayfiled or we were the underdogs in last years GF.

There is a massive difference with those two games and Saturdays and that's we had the strike players to cause the upset. The Murrayfield team alone had Faz, Lam, Radders, Dallas and Carney playing! Last season we had Lockers, Sam, Pat, Charnley etc.

Saints have Roby and ............

But we're not a patch on that Saints side either in truth so there isn't as huge a difference IMO.

Lms and wellens

I agree with that BUT i was trying to make a point that Saints don't have any weapons outside of Roby.

We will match them for intensity but who will win it for them?

Roby is exceptional and by streets their best player but they do still have other guys who can hurt you. We're setting ourselves up for a fall if we think it's just a case of hammering Roby to get the job done. The intensity needs to be the same as it was on Friday, if it is then we win but it's not guaranteed.

As for who those other danger men are Manu is a handful, I like Percival, Turner can be as good as he can be bad, Makinson and Swift are both dangerous players and even Wellens can still produce some good moments. They also have a big pack with some form players in there like LMS (we can joke but he's playing very well) and Masoe (same as LMS).

It's the halves were our big advantage is.

Thankfully it's not the windy buggers who post on here who will be playing!!!! If anybody here thinks that the Wigan players will be complacent, you really need to give your head a shake...

Imo, Roby aside, all of the players you mentioned are bettered by their Wigan equivalent. Guys like Percival & Makinson have been bettered at every level in the big games vs Wigan. I don't think it's setting ourselves up for a fail having extreme confidence in the talent that we have. Our young players are better than theirs, they've proved this in the past & our senior guys like Lockers are also better.

FWIW i don't think it's going to be a white wash. I do however think that if we nullify Roby then we stop Saints. I'm praying that we tap into that old Madge mentality of pure aggression in defence. I really want to see Micky Mac, Lockers, Joel, Bateman etc really get into Roby and LMS early doors.

If we bring our nastiest defence & 100% intensity then we will win this game.

its Wigan vs Saints. form goes out of the window in these encounters.
smith makes us tick, so i hope he has a good game, because when he doesnt we dont.
we should win, as we have the momentum, but this one should be close.

Fully agree we're better across the field and I'm confident we'll get the job done. I just wouldn't put all our eggs in the smashing Roby basket.

Let's smash the lot of them!!

worked when MM smashed Cunningham out of the game in the last GF between the 2

We hammered them from 1-17. We need to do the same again.

Why do we not have a chant for Matty Smith????????????? Given his claim about been lucky to have signed a four year deal with us then winning the Wigan lotto followed by a Tax rebate I would like to suggest:-
First my apologies to KYLIE MINOGUE

Matty Smith is lucky--- Lucky--- lucky--- lucky. Matty Smith's our lucky 7

He's been very good this. I think having Blake Green out for a long period helped Matty mature and grow as a player.

Surprised he's not nominated for man of Steel tbh

That's awful.

I hate Wigan (the team, I like the place) so much. That old arrogance is back that I had to grow up with in the late 80's.

You're rightfully favourites because of our injuries, but you don't win games on paper. And yes, I've seen Wigan teams that have been injury ravaged and full of youngsters, rip full strength Saints teams to bits. We turned you over in your own backyard without Walsh not long back. To write off our team and say Roby is our only threat is foolish.

It's a derby game & anything can happen. One thing is for sure though, there will be some good banter and no trouble and we'll put the football lot to shame.

One person has said that so I wouldn't use it as the general feeling throughout the Wigan fan base. There certainly isn't an arrogance issue or even an over confidence issue looking at the vast majority of comments.

If I was to sum up how the game looks I'd say we're rightfully favourites against a weakened Saints side but favourites don't always win. Saints are still a real threat with some real form men and I expect them to attack the game like they've nothing to lose. Saints will need to play very well to beat Wigan but they're capable.

I think we're in for a top game.

Wigan fans in general are playing a very dangerous game this week. The way they are disrespectfully and arrogantly writing Saints off could come back to make them look very very silly indeed.

Shocking attempt



You know full well that isn't the case but we'll get this all week off you. If Saints win you'll probably be posting direct from Old Trafford during the victory lap about how our (non existent) 'arrogance' has bitten us on the backside. If we win we won't see a post on here from you until we lose a game next year.

What a week we're in for

Haha. Trust me the arrogance exists. It's on here and Facebook. I've screen shotted numerous status updates and comments from wigan fans saying they've already won it. I'm not imagining the arrogance.

You've taken screen shots? Frig me your co*k will blow off if you get to use those on Saturday



I've not seen one comment on here saying it's won. I've some saying they think we'll win if we play to our best which I'd say is fair comment considering the pivots Saints have missing.

I'm personally very nervous about the game. You have nothing to lose and that underdog tag will suit you.

YG, you are so right with what you say, a final between the first and second in the league can go either way. Wigan are being made favourites probably because of their form over the playoffs, but no team more than Wigan have shown more bad form during the season when their mind is not on the game or more importantly the opponents .

But in all my years of watching Wigan , the derbies between us were always the matches we looked forward to the most. On match day we always parked near to a club close to the Wigan end (on that long road that came in from the Lanc's) I think it was a Pilks club. Saints supporters always made room for us even at there own tables.
But after saying this , Wigan to win.

I hate the fools who read the opinions of a couple of people and assume it is the opinion of the majority.


Wigan are bookies favourites. Anyone with rugby knowledge, whatever they decide to type on an Internet forum will write St Helens off at their peril. The team certainly won't be. Although missing key players St Helens will be fresher and less bruised from this week. It's also a GF and a local derby. Form is irrelevant it is down to who plays better on the day (hopefully, I'd hate it to be a refs decision).

To the sensible St Helens fans, good luck, I hope it's a great game worthy of the GF, to the minority.............