The team looks good. Hopefully it won't be a case of the game coming too early as we're still bedding new players in. Luckily the new guys are mainly in the forwards, so we'll still have pretty much the same spine guiding us around. In terms of the game and the match ups, we'll obviously need Field, French and Smith to fire. I just hope the Smithies exit doesn't bite us too hard in that game because him knitting the defence and leading the line speed could really be missed.

The crowd and the atmosphere could play a huge part also. As somebody who was at pretty much every GB/England test against the Aussies from the 90's onwards, I miss those nights under the lights and this should have a feeling of that. If the crowd really gets in to it, that could be worth a few points.

With over 10,000 tickets sold already (24 hrs) it does bode well for a bumper crowd.
What Matty Peet has done in his 2 yrs is remarkable if you think about it.
Most impressive is the re-connection with the town and fans.Robin Park is a complete winner for the fans,I cant praise enough the imput that Lenagan has put in over the years especially the formation of Robin Park as a place for the club and fans.

Won’t have a bigger impact on RL than saints did. They went over and won it in penriths back yard

What major impact on the sport did it have. Down under the result was treated like it never happened and largely ignored (it's not like it hasn't happened before).

Saints had a moderate average attendance increase up 12,695 from 11,851 in 2022. Solid but not spectacular and bearing in mind they are the only professional sporting team in the town.

What? the preseason challenge game?

Surely you’re not talking about that.

Of course it will Wigan are the bigger team.

PLEASE stop replying to him. Please.

So what's the difference this year?

Why bother engaging with this narrative?

The Wigan fans who like to play down the Saints result at Penrith aren't bright enough to realise they play into the wider narrative that will diminish their own success if they get a win.

To be fair It was a great win by St Helens,not all Wigan fans play down the win.
Its not like any Saints fans would play down any win by Wigan

Everyone who wrote off Saints beating Penrith as a 'pre-season friendly that Penrith weren't bothered about' has damned this game for being treated the same. Aussie sides will always say that, if they lose, English fans shouldn't give them the excuse. Saints won cos they couldn't be bothered, but if Wigan beat them, somehow it'll be different this time? Really?

Or, what Fear The Vee said.

It's also their arrogance in belittling the result that will have the majority of Saints fans cheering on Penrith.

Not all Wigan fans are arrogant as not all Saints fans are but most


I will always shout for the SL side against the NRL side.

I think had we been given more credit, I would've swayed with supporting Wigan. I'm also aware that there were some Wigan fans that gave due credit but lots more went with the narrative that Penrith weren't fussed, treated it as a friendly etc. I must have imagined Cleary's ice in the veins celebration when he tied the game with his conversion.

I have no doubt that if Wigan win it will be described as the best ever achievement by an English side as Penrith are on the back of a 3 peat and if Penrith win its because they have taken it ultra seriously this time.

There is obviously going to be some down playing of that Saints result by Wigan fans, as there would be on the flip side. It was an incredible achievement and something that the English game in general can be proud of and it will go down in Saints history.

Now for the honest part that Saints fans might not like-I don’t think anybody can deny Penrith took that game pretty easy (at least to start with). They didn’t risk players with knocks, it was lumped in as part of a programme of pre season friendlies and there seems a huge apathy with the fan base (they got their lowest crowd in many years) but even with all that, they should comfortably be beating any English club in their own country. They can spend 4 times as much as our clubs for starters, so it was still a ridiculous result for Saints.

Move forward to our game with them and I’d imagine Saints will have woken them up a bit and we’ll see a more focused Penrith rock up in Wigan. If they’re fully on, we won’t beat them and I’ve no issue admitting that. If we do beat them, I find we’ll need them to again be a bit arrogant about the fixture and should that come to fruition, it won’t take away from Wigans achievement because just like I noted above, a team spending 4 times what we can should be able to get over some arrogance/complacency, a lack of warm up fixtures and in this case travel.

People can think Saints beat a complacent Penrith ‘and’ think it was a great achievement, they don’t need to be mutually exclusive.

Honestly mate, you believe whatever you want to make yourself feel better about the game. Enjoy your victories, as much as you can.

I've said it before, Saints win was about a good of an achievement as Buster Douglas beating Tyson. He'll be in the history books for it. He, like Saints fans, will right dine out on it in years. Everyone else just shrugs their shoulders and says Tyson had a bad night.

This return match/ fight to keep the analogy going, is like Buster Douglas stepping back into the ring with a smarting Tyson. Make zero mistake - if we win, it will far out eclipse what you guys did. There won't be any flukes, or off nights this time.

As a Wigan fan,what Wigan did against Manly eclipses what Saints did
What Wigan did against Brisbane eclipses what Saints did
If Wigan beat Penrith that will also eclipse what Saints did
This doesnt mean to detract from the great achievement of St Helens as it was a fantastic shot in the arm for SL.
64,000 at Brisbane,37,000 (approx) says more fans of both hemispheres were interested in the Wigan's games than the Saints game and poss sellout at Wigan as a bonus this time.
I will say yet again it was a fantastic win for Saints but the interest isnt as strong as Wigan's sadly.

Wigan beat Brisbane mid-season in Australia with a patched up pack after a gruelling season. The Aussies can’t use the excuse of not being match fit. Regarding the Manly game, both teams had their championship winning squads available so again it wasn’t treated as a friendly and players hadn’t moved on. Having said that, I am always happy for our lads to succeed, so well done Saints.

It was a clear afterthought for Penrith last year, probably because they had no idea who St Helens were.

They didn’t move a muscle for it and just rolled it into the preseaon challenge rested some key players, played at their normal home ground which was half empty.

Whereas this year, knowing they are playing the premier side in the northern hemisphere, they are building their whole preseason around it.

Flying right across the world, having a training camp, big game feel in front of a crowd likely over double that of last year.

A stand alone event rather than a trail game.

Different level.

Some laughable comments on here and expected arrogance.

The Premier team in the Northern hemisphere on the back of one GF win in 5 years.

Beating Penrith in English conditions at home apparently is a bigger achievement.

Comparing the most successful team in SL and the 4 peat winners to Buster Douglas is laughable. Absolutely laughable.

And people wonder why I want Wigan to get smashed.

No Wigan fan on a Wigan forum cares that a St Helens fan wants Wigan to get smashed. All Wigan fans want St Helens to get smashed every week.

Google who Nathan Clearly thinks the premier team in the northern hemisphere is.

Beating a full strength Penrith side anywhere is a bigger achievement than beating their reserves yes.

4peat, woooow. well done. We probably would have won a couple if we played 2 seasons on our home ground too. It's a fraudulent achievement, and one that is now at the end of its mini era. The big dogs are back now, step aside.

They must have one hell of a Reserves team…

To’o
Crichton,
Leota
Fisher-Harris
Luai
Cleary
Yeo
May
Turuva
Kenny

The above all played in our game. Massively unfair to the rest of the comp if that is their Reserves team. Needs raising with the NRL I think.