Pretty sure we ended up playing Brisbane in Brisbane with one prop, Neil Cowie. Skerrett picked up a ban shortly before and Andy Platt was unavailable for selection for reasons that now elude me. However, Billy McGinty backed up in the front row, and the rest is history.

Not saying that kind of lightning will strike twice, but the gods were really against us that day and yet somehow we did it.

Didn't Skerrett get his jaw broken by the elbow of Dean Sampson in the Premiership Final v Cas?

i think it's more to do with punishing the offender and protecting his next opponents than whether we win or lose.

Anyway it's all immaterial as we go into this one in comparative rude health compared to last season.

I was relieved to see Sa'u come back onto the field, as a season ending injury would have created a clamour for a long ban. As it happened about 120 yards away from me I couldn't tell whether it was a bad tackle or not. Thankfully not as Gelling has become quite a decent player for us, after unpromising beginnings.

Yeah he looked to have been off-balance and made a clumsy grab to me. Fair play to Ben Thaler for not letting the home crowd affect his judgement. It did hurt Salford temporarily losing Sa'u and Lui at the same time to concussion assesments during the first half,. Whilst I still think we would have won, the game would have been closer IMO.

That could have been it, actually. Do you recall why Platt wasn't available?

Hadn't he signed for Auckland Warriors for the 95 season? He didn't play in the Premiership final v Cas but did in the Challenge Cup final v Leeds in 1994.

Yes same with Dean Bell.

Have you guys got any chance? Thinking of backing the Sharks by 1-6 pts, hoping it will be a tight one.

Will be rooting for Wigan from the other side of the Country!! - hope you get a full house how, are the ticket sales going?

Interesting views on the other thread about the poor quality marketing of RL in this country. Regarding this match - Cronulla have been based in London all week and I've not seen any interviews at all. I'm assuming they are being paid handsomely to come over.

Have Cronulla done anything at all to help promote this game? Or should it be down to the RFL? Or Wigan?

Quote ="Aboveusonlypie"Interesting views on the other thread about the poor quality marketing of RL in this country. Regarding this match - Cronulla have been based in London all week and I've not seen any interviews at all. I'm assuming they are being paid handsomely to come over. Have Cronulla done anything at all to help promote this game? Or should it be down to the RFL? Or Wigan?'" I've heard radio advertisements regarding ticket sales and quite a few posters in and around town but that's it. Not sure who this is down to the RFL or Wigan, something tells me its an RFL event but I could be wrong. I think you get the impression they just do enough and no more but at the end of the day there has been a press release about ticket sales only around 1000 tickets remain in east and west and a fair few in North and South so ticket sales are healthy with still a few days to go, don't think it will sell out but it will be close www.wiganwarriors.com/news/2017- ... ket-update

Quote ="Aboveusonlypie"Interesting views on the other thread about the poor quality marketing of RL in this country. Regarding this match - Cronulla have been based in London all week and I've not seen any interviews at all. I'm assuming they are being paid handsomely to come over. Have Cronulla done anything at all to help promote this game? Or should it be down to the RFL? Or Wigan?'" I've heard radio advertisements regarding ticket sales and quite a few posters in and around town but that's it. Not sure who this is down to the RFL or Wigan, something tells me its an RFL event but I could be wrong. I think you get the impression they just do enough and no more but at the end of the day there has been a press release about ticket sales only around 1000 tickets remain in east and west and a fair few in North and South so ticket sales are healthy with still a few days to go, don't think it will sell out but it will be close www.wiganwarriors.com/news/2017- ... ket-update

Looks like the sales are around 19,000-20,000 but I've looked at the ticket map on a few occasions over the past few days and the sales seem to be drying up. I think it'll be around 20-21k which is ok but it should really sell out. There doesn't seem to be a buzz about the game outside of the Wigan camp and the hardcore support. I think that comes from the one sided nature of the fixtures over the last couple of years.

We simply must stop the rot on Sunday! Even giving them a scare will be a start.

Giving them a scare isn't good enough, that is admitting we are second best. We need to win and win good.

I think theres a few reasons why people aren't really interested.
1 - The state Super League is in
2 - Previous years like you've said
3 - and the biggest factor for me are ticket prices - I know standard match day prices are pretty expensive at Wigan but I've paid £26 for my season ticket seat (east stand) - I'd say thats quite expensive for a non season ticket holder never mind a season ticket holder. Wigan pricing themselves out of the game completely. I know plenty season ticket holders who aren't going because of the prices. Why pay £26 quid for a ticket when you can go to the pub, watch it for free and have a few pints and only spend 15 quid? I'm not saying they should dilute ticket prices so it becomes a bargain but come on, be reasonable, especially for ST holders and families.

Unfortunately we are second best both as a league in comparison to the NRL and as a side in comparison to the majority of NRL clubs. That isn't of our own doing but it's sadly where the games at in this country.

A 'good win' would be unbelievable, a scrappy win would be just as good but even a close loss and a good performance would at least give us some credibility. They're talking about Cronulla having four of their Grand Final team missing as though it'll hurt them but we have numerous players missing from our Grand Final win also and some others injured. The difference between us and them being the extra £2m they can spend on the cap to add depth.

Make no bones about it, a win on Sunday would be right up there with our very best of all time!!

Yes we need to win a game hopefully it's us or both would be great. At very worse we need to have ran them close.

If it could be worked I think having it during the magic weekend, the nrl teams would have the chance to play at the ethihad is not a bad selling point. But it would increase attendances and help fill the stadium u guys with 20k+ and we will be close to capacity if not full on the night. I like the concept I remember watching Widnes v cronulla it was a great spectacle and one I remember many years later. But whilst there's a huge difference in our salary caps it's always going to be an uphill struggle to get a win.

I wish u the best of luck against cronulla.


(Felt really odd wishing u lot luck I will shower immediately lol)


With regards to pricing I belive the club must guarantee the nrl clubs gate share at approx 100k so they will be more expensive than normal. Could be wrong on that.

On ticket prices: I don't know who set them for the WCC, is it Wigan, or the RFL? But people pay 30 quid to watch Championship (second tier) football, so 26 quid to see some of the best players in the world doesn't seem out of the court to me.

I agree with NK that a win would fantastic, and to give them a good game with a fairly narrow defeat would still be quite an achievement. And in the unlikely event that we did beat Cronulla, I'll bet those people who decided to save a tenner by watching in the pub would be cursing that they weren't there to see it in person!

I'd disagree, based on the fact that 20000 of us are turning up on Sunday. I'd even argue that £26 for my regular seat, to watch the best club team in the world, in a showpiece event is too cheap.

I see where your coming from and agree with alot of it, however what you say is probably the reason why we haven't beat the aussies in a while in that we think we are beaten before we take to the pitch. We aren't here to make up numbers and if we feel that we are then we shouldn't be playing in the first place.

We get beat by the Aussies because they're better then us. They've been beating up on us for 40 years now and that isn't due to our attitude. It's a bigger sport in Australia and the talent pool is far bigger. They get freakish athletes like Inglis, Folau and Hayne coming through their systems whereas in England kids like that would play other sports. Their league is intense which then makes their halves more rounded and their forwards more focussed and less error ridden then ours.

I say all that but that doesn't mean I'm a defeatist. Do I think we can beat Cronulla on Sunday? Yes. Do I think we could beat them on a regular basis if we played them numerous times in a year? Not a chance because they have too many advantages.

I'll be buzzing if we win on Sunday but I can't apologise for the fact that I'll feel reasonably content with a decent performance in a close defeat. The respective strengths of each comp makes that realistic.

If we beat them Sunday you could talk to 100,000 people in the Wigan borough in 20 years and all of them will claim to have been at the game!!

A few of my mates simply aren't attending games this season (World Club Challenge included), mainly due to last season's un-inspiring performances up until the final few matches of the season.

Bit disappointing as I reckon the team will put on a much better show for people this season (from the few games I've seen so far).

Disappointing this hasn't sold out. £26 or £22 if you sit behind the sticks is not extortionate ( I paid £20 for Salford last week).

Could be a historic win if we pull it off. Is this game bigger than the Grand Final?

I think we can win.

Question.

If we win on Sunday but don't make Wembley or Old Trafford is this season a success ?