That means =#FF0000[uNEAR[/u Wigan Rogues. Lots of places are near Wigan and Billinge happens to be one, but it's still a lot closer to St Helens.

I am! This is a final, this is Wigan v St Helens! I have seen much bigger upsets in my time, including results in this seasons play-offs. Lest we forget, Wigan were rank underdogs at Murryfield in 2002 and look what happened. I expect this to be a close game.

Just hope Shaun Wane puts up a picture of Mark Aston lifting the Challenge Cup at Wembley....................upsets do happen.......the bookies had them at 6-1 in a 2 horse race.............

I actually think Saints winning on Saturday could be a bigger upset than Wigan winning the cup in 2002. Wigan had a very decent pack in 2002 which included the likes of Terry O' Connor, Craig Smith, Dave Furner and Terry Newton. In addition Adrian Lam and Jules O'Neil was not a bad half-back combination and whilst the current Saints pack is also solid Im not convinced they have enough at 6 & 7 to upset Wigan.

I think a rainy night will help Saints but I just can't see anything other than a Wigan win by at least 12 points.

I think that's about right. A close loss (less than 10-12) would represent a creditable effort IMO. I know people will say we're just making excuses early, but that's genuinely how I see it.

People are talking about Wigans Grand Final experience. By my reckoning there will be nine players missing who played in last years Grand Final, that's quite a change in personnel.

You can't be an "ape" and pull something like that off...

Only 4 of them left though.

Of the rest, only Thornley is injured.
Goulding, Dudson, Hughes and Taylor not picked/out of form/poor seasons.

Quite, talk about a misleading stat.

Who are the ones that left? Tomkins (replaced by an experienced NRL legend), Richards (replaced by Burgess who imo is better and one of the best wingers in the sport), hansen (replaced by Joel tomkins who is better), who's the other?

Lee Mossop

There's glimmers of hope for us and the fact its a final and a derby can lead to a "anything can happen on the day". However, I don't think its going to happen for us, I'd probably say I rate chances as 75% Wigan to 25% Saints in my mind.
What I really fear is us doing something silly/rubbish early on whilst you start like a rocket, then see you sit on the lead with a superior kicking game.

Has this turned into a disappointing signing? Is he back of to Humberside?
He's looked good when I've seen him, but he took a while to get going, didn't he, and now he's not making the side?

He's been outstanding and probably our best prop for a good while which considering his age is impressive.

Very hot/cold this season though as his Mrs has been nagging him to go back to Hull. Hasn't played since he signed for Hull FC (apparently).

Every time I've watched Wigan I've rated Flower much more highly than Taylor. I'd say he was your best prop.

I would agree with that he's certainly been the most consistent prop. Good wrap for Dom Crosby he's progressed well this season.

is that now official?

There has been no official announcement, I assume that'll be left until the off-season.

Great shame to see him leave, he was our best prop last season and our pack is weaker without him in it, but there's more than adequate replacements for him. However, i'd much prefer to see Taylor on our bench come Saturday than Pettybourne

it depends on who you listen to as whether it is official or not............

As the club tend to try to bury bad news by including it in a press release with some good news, maybe we are in for a nice surprise next week? We've known Taylor is going...might someone be coming?

Maybe Waney is been trying to send Taylor a message by not selecting him - this is what it is like to miss out playing in big games/finals. Go to Hull and this is how it'll be, you'll miss out on great nights. If Taylor has any sense he'll commit his future to Wigan.

If Taylor has any sense he'll stay at Wigan and let his good lady go back to Hull.

My guess would be an experienced half-back from another SL club.

Who would you have?

I wouldn't be unhappy with Scot Dureau, Kevin Brown or Tim Smith (if he could learn to defend). Can't think of many others and those three are not really Paul Deacon quality.

That would be a good question for Shaun Wane, I just think that if there is an opportunity to bring in somebody like a Paul Deacon who is looking for one last swan song and who could help guide the young players around we should take it.

Dureau is going back to Catalan, as is Carney and Tonga. They will be a very good team indeed next year.
I worry about playing Clubb and Sarginson in the GF. One thing that you have with the likes of Taylor and Goulding is thousands of hours of RL exeprience, which allows them instinctively to do the right things at the right time. Clubb and Sarg have learnt their skills and learnt them well, but I don't know if they could be relied upon to sustain their concentration under severe pressure over the 80. We already saw evidence of them creaking last Friday.
As a counter to this argument we also saw an error strew display from Bowen who has been playing for decades, but, having watched Sarg and Clubb for their entire careers, I fear we could rue a brain storm or rank indiscipline from them on Saturday.