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.

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Well that's a load of rubbish. The majority of Saints just wont want Wigan to win without any reasons.

[quote="Stu M"]I think had we been given more credit, I would've swayed with supporting Wigan.


Again I say that this is a load of rubbish. How do expect to come onto a Wigan site and expect to be praised. Just imagine me going onto redvee and expecting praise. All I would expect is the usual abuse. Please don't pretend to be an unbiased Saints fan who can shout for Wigan because I am pretty sure that none of them exist.

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.