WOOOAAAHHH!!!!!!!!





My bit of Billinge is not in Wigan. The only bit of Pieland we have is the postcode!!!!!! My MP is ST Helens north. My council is St Helens And we're also on the right side of Billinge Hill..

Fair play to you. The are many many households on the St.Helens boundary of Billinge that put Nr Wigan on their postcode instead of St.Helens. I know this because for a few months over 7 years ago, I did a bit of postman work there.



I like both sides of Billinge as an area and would happily there than darrrn sarrfff.

Saints may not be favourites but it would not rank as an upset if they won. They have masses of experience, a big pack and fast, skilful outside backs. They have done a great job of talking themselves down, I'll give them that, but their record this year speaks for itself. If we get sucked into a scrap like in the home game then we could struggle. If we stand toe to toe, then we should have enough in 1 to 7 (and 13) to see us home. Whoever wins will have had to play very well, which is as it should be.

If you put Billinge St. Helens on the address it gets crossed off and Wigan put on. It does delay the letter arriving.



I know because a lot on my outlaws do it (I'm sure it's deliberate

)



The correct address is Billinge Nr Wigan WN5 no matter whether it's higher or lower end.

The one thing we don't have is masses of experience. At least not of finals. We have a very inexperienced team in this context. Of those playing, only Makinson, Wello, Hohaia, Soliola and Robes have played in a final before. Hohaia, Wello and Robes are the only ones to have WON a final before. Even our coach is inexperienced in this context.



I think if Saints won I think it would rank as an upset. Not a single pundit or anyone is giving us a chance at all.

It would be an upset for sure, similar to when Wigan won the CC in 2002.



Whilst you never go out to lose a game its been very clear that Wigan can shift gear in the important games (CC semi-final aside). I have not seen Saints play at the intensity that Wigan have done in recent weeks.



Brown needs to come up with a different game plan on Saturday, one that does not include Flanagan at 7.

I think thats a masterstroke lol

To give credit where its due I think Nathan Brown has done a great job in getting them to the final, I just think that he will need to change their approach significantly to trouble Wigan on Saturday. They need bags of aggression early doors and lots of second phase play at the right end of the field but without a half-back its going to be very difficult for them.



Surely they must have a better option than Flanagan at 7?

Saints went into the season with only Walsh and Hohaia as halfbacks. They had the chance to give Charnock and Hewitt some game time but chose not to. Wigan on the other hand when they lost Green to injury gave Powell, Williams and Hampshire first team experience.

The basic title of this thread and the rationale behind it makes sense! Saints did finish top, they had the easier semi final and had a day extra rest.

Much has been made about their injuries but to be fair, we had the worst run of injuries I can remember for years! Charnley, Burgess, Green, Thornley, Goulding, Flower, Pettybourne, McIllorum, Lockers have all been out for big chunks of the season through injury!

It's only the last few weeks we've had any fluency with consistent selection of what on paper might be seen as our strongest team and we've really hit good form. That's the reason most people are not giving Saints a chance.

Personally I don't think Saints are gonna roll over and are still capable of getting the win. They'll have to fire on all cyclinders and hope we have a bad day (of which we've had plenty this year) but I think Wigan by 14.

Interesting point and I didn't realise that was the case. Im not familiar with the younger players at Saints but you can definatley see how Wane has given our younger players a chance and how they now look comfortable taking their place in the team.



Surely Hohaia would be a better option than Flanagan?

Thanks or putting me straight, Rogues. How friendly is this thread? It's not exactly Millwall-West Ham firm rivalry is it





Got my tickets for Sat. Can't wait!

There have been so many "upsets" this season that I don't think anyone is taking this game for granted, least of all Waney and the boys. While some of the upsets can perhaps be put down to the favourites taking things easy in the regular season, that can't be said to apply in the CC and the playoff games, where we've seen a lot of underdogs go on to beat more fancied opposition.



Having said that...Wigan by 12

Hohaia is playing at 6 and whilst Flanagan is being named at 7, it's Jordan Turner who has been playing that role really, despite being on the team sheet at 13.



Flanagan is playing some sort of hybrid half-back/old-fashioned loose forward role on our left-hand side.

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.