Super League Grand Final – Wigan Warriors v St Helens
So, it all comes down to this.
After the trials and tribulations of an exciting Super League season, 386 fiercely competitive games to be exact, all will come to a conclusion at Old Trafford on Saturday as Wigan Warriors take on St Helens in the Grand Final.
A whole season’s work will come down to 80 minutes of rugby, which has to be one of the most pressurised scenarios any professional sportsman could find themselves in. But no doubt both teams will thrive on the occasion, and serve up a wonderful final.
Despite the prestige surrounding Wigan and St Helens, both teams have lost their last three Grand Finals. Saints have run into the Leeds Rhinos for the past three seasons, whilst Wigan lost three finals on the bounce in 2001, 2002 and 2003, but have been absent from the showpiece event since then.
The game, on paper, is too close to call, as the two side’s strengths lie in different areas of the field. Wigan have the edge in the backline, with the creativity and guile of Pat Richards, while St Helens have a rampaging forward line that can blow any team away.
That powerful pack includes the man-mountain Keiron Cunningham, who will play his final game of an illustrious 17-year career at St Helens in the final. The 33-year-old is Saints through-and-through and if the same scriptwriters are in attendance that were persent at the semi-final, then Cunningham could play a huge part. The legendary hooker crossed over late on against Huddersfield to score the last-ever try at Knowsley Road, and some people are predicting a similar send off on Saturday.
His teammates have been lauding praise upon the former Great Britain international in the build-up to the game and Saints full-back Paul Wellens is fully focused on giving Cunningham the send-off he deserves.
“It’s difficult to say anything about Keiron that hasn’t already been said, he’s an absolute legend,” Wellens told the Liverpool Echo.
“It’s amazing to have a player who even his own team-mates are in awe of. I’ve spent the last 12 seasons playing with Keiron but I just look at him truly as an inspiration. So God knows how these young lads feel to be in the same dressing room with him. They must hang on his every word.
“People tend to say you should put the emotion aside, it doesn’t matter whose last game it is, you just go out and play your best game. But it’s hard to ignore Keiron’s situation. He’s been there 17 years and everyone wants to send him off on a winning note.”
Cunningham is coming to the end of his career, but a man who is just starting out his foray into rugby league greatness is Saints half-back Kyle Eastmond; unfortunately he has been ruled out of the final with injury. The 21-year-old, who scored all of his side's points in last year's 18-10 Grand Final defeat to Leeds, will be sorely missed, but his replacement, Jonny Lomax, is another young prospect who should relish this big occasion.
Another man who is bidding a fond farewell this weekend is Saints coach Mick Potter, who is set to take over at Bradford next season and he is looking to avenge the demons of last year’s defeat to Leeds.
"I'm sad to be leaving," Potter told the BBC. "The players have done well this season to get to where they are and the icing on the cake would be to go one stage further and win the final.”
Their opponents this weekend, who finished the season as the league leaders, have no injury worries ahead to the game with Sean O'Loughlin fully fit despite picking up a shoulder problem in the semi-final win over Leeds last weekend.
The Wigan ticket office has been booming all week with the build up to the game and over 30,000 Warriors fans will be in attendance at Old Trafford. But despite all the talented players on show, including Richards and the Tomkins brothers, a huge selection of supporters will be cheering their side on with the name Newton on the back of their jerseys. Fans have been flooding to local sports retailers to purchase the memorabilia kits in respect of their former player Terry Newton, who tragically committed suicide last weekend at the age of 31, after battling with severe depression.
“We’ve had so many people asking for Terry Newton,” club-shop manager Paul Stanworth told the club’s official website.
“The fans have really been showing their respect for him, he is easily our most popular name at the moment.”
A minute's silence will take place before the game for Newton, who played over 400 games during his career before he was banned last season for drug-use.
The illustrious sporting spectacle that is the Super League Final may be played to high stakes but if any player on the losing side needs any perspective at the final whistle, then sparing a thought for the family of Newton may provide some comfort.
Prediction – St Helens by five-10 points
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