Super League Grand Final: Sky Sports 1 HD
Ahead of Saturday's clash at Old Trafford, we get the help of Opta stats and Castleford's Luke Dorn to break down St Helens v Wigan...
Friday 10 October 2014 10:55, UK
So it comes down to this - 80 minutes at Old Trafford to decide who will be crowned Super League champions for 2014. The stage is set at the 'Theatre Of Dreams' for another Grand Final classic - and this year there's a little extra spice added with the fact it's a derby duel.
St Helens take on arch rivals Wigan in a showdown between two near-neighbours who simply hate to lose to their rivals.
Ahead of Saturday's clash, and with some assistance from the stats boys at Opta, we enlisted the help of Castleford full-back (and Sky Sports blogger) Luke Dorn - a player who has faced both finalists this year - to break down the battle that lies ahead...
Remember, you can catch all the action LIVE on Sky Sports 1 HD from 5pm, or go online and read our Grand Final blog which will be up and running at 2pm.
SO FAR THIS SEASON
Round 9 - St Helens 14-33 Wigan
The Warriors triumphed in the Good Friday derby as they ended Saints' perfect start to the new season in emphatic fashion at Langtree Park. They led 20-14 at the break and then shut out their hosts in the second half while also adding a further 13 points themselves. Sean O'Loughlin scored one try and made another for Dan Sarginson, while Liam Farrell bagged a brace and Joe Burgess also touched down. Tommy Makinson did get two tries of his own, but St Helens were well beaten in front of their own fans.
Round 18 - Wigan 12-16 St Helens
Revenge proved to be sweet for St Helens at the end of June when they came out on top at the DW Stadium to move three points clear at the Super League summit. Makinson once again scored a double, with Paul Wellens notching the visitors' other try. Wigan also went over three times - Josh Charnley doing so twice with fellow winger Burgess getting the other - but two goals from Mark Percival, who took over the kicking duties once Luke Walsh had been forced off with a back injury - proved the difference.
ST HELENS
Route to Old Trafford:
* Finished regular season in 1st place (P 27 W 18 L 8 38pts)
* W 41-0 v Castleford in qualifying playoff
* W 30-12 v Catalan Dragons in qualifying semi-final
Grand Final history
A trip to Manchester holds mixed memories for Saints, who will be making the short journey for a record 10th time. There was nothing but success from 1998 to 2006, including two narrow wins over Bradford and a comfortable triumph over their opponent’s in this year’s showpiece. But since their convincing success over Hull FC eight years ago, they’ve suffered serious Grand Final heartache. They made it to the final for the next five straight seasons but were beaten on each and every occasion, with Leeds proving their conquerors on four of those visits. They’ve not been back since 2011, so could a break have done them some good?
The coach: Nathan Brown
Fewer than 24 hours after his side had booked a Grand Final berth, Brown announced he would be leaving the club at the end of the season to return home to Australia. He has been released from the final year of his contract for personal reasons, despite missing out on the vacancy at the Wests Tigers. Brown arrived at Langtree Park after a successful spell in charge at Huddersfield came to an earlier-than-expected conclusion, having taken the Giants to a Challenge Cup final appearance and three successive playoff berths. At Saints he has had to cope with a high number of injuries and also a changing of the guard.
Always frank and honest in his appraisal of his team, and never shy of offering his opinion (he once suggested then-Huddersfield forward Luke O’Donnell should have knocked Leeds player Ryan Bailey “out cold” following a late hit on team-mate Kevin Brown), Brown has been a real asset to both his clubs and Super League as a whole during his time in England.
Luke’s view: "Nathan Brown is an excellent coach – the way he goes about his game plans and creating a style of play is fantastic. If you look at Saints from the start of the year through to the end of it, then their style of play is now vastly different. That’s basically down to the injuries that they have encountered along the way. When you consider they finished on top of the table and have now reached a Grand Final, it’s a real testament to a coach who is able to adapt."
Breaking down St Helens
1-Big up front
The strength of St Helens is in their pack. They’ve some big boys, and plenty of them. Kyle Amor and Alex Walmsley have been outstanding throughout the campaign, Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook is another to have earned rave reviews and Mose Masoe has begun to find form right when it matters. Throw in the offloading skills of Willie Manu and the versatility of someone like Mark Flanagan and it is clear Saints have plenty of strength and depth to use throughout the 80 minutes.
Luke’s view: "They were playing expansively when Luke Walsh and Jonny Lomax were fit, really moving the ball around and challenging the edges. Since those guys have gone down they’ve understandably had some instability in their play-making roles, apart from James Roby, they’ve really changed. They have instead now gone to a power game, because they have a wealth of riches in the forwards, able to send the likes of Sia Soliola, Anthony Laffranchi and Mose Masoe off the bench. If they get on a roll then they are hard to stop."
2-Super League’s Duracell Bunny
James Roby may have missed out on the Steve Prescott Man of Steel award but he has been influential again for his club, most notably coming down the stretch. Superb in defeat at Huddersfield in the regular season, he was the catalyst for the success over Castleford in round one of the playoffs. A brilliant runner from the tackle area who has an ability to snipe a try from close range, the hooker has had the most carries in Super League this year (550) and the most metres from scoots (2763). He also topped the tackle charts with 1,054.
Luke’s view: "Everyone knows he is a phenomenal player. When you play against a key member of an opposing team you normally plan to go at them – you want to tire them out so they can’t have quite the same impact in attack. But with Roby it’s almost impossible to do that – he is an incredible athlete in terms of his fitness levels. If you get some ruck speed with their forwards, then Roby becomes even more dangerous. He will look for the little hole behind the ruck and, more often than not, he will have support there for an offload."
3-Playing for kicks
Walsh was the field general for St Helens until he suffered a broken leg at the end of July, cutting short a promising debut season that had seen him score 153 points in 15 Super League appearances already. Jon Wilkin has been used in the halves previously but he too is sidelined, as is Lomax. Whoever kicks out of hand at the weekend will have to make a good job of it – Matty Bowen had the most return yards of anyone in the competition this season (1650).
Luke’s view: "In games like this kicking is enormous – you know both teams will be up to it defensively, so metres will be tough to come by early on. That means what you do on the last is crucial, if you’re not kicking well to Wigan then you’ve got guys like Matty Bowen, Josh Charnley and Joe Burgess bringing the ball back with room to work. Likewise, Saints have the likes of Paul Wellens and Tommy Makinson. If you’re finding those guys on the full, you’re going to be in trouble."
WIGAN WARRIORS
Route to Old Trafford:
* Finished the regular season in second place (P 27 W 18 D 1 L 8 37pts)
* W 57-4 v Huddersfield in qualifying playoff
* W 16-12 v Warrington in qualifying semi-final
Grand Final history
Wigan are the reigning champions and have tasted success in Manchester in two of the last four years, with their 2010 triumph seeing them topple St Helens 22-10 under Michael Maguire. However, Old Trafford has not always been kind to the men in Cherry and White. They have a 50 percent success rate in the Super League era, winning in the inaugural season thanks to a brilliant Jason Robinson try but then losing on their next three trips. They were beaten by their arch-rivals in 2000, lost the following year to Bradford and then come unstuck against the Bulls again in 2003.
The coach: Shaun Wane
Shaun Wane had a tough act to follow when he stepped up to replace Maguire at the end of the 2011 season. The former Wigan player was promoted from his role of assistant coach to the top job, and quickly set about putting his stamp on things without wasting the excellent groundwork done by the departed ‘Madge’. The Cherry and Whites have continued to have a strong focus on defence without cutting back on their attacking play – they have scored 164 tries this year and have conceded 81. Wane, like his counterpart at Saints, is not afraid to stir the pot with his words to the press, including stating his desire to get one over their near neighbours.
Luke's view: "What Shaun Wane does is get his guys fired up, making sure they go as hard as they can with no respect for their bodies. He is not too concerned about the opposition, he wants his team to do what they have planned to do and challenge the other team to beat them in some way."
Breaking down Wigan
1-‘Us v Them’
Wane has become something a master at galvanising his troops by creating a siege mentality. It has garnered a tremendous spirit amongst the group and a collective desire for success, as shown last year when they turned around a 16-2 deficit to defeat Warrington and become champions. This quote after the semi-final win over the Wolves offers an example: “I think we are in the right shape for next weekend, we know what we need to do to win the game. St Helens are a good team but this is our game”. Their pack may not possess the heavyweight names Saints boast (not in terms of reputation at least), but their forwards know what they have to do and perform their roles admirably.
Luke’s view: "It’s all smoke and mirrors a bit with Wigan. Look at their team and there isn’t anyone who scares you, physically. They very much say ‘we are going to do our thing, if you can match us then go for it’. They go hard and are extremely physical. It’s going to be about matching the intensity, controlling emotions and seeing who can enforce their own style on the opposition."
2-Breaking from deep
Much is talked about the set moves Wigan put on to create try-scoring opportunities, particularly when they spread the ball wide through their halves, Blake Green and Matty Smith. However, this is not a case of spotting a run-around move and dealing with it. Support runners on selected lines offer multiple options, and any hesitation from a defensive line can prove costly. No team scored more tries from inside their own half than the Warriors (28), yet they are just as potent from inside 10 metres – only Huddersfield (71) managed more this year than their 68 from close range.
Luke’s view: "They fall into their shape very quickly and it all looks very structured, almost machine-like, but within that they still allow for freedom of expression. They know where they’ve got to be, so they can more or less play with their eyes up. You can watch the defence and then pick which option to take. You see Blake Green and Matty Smith often make bursts on a show-and-go, because they have players around them in the same sort of holes all the time. They can then read what they see in front of them and react."
3-Case for the defence
As already mentioned, Wigan are a side that doesn’t like to concede tries. It is a legacy of the Maguire reign that has continued on under Wane, providing the backbone for their success in recent years. It has also got under the skin of opponents, too. Breaking down the numbers further, they have been breached just 24 times down the middle – the next lowest in the competition this year was 38, which was Leeds. Of the 81 scores they did concede, 33 came in the second half. They must be sharp at the start against St Helens, however, as they touched down 17 times in the opening 10 minutes of matches.
Luke’s view: "Wigan will pile in, and more often than not will be dominant in the tackle. That gives them more leeway with referees because they are the team on top at that point. If you win the contact, you will get some allowances. Get knocked back and you won’t get away with anything, because the ruck will be too quick and you’ll be duly punished for trying to slow it down. If you can dominate, you should get that advantage."
THEY SAID...
"The forward battle will determine the result on Saturday. We know they are coming and we will need to be up for it physically too. I'd be surprised if both sides aren't up for the collision and whoever wins those battles will determine who wins on the day."
Nathan Brown, who has included three-quarter Matty Dawson in his 19-man squad
Live Super League Grand Final
"No one is tipping us; there isn't a soul that is backing us. From a pressure point of view there isn't any on us as no one is expecting us to win. A few weeks ago Wigan would have rubbed their hands at playing us in a Grand Final."
Brown again, this time playing up Saints' status as underdogs
"They have dealt with their injuries well, giving young lads a chance and that's one of the most attractive things about them at the minute. Like us they're got some great youngsters and it's a major selling point for the Grand Final that both sides have plenty of passionate, home-grown players.”
Warriors forward Liam Farrell praises St Helens for their coping skills
"We’ve had a walk around the stadium to familiarise ourselves with the surroundings. It’s an amazing ground. Standing in the middle of the pitch and looking around was just crackers! I knew coming to this club would give me a greater chance of winning trophies and playing in the big games like these."
Kyle Amor - fresh from a trip to the barbers - on the chance to play at Old Trafford
"To be facing Saints again, it’s a local derby, the atmosphere will be unreal and it will be a huge game not only for the players but for all of the supporters too."
Joel Tomkins may have been away in rugby union but he still knows what the derby means
