Wigan v St George: Teams

St George Illawarra Dragons assistant coach Steve Price is confident his side can get the better of "the complete package" when they take on Wigan Warriors in the PROBIZ World Club Challenge.

Price, who is taking charge of the Dragons in the absence of Wayne Bennett, paid the engage Super League champions the ultimate compliment ahead of Sunday's annual collision of hemispheres at DW Stadium.

"They are the complete package," he said. "They've got some strike all over the park, some good halves and a great full-back.

"They are well-coached and complete the percentages. We'll have to be on our game on Sunday to get over them.

Massive

"It's massive. You always want to be the best in your own competition and also be the best against opposition over here and you can't get a bigger challenge than this."

The Dragons arrived in the north of England on Thursday night after spending four days in London and will go into Sunday's game cold after opting not to follow the lead of predecessors Manly and Melbourne in playing a warm-up game.

Price, a former St George player who worked under current Super League coaches Nathan Brown (Huddersfield) and Mick Potter (Bradford) at the Dragons, is happy with his team's build-up, which included victories over South Sydney and Canterbury Bulldogs in the heat of Sydney.

"We'll have had eight days to prepare," he said. "There's been teams come over here without a game and got a result also.

"Our pre-season has been great. Our trial form has been reasonable. We're reasonably happy with where we are at the moment."

Wigan are appearing in their fifth World Club Challenge, aiming to win a record fourth title, 17 years after their last success over the Broncos in Brisbane.

"We're looking forward to taking what we created last year into this game," Wigan's Australian coach Michael Maguire said. "The boys are very excited about it.

"As a group, they're probably hungrier now than when I first got here. We've had a good pre-season and we've had a couple of good games leading into this game.

"I've got a fair bit of knowledge of the Dragons from my time back home. They play a similar style, a very effective style. I'm very aware of what they can do."

Gleeson check

Maguire will make a late check on Martin Gleeson, who went off with a hamstring injury in Sunday's 44-10 win at Bradford, and is confident his experienced centre will be fit to take his place up against former Test three-quarters Mark Gasnier and Matt Cooper.

"We're going to have to make sure we work extremely hard around those two players," acknowledged Maguire.

"They are world class and having Gleese there will add a lot to us. He showed in the Grand Final what sort of player he is. When he's at his best, he's a world-class player as well."

Gleeson, who was in the St Helens team beaten by Sydney Roosters in the 2003 World Club Challenge, is one of 14 survivors from October's victorious Grand Final team.

Price ruled utility player Nick Emmett out of the reckoning with a shoulder injury but the Roosters will have 13 members of their Grand Final team when he finalises his expected line-up after their final training run at Salford on Saturday.

Forwards Neville Costigan, Jeremy Smith and Jarrod Saffy have moved on and hooker Dean Young is injured.

Wigan (probable): S Tomkins; D Goulding, M Gleeson, G Carmont, A Roberts; P Deacon, T Leuluai; S Fielden, M McIlorum, P Prescott, H Hansen, R Hoffman, S O'Loughlin (capt)
Subs: J Tomkins, A Coley, L Mossop, L Farrell

St George Illawarra: D Boyd; B Morris, M Gasnier, J Nightingale; J Soward, B Hornby (capt); D Hunt, N Fien, M Weyman, B Scott, B Creagh, M Prior
Subs (from): M Greenfield, T Merrin, J Green, B Goodwin, C King