I have never been so confident going to Wembley.My First Wembley was 1961.
I have never been so confident going to Wembley.My First Wembley was 1961.
Anything can happen on the day. But if we lose next week it will be seriously disappointing. We are the best team in the country by a mile. Warrington could improve from what they’ve served up recently and still be nowhere near us.
screaming in the family corner, scaring the kiddies
Absolutely.
Some of the talk on here and the Wire forum is getting me more and more nervous. They don't think they have a chance and alot of our fans are confident. That just ramps up the pressure and ultimately we are still an inexperienced side when it comes to winning big games.
Do I think we will win? Yes. But I think it's going to be very close and I think Wire will massively step up their game. They have put the cue on the rack in the league and are clearly putting their eggs in the CC basket in the hope they win it. Everyone will play for them next week, I am not buying the mind games about injuries at all.
Saints just need to focus on themselves, playing their best rugby, not going away from what's been successful for us and defending with intensity. The big question for us is whether lessons have been learned from last season and I'm also hoping those memories motivate and inspire us to go one better and win the big one. A win for us on Saturday could be the start of something special for this team I think.
Originally Posted by Despondent Dave
I reckon Warrington will see the CC final as their best chance of silverware - and I expect will put everything into it.
Would be great to see a dominant win in the final that reflects our standards of play throughout the season - but cup finals are not so straightforward.
I think we have to continue to focus, be professional, avoid complacency, be confident and play what's in front of us as is needed. Despite current form, I think it's going to be a tougher game than form suggests.
This final is the first acid test for the team to show it can carry that form (since JH's tenure) into results in the biggest games. We're yet to do that. We only need to look to the CC semi to see that nerves can come into play and we can have an off day. I hope the lads just relax and continue to play as they have all season - and the semi was our blip and wake up call to forge ahead with confidence.
They deserve victory the way they've played all season and a good win in the final could give real confidence to know they can win on the big occasion and hopefully go onto becoming known as one of the great Saints sides we've seen. This season has been a real team effort - really balanced efforts across the park in each game and it's a credit to the players and coaching/back room staff. Now just to convert this into silverware!
COYS!
So long as we keep our composure we will be fine.
As regards last night I could not work out if Wigan were very good or Wire very poor.
Learned comment from The Don
Ratchford could be Doubtful for next week...
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Still in Newport....still no nearer home.........
Again, brilliant post.
I completely agree. Warrington have binned the league off. Our main threats in that now are Wigan & Hull (Still capable of a couple of great performances).
Warrington are heavy underdogs & don't have a lot to lose imo. They'll throw the kitchen sink & the ironing board with the iron at us next Saturday.
I believe we can win but I do think we will have to be at or near as our best as we can be because Warrington will turn up with a performance.
Don't let their league form fool you. They were pretty good in their semi final against Hull & I think they'll be good again. They are capable of beating us no matter what you think of them & I guarantee you that they'll show up
Despite Warrington's woes and Saints optimism I think we should think back to our semi final game against the Catalans last season. We need to expect our toughest game of the season, Warrington are injured animals at the moment and might like the Catalans target the CC final as the only silverware to go out all for.
Ratchford seemed to take a knock but was stood up at the side of the pitch watching on so I’d be surprised if he was injured as such
There are too many people taking the result for granted and have got Saints as having won the cup before the game is played , I will wait for the final whistle remember it is one game .
I only watched the first half last night but they were only playing at half pace, I don’t think any of their players even broke into a full sprint. I didn’t see anything in that game that will be relevant to next weekend, there’s certainly nothing new to take away from it. You only have to look back to semi final last September/October. Many on here didn’t give them a chance that night but they played above themselves, we got found out in certain areas, had a few players coming back from injury and couldn’t take control of the game. Every mistake and penalty they conceded was treated as though they’d conceded a try and if they get into that frame of mind again, we’ll have to play close to our best to get a result.
They’ll need to play their best game in a long time to beat us but anything can happen in a final.
Steve Prescott MBE (1973-2013)
V
I’m absolutely positive about Saints, I think we’ve played at 65-75% ourselves for the last couple of weeks and are ready to rip it up at Wembley. Our fitness, skill set and team work is so far ahead of everyone in the league that we are winning at a canter.
We were on a downward spiral towards the end of last season, who can forget Catalans, Huddersfield and Wigan rolling over us when we were missing Barba (he was there, but missing if you know what I mean) and players continuing with niggling injuries....
For us to lose at Wembley, Warrington would have to play at 100% and we would have to be worse than we played against Catalans.
Not impossible but EXTREMELY highly unlikely.....
Can't stop the spirits when they need you.
This life is more than just a read through.