the League leaders shield winner Wigan Warriors will face second place and defending champions St Helens in the Super League Grand Final this Friday.
These old rivals have played over 300 games against each other, but have only played each other in the Grand Final 3 times before at Old Trafford since 1998. This will be the 4th time these sides meet in the Grand Final but Friday is going to be different, as it will be at an empty KCOM Stadium rather than a packed Old Trafford
Wigan booked their place in the Grand Final with a convincing 29-2 win over Hull FC in their home semi-final at the DW Stadium. The League Leaders’ Shield winners sucked up some early pressure from Hull before going through the gears to score five unanswered tries.
St Helens thrashed Catalan Dragons in their home semi-final at the Totally Wicked Stadium, Man of the match Lachlan Coote scored twice, while Kevin Naiqama notched a hat-trick as Saints registered eight tries in total.
James Graham has announced this week that Tomorrow’s Grand Final will be his last game in Rugby League. He made his Super League debut all the way back in 2003, and lifted the title with Saints in 2006, along with a 10-year stint in the NRL with the Bulldogs and Dragons.
We’ve known for some time that this season will be Sean O’Loughlin’s final season in Rugby League as a player. The Wigan Loose made his debut a year before Graham in 2002. Unlike Graham, O’Loughlin has been a one man club all his career and was rewarded as the skipper of the first Wigan side to overcome Saints in a Grand Final back in 2010, one of four title triumphs in his career.
Sam Powell returns at hooker for Wigan, but Ben Flower – sent off in that final six years ago – misses out on what would have also been his last appearance.
As history shows, this final is a 50/50 game, with St Helens winning 29-16 in 2000, Wigan claimimg the title by winning 22-10, and Saints edging Wigan in the 2014 final 14-6.
For the first Grand Final at the KCOM in Hull, we might see a Grand Final go to extra time for the first time, that’s how close these two teams are, and is really hard to call a winner!
