Wigan Warriors and Catalans Dragons are set to do battle for the Super League title at Old Trafford in what is Sam Tomkins’ final game.
Now the man who gave Tomkins his Wigan debut has spoken about the Grand Final.
Former Wigan and Bradford Bulls boss who knows how to win at Old Trafford, Brian Noble spoke about Tomkins on BBC Radio Five Live:
“It’s a wonderful ending for what a wonderful career he’s had, both in the NRL and over here and internationally.
“That’ll be the most of the pundits and the media’s angle on this game at the weekend, but if you look across both teams and pick up on what Kevin said about, I think these are the two best teams and it’s star-studded. There are star performers on both sides.
“Clearly Tomkins’ story is going to headline and be the focus but I think you’ve got two intelligent coaches as well going head to head and I just think when we go through the names for this final, there are game breakers right across the board for both teams. I think we’ve got the two most exciting teams as well in the grand final.”
He backed the Dragons to win the Super League title: “Well, I think there are nine players leaving Catalans so they’ve got plenty of reason to talk about, well, ‘we’re not going to be together again’.
“You have to compartmentalise the emotional side of it, you have to perform on the day and you want most of your players playing as near to their best football as you possibly can.
“The game is as much won by emotions as it is by tactics, but you have to stick to what you’ve been doing through the year and I slightly fancy Catalan probably for another reason.
“One of their mission statements would be that they want to be one of the teams outside, only four teams that have won this competition, to make a name for themselves, to put a blueprint on the fact that this is French Rugby League, this is what we stand for, this is what we’re about.
“They lost to Grand Final two years ago, they’ve got nine players leaving so there’s stories on both sides.
“Wigan have to perform and I think with the superstars that they have there, you look at Field, you look at French, you look at the way Miski and Marshall have been finishing plays, it could well end up as Smith-French axis against Pearce and May could be the deciding factor here.”
