Wigan Warriors and Catalans Dragons are about to do battle for the Super League title in the Super League Grand Final at the Theatre of Dreams: Old Trafford.
Now former Wigan star Kevin Brown, who played at Old Trafford for Warrington Wolves in 2018, has had his say on who will win the Grand Final.
He said on BBC Radio Five Live that he believes Wigan are the favourites. he also underlined a worry for Wigan however.
He said: “I think Wigan are favourites by the way they’ve been playing, the way Bevan French has been orchestrating from six and his partnership with Harry Smith at seven.
“My one worry is that they’ve not really been taken to deep water for a long time. The last time, I think it was maybe Hull FC when Harry Smith got that drop goal, but apart from that, they’ve just been walking through everyone.
“I think Catalans will take them into that arm wrestle and I think once they do, it’ll be a different sort of Wigan that we’ll see, but what I do know about Wigan is they’ve got a lot of character and resilience built by a number of years and Matty Peet will demand that.”
He spoke about the added motivation for the Catalans Dragons:
“I remember playing against a Wigan side when it was Shaun Wane’s last game as coach and the emotional connection that they had, and the emotion around that game, you could physically feel it by the players who were playing against them.
“I think Sam Tomkins and Mitchell Pearce playing their last games, I think there’s a real big emotional connection there and yeah if they can go 60-70 minutes I think they’ve got enough experience and talent about them that they can win this game.”
Brian Noble added: “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.”
