In-form Thomas Leuluai believes a good performance would inject a dose of confidence going into the play-offs and bolster their Grand Final hopes.

The Warriors have crumbled to three "embarrassing" defeats to their arch-rivals already this year, and the Kiwi Test scrum-half conceded: "If we don't play well it's going to dent our confidence before the play-offs.

"We owe Saints quite a bit. They have embarrassed us on a number of occasions and it'd be good just to play well against them.
"For some reason we haven't played our best footy against them, and to do that on Friday would be a huge boost. We need to step up."

Fifth-placed Wigan could finish sixth if they lose on Friday and Bradford win at Castleford – which would hand them a trip to third-placed Catalans in the opening round of the play-offs.

But a victory could see them climb to fourth if Warrington lose to Huddersfield, which would then give them a home tie in the play-offs.

Goal-kicking ace Pat Richards, back after sickness that ruled him out of Wigan's 52-16 record defeat to Leeds in their last match, said: "We'd be confident with either of those games, obviously we'd like to be back at home, but the important thing is we get some form going into them.
"Hopefully in the Saints game we can do that."

Wigan had last weekend off as St Helens were marching to their third successive Challenge Cup Final triumph, with a 28-16 win over Hull FC at Wembley.
"Let's hope they enjoy a few beers and carry it on into this week," said Richards.

"We needed a break, we had a few blokes busted and it's good to regroup after the Leeds game and put a couple of good weeks of training in to make sure we're ready for Saints."

St Helens need to win to guarantee top spot – second-placed Leeds trail by two competition points and a points difference of 51. Leuluai added: "The break came at a good time. We've freshened up, and this week we'll start ripping in at training.

"We can't play Saints all on emotion, we have to play well with the ball too – playing with good intent is not good enough."
Captain Sean O'Loughlin and Phil Bailey are set to return.