Gildart is angling for derby success!

The classy-centre went to St Edmund Arrowsmith High, in Ashton, with current Saints prop Luke Thompson.

And while they will be on rival sides at Langtree Park tomorrow night, they are plotting a future meet-up in a far less confrontational setting – pursuing their love for fishing!

Gildart said: “Thommo is older than me, but I played year-above at school so we’ve known each other for years.

“We’re both into fishing, and I think we’re going to go with Sam Powell and (Saints winger) Tom Makinson when we get some time off. A Wigan-Saints fishing trip!

“Tommy and Thommo are really into it, and Sam’s good, so I need to up my game.”

Gildart fulfilled a lifetime dream last Saturday when he scored a try at Wembley.

But he would happily have swapped his first-half score for the victory in the Challenge Cup Final.

While the 21-year-old was disappointed with the 18-14 loss to Hull FC, he says they have quickly refocused their attention on tomorrow’s trip to Saints.

The sides are level on points, both one point behind fourth-placed Wakefield, with four rounds to go.

“We’ve got to forget about Wembley now, because our season is still alive,” he said.

“I was gutted after the game, and hopefully I’ll get to play in a few more Challenge Cup finals over the next few years.

“But we’re straight into this now, and it’s all on St Helens.

“For me, this is must-win – it’s one of the biggest games of the year.

“If you can’t get pumped for Saints you shouldn’t be at this club. And it’s got more meaning than a regular Wigan-Saints derby.

“Everyone will turn up. The lads are disappointed with what happened last weekend and we’ve spoken about it, but we’re past it.”

Gildart says improving their completion, which in the second-half at Wembley dropped to 58 per cent, was one priority for tomorrow’s match.

He concedes they failed to contain Marc Sneyd’s kicking.

“For a spell we didn’t really have the ball for 20 minutes,” he said. “If we keep hold of the ball, we don’t get beat, really.

“But it was the same story of too many errors and penalties.

“Their last plays were better than ours. That’s what Sneyd does, that’s his game.

“You want to get a piece of him but you can’t, because he doesn’t really carry the ball – he kicks teams to death and fair play, he’s good at it, why would he not?”

Gildart is confident they can still finish this campaign with more silverware.

And he added: “I know some people have said it’s not been a great season but we’ve won a World Club Challenge, we’ve reached a Challenge Cup Final, we can still reach a Grand Final... we have had a good season. I know performance hasn’t always been there, but the stats don’t lie - I wouldn’t say it’s been a bad season.

“I’m looking forward to it. There’s not long left, we’ve just got to put everything into this.”