Wigan Warriors- The 18th man: 'Back where we belong'

Stephen Ford

I’ve been nervous about the Challenge Cup final since our semi-final win against Saints.

Our defence since the semi has been poor and the first 20 minutes against Hull was probably one of the worst 20 minutes that I’ve seen from us for quite a while.

I’d be much happier if we had the momentum pre and post Saints, i.e. a convincing win prior against Wire and a fantastic fightback against in the semi.

I always think that it's probably easier to maintain a positive momentum rather than start that process from a losing sequence. Hopefully I’m wrong and Peet will have them firing on all cylinders come the kick off.

I have a very healthy respect for Huddersfield and their coach. Although not a particularly entertaining team they have an excellent pack and with two very good centres and they will cause us problems on Saturday.

If we don’t defend to our very best and if we concede needless penalties then we could be in trouble.

Watson is a very canny coach and I’m sure that he will have his team ready and primed for Saturday.

I’m hoping for a good start from us and I’d love it if we got a full length try from Field.

The bookies are currently giving Huddersfield eight start on the handicap which I think is far too high and come the final hooter I would be surprised if there is more than 4 points between the teams.

I’ve got a sneaking feeling that Cust could be the man of the match and become the second Aussie number six to receive the Lance Todd Trophy for a victorious Wigan team.

We’ve got an early start on Saturday and about 15 of us are booked on the train to Euston. It’s my grandson’s first CCF and I hope that he will also see his first Wigan victory in the final. Definitely going to the Rolling Pin at the Saddle to get my pies.

No hard and fast plans on pre match pubs to visit but personally I’m looking forward to going to the brewery that is within Tottenham’s stadium.

I’m certain that the train on the way down will be like bedlam. I just hope that it is the same on the way home.

Jon Lyon

Back where we belong.

This weekend gives us the chance to move yet further ahead of the chasing pack led by Leeds and win an incredible 20th Challenge Cup.

I’ve been blessed to have been to 15 finals since 1985, with a staggering 12 victories to date (the less said about 1998 the better).

Huddersfield offer a tough challenge this year. They ran us close at Wigan in February and beat us recently, albeit against a very understrength and youthful Wigan side.

They have a lot of size and experience in their forwards and their halves and fullback have been combining very well.

There are all sorts of rumours about which of their halves will be fit and if Will Pryce will be back in contention. Who knows, and frankly who cares.

If we play as well as we can, certainly as we did in that first half of the semi final against St Helens, then it shouldn’t matter who Huddersfield have playing, we have more than enough talent to win this game.

So much will depend on discipline and will to win. If we can cut out the penalties we have been conceding and the soft tries we have let in the last two weeks then I can’t see anything but a Wigan win.

Cocky? Maybe… Confident...Very. I can’t wait to see French, Field and Marshall let rip. Harry Smith has been in outstanding form and our forwards are more than capable of dominating the Huddersfield pack. I’ll plump for a 26-14 win.

I’m looking forward to visiting a new stadium. It’ll be up at 4:30am, check I’ve got the tickets, pick my dad up, check I’ve got the tickets again and a quick drive from Southport to Wigan to hopefully grab a spot on the car park, all the while being repeatedly asked by my dad if I’ve got the tickets.

I have to say a huge thanks to the Wigan club for opening the car parks up for those travelling by coach. As a non-local I would have had no idea where to park at that time for the day, and I can do without coming back to a car covered in parking tickets.

A 7am departure and a four hour drive down, no doubt filled with plenty of singing, the sharing of sausage rolls and Uncle Joe’s Mint Balls, and if we’re lucky maybe a DVD or two of Wigan beating St Helens to get us in the mood.

It’ll be a very rare occurrence of cheering on Leigh in the 1895 Cup match as I can’t abide Brian McDermott and his miserable/arrogant attitude.

After the main event and we’ve hung around to watch the trophy presentation and Liam Farrell lifting the cup it’ll be back on the coach for another four hours of singing, and maybe a “vimto” or two and finally getting home around 11pmish, very tired but hopefully very happy. How lucky we are to support this club, as my dad always says to me: “Aren’t you glad I wasn’t born in Rochdale.”

Darren Wrudd

Well the time is upon us, almost all the talk is finished and it's time to step out once more into a magical atmosphere that only a Challenge Cup final can produce.

The lads must be absolutely buzzing to get out there and play, but can you imagine just how the Huddersfield squad must feel too.

They are no slouches this year and put the cleaners through us a couple of weeks ago quite impressively as they play a style of rugby we are all too familiar with under the guidance of Ian Watson.

Don’t forget it was Watsons Salford who beat us in the Jackson Hastings semi-final and he will hope to go one better here and lift the silverware.

The threats they have are well documented and this should be a close game against tough opposition, but we must only consider our own game leading up to this important 80 minutes.

Nothing but our most positive attitude will do, whether that is chasing every chance or keeping discipline around the tackles, rucks and 10 metres or for sure the referee Mr Child will have something to say about it.

We can only control how we behave, how we think and how we commit to the game plan that Matty Peet will have in mind.

It is a great chance to bring back some glory to the town as Wigan Athletic have recently with their fantastic efforts and subsequent promotion, but for the fans it means so much more.

Our connection with the cup is historic and unbeaten, it belongs here at Wigan and if we play our best version of our game, we will be bringing it home with us once more.

I hope the lads get a good night's sleep and enjoy the occasion as they don’t come around often in a short playing career.

As for the Coaching staff, many of them have been to finals before but it will still be an exciting and nervous time for all and I simply cannot wait.

The day is booked for a rugby fest with Leigh going head to head with Featherstone in the 1885 cup and that should be a great contest. I wish Leigh the very best of luck in that one too.

This though is the first of our finals for over 20 years which we will not be attending. A combination of workload and timing will see me sat in front of the box with a beer and my favourite shirt on, I will even have my lucky pants just in case we need them too.

So just me, my lovely wife Glenda and Allan the cat, but if we score you will probably hear me from wherever you are in the borough.

Hope you all have fun, enjoy the final and the very best of luck to the boys, come on Wigan - we can do it.

Robert Kenyon

The one thing that worries me about Huddersfield is their coach Ian Watson.

At Salford he got them to a Grand Final and a Challenge Cup final, losing both games and he would have learned a lot from those defeats.

They have a good pack so we need to muscle up down the middle, they have zip from dummy half in Daniel Levi who is quick out of the ruck, he will catch any lazy markers having a breather.

Lolohea and Leutele are class players, Will Pryce is very dangerous and will cause us problems.

I'm hoping for a similar performance to earlier on in the season that Thursday night when they didn't get a look in.

We have the players to win, the game will be won or lost in the coaches box with the game plans and how they are executed.

With that in mind I'm hoping the experience of Lockers and Briers feeds into the team this week and with Peet pulling the strings they come up with a masterplan.

This Saturday I'll be travelling down on the club coaches, starting early with my butties in my cool bag.

Even if Wigan weren't in the final I'd have gone because I've wanted to go to the Spurs stadium since it was built. I'm going to dig out one of my retro jerseys for the game as well. This game is the most I've looked forward to since the 2010 Grand Final.