St Helens' season puts me in mind of the Apollo 13 mission to the Moon.
If you remember the story (or the film starring Tom Hanks), you’ll recall that the mission looked like ending in disaster because some components of the spaceship malfunctioned.
In order to get home safely, the NASA team had to find a way of manipulating the ship’s other components to do the job of the faulty ones.
Thankfully, the Astronauts made it back to earth and Hollywood helped to immortalize them.
Whether anyone will ever make a big-budget movie of Saints’ 2014 Super League campaign, I have my doubts.
But if Nathan Brown’s men can get the better of Wigan this evening in the Grand Final at Old Trafford (ko 6.00pm), they’ll certainly have earned any recognition that comes their way.
Just a couple of months ago, Saints campaign looked like it was going to end in tears.
Australian scrum-half and key playmaker Luke Walsh broke his leg in the home game against Widnes Vikings, bringing his personal season to an abrupt and agonising end.
Prior to that Saints had already lost Jonny Lomax and Jon Wilkin, two more important cogs in their attacking machine, to season-ending injuries.
At that point, even Saints legend and assistant-coach Keiron Cunningham has admitted he harboured negative thoughts.
But Brown, Cunningham and the rest of the coaching staff sat down and formulated a plan for how they could move forward.
It meant some players were going to have to play unfamiliar roles and duties were going to have to be shared around.
It also necessitated that, rather than sulking, the rest of the squad had to pull together like never before if they were going to be able to grind out the results they needed.
The players responded superbly.
It hasn’t always been pretty and their have been bumps in the road but Saints managed to cobble together enough wins to stay at the top of the table and lift the League Leaders Shield.
In turn, that gave them some advantages in the play-off series and here, perhaps, some deserved luck came their way.
First round play-off opponents Castleford, after an unexpectedly successful season and a trip to Wembley, looked like a bit of a spent force when they rolled up at Langtree Park and were duly spanked 41-0.
That result gave Saints a short-cut to the semi-finals where they faced Catalan Dragons.
The Frenchmen had done well to get that far and fired some warning shots across Saints’ bow in the first half. But they ultimately ran out of steam and Saints reached today’s big game with a 30-12 victory.
Without disrespecting either Cas or Catalan, the challenge of Wigan requires Saints to step up several more notches. Anyone who witnessed Shaun Wane’s team’s desire to hold on to their Super League crown in their semi-final win over Warrington, will know they’re going to fight tooth and nail this evening.
The Warriors will start favourites. The bookmakers seem to have decided that it’s just a step too far for the patched-up Saints.
Reluctantly, I have to go along with them.
The current Saints side have already done enough to be regarded as heroes, just like those Astronauts way back in 1970. But the crew of Apollo 13 never did reach the Moon.
Winners' chance to rule the World
As well as lifting the Super League Trophy, today’s winners will have the honour of playing South Sydney Rabbitohs in the World Club Challenge next February.
Anyone who witnessed the Rabbitohs’ 30-6 win over Canterbury Bulldogs in last weekend’s Australian NRL Grand Final in Sydney, will realise that it’s a fairly dubious honour.
The team coached by ex-Wigan boss Michael Maguire are a ruthless outfit with a real mean streak.
When they come to England they will, sadly, be without Sam Burgess who is moving into rugby union with Bath.
Today’s runners-up are not being left out of the World Club Challenge party altogether because for the first time in 2015, the WCC will consist of a series of three games.
As well as today’s finalists, Warrington have been confirmed as the third British team who will take part.
The Wolves will play St George-Illawarra at The Halliwell Jones Stadium on Friday, February 20 in a match that is likely to see ex-Wolves favourite and England forward Mike Cooper go up against his old club for the first time.
The losers of this evening’s contest will face Brisbane Broncos the following day with the main event taking place on Sunday, February 22.
Record 10 for Saints
St Helens will be making a record 10th appearance in the Super League Grand Final this evening and looking for their fifth win.
The Old Trafford decider will be the 17th time a Grand Final has been played to decide the ultimate Champions since the play-off system began in 1998.
Here are the key stats up to and including 2013.
Most Appearances: St Helens (9), Leeds (8), Bradford (6), Wigan (6), Warrington (2), Hull FC (1)
Most Wins: Leeds (6), St Helens (4), Bradford (3), Wigan (3)
Most Losses: St Helens (5), Bradford (3), Wigan (3), Leeds (2), Warrington (2), Hull FC (1)
Most Consecutive Appearances: St Helens (6), Bradford (5), Leeds (3)
Most Consecutive Wins: Leeds (3), St Helens (2)
Most Consecutive Losses: St Helens (5), Warrington (2), Wigan (2)
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