St Helens will continue their quest for Super League immortality when they welcome Salford Red Devils to the Totally Wicked Stadium for their playoff semi-final clash on Saturday.
The home side are bidding to win an unprecedented fourth successive Super League crown this season, but know first hand how dangerous Salford can be having been well beaten by them as recently as July.
Match preview
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It was victory over Salford in the 2019 Grand Final that kicked off St Helens' latest period of dominance, and Kristian Woolf's side know that an even firmer place in Super League history is almost within their grasp.
Leeds Rhinos are the only other team to have won three Super League crowns in a row - incidentally beating Saints in all of those finals as the Merseysiders began an incredible run of five successive Grand Final defeats.
No team has ever taken it further than the historic three-peat, though, and having claimed the League Leaders' Shield for the first time since that 2019 triumph this season, many will fancy St Helens to break that unchartered territory this time around.
Woolf's men ended the regular season four points clear of second-placed Wigan Warriors, having won 21 of their 27 games throughout the campaign.
Two of their six defeats came in their final three matches of the season too, when Woolf rested players in preparation for the playoffs and subsequently saw his side go down to Wigan and Wakefield Trinity before ending the campaign with victory over Toulouse Olympique.
The hosts will be back close to full strength on Saturday, although the loss of Alex Walmsley to injury for the remainder of the campaign is a blow to both their hopes of domestic success and England's hopes of doing well at the World Cup later this year.
Saints will be confident that they have enough to get past Salford even without Walmsley, particularly as they have not lost a home game against Saturday's visitors since 1975.
Woolf's men ended the regular season with the best defensive record in the division, shipping over 100 points fewer than any other team, whereas Salford had comfortably the worst defensive record in the top six.
It is in attack where the Red Devils' strengths really lie, though, and having only been outscored by Wigan in the regular season, they will fancy their chances of testing that stubborn Saints line.
Should they somehow end a remarkable 39-match losing streak away to the Saints then it would leave them just 80 minutes away from the first Super League title in their history.
The 2019 Grand Final between these two sides remains the one and only time Salford have made it to the showpiece, and the prospect of them even making it this far seem a farfetched one not too long ago.
The Red Devils finished 11th last season and began the 2022 campaign in similar form, offering few glimpses of a team that might challenge for a trip to Old Trafford.
However, a run of nine wins in 11 games helped to secure the final playoff spot, and they were utterly dominant against Huddersfield Giants in the playoff eliminator last week to win 28-0 at the John Smith's Stadium.
Further confidence can be taken from the most recent meeting between these two sides, which saw Salford run out 44-12 winners at AJ Bell Stadium, inflicting the heaviest defeat of the season on Saturday's hosts.
Whether they can replicate that performance on the biggest stage, away from home and having been in action last week while Saints had the weekend off remains to be seen, but Paul Rowley's men will fully believe that they can be the team to end St Helens' Super League dominance.
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Team News
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As mentioned, Saints will be without star man Walmsley for this match after the England international suffered a season-ending broken foot.
Dan Norman will also miss this match after suffering a broken cheekbone, while Will Hopoate and Josh Simm are sidelined too as Woolf finds his options limited at the worst possible time.
It is not all bad news on the injury front, though; the influential Mark Percival is in line to return for his first appearance since May, while Sione Mata'utia is also expected to feature after recovering from injury and Sam Royle is back in the squad too.
St Helens are not the only team who will be forced to cope without one of their star men, with Brodie Croft - Super League player of the month for August - ruled out due to concussion protocols.
The Man of Steel nominee was taken off during the win over Huddersfield last week and never made it back onto the field, although he could be back for the Grand Final should Salford make it that far.
Chris Atkin is likely to replace Croft in the side, while Sitaleki Akauola is also back in the squad as Dan Sarginson drops out.
Head To Head
St Helens have traditionally dominated this fixture, although things have started to become more even recently with Salford winning three of the last six meetings - as many as they had in their previous 23 before that.
The most recent of those was the 44-12 triumph at the end of July, when Salford ran in eight tries in front of their own fans.
However, generations have gone by since Salford's last away win over Saints, a 21-8 triumph in 1975.
We say: St Helens to win
Salford arrive at the Totally Wicked Stadium in fine form and full of confidence, and the most recent meeting between the two sides is evidence enough that they have the ability to dethrone the three-time defending champions.
However, St Helens have been here and done it so many times before, and that vastly superior experience on the big stage could be enough to see them past their visitors - not to mention Salford's dire record on this ground.
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Barney Corkhill
