Old Trafford awaits for Wigan Warriors and Catalans Dragons as they face off in the 2023 Super League Grand Final on Saturday.
Only points difference separated the sides in the regular season standings as they finished as the top two teams, and they will fittingly meet at the Theatre of Dreams this weekend to decide the 2023 Super League champions.
Match preview
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Whisper it for now, but the good times could be on their way back for Wigan Warriors.
After four years without silverware for one of the sport's traditionally dominant forces, the Matt Peet era has already yielded Challenge Cup glory last year and is potentially now just 80 minutes away from adding a first Super League crown since 2018 - and a record 23rd overall - to their trophy cabinets.
Wigan finished top of the pile in the regular season, although the League Leaders' Shield was decided between three teams on points difference alone following the greatest title race in the Grand Final era.
The Warriors, Catalans and St Helens all won 20 and lost seven matches this season to finish level on 40 points apiece, but it was Wigan's nerve-wracking triumph over Leigh Leopards on the final day which kept them top of the pile, 60 points better off than second-placed Catalans.
That points difference can be pinned on the most recent meeting between the two sides too, with Wigan running out 34-0 winners in Perpignan in August - part of an ongoing 10-match Super League winning run for the Cherry and Whites.
Things are expected to be a lot closer in Manchester this weekend, although Wigan made light work of their semi-final opponents with an emphatic 42-12 victory over Hull KR to book their place in a first Grand Final for three years.
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Catalans did not have things quite so easy in their semi-final against four-time defending champions St Helens, and it took a moment of magic from the great Sam Tomkins at the death to secure their place at Old Trafford and end the most dominant era in Super League history in the process.
The French side will be hoping that Tomkins has at least one more sprinkling of stardust left before he calls time on a glittering career after Saturday's contest, and the former England captain could hardly have wished for a more fitting swansong against his former and hometown club Wigan.
The 34-year-old's last-gasp try in the semi-finals earned a 12-6 win just when it looked as though the match could be set for golden point extra time with the scores locked at 6-6, putting Catalans on the brink of more history in the English game.
Having already become the first overseas team to win the Challenge Cup and League Leaders' Shield, the Dragons will now be looking to complete the set by taking the Super League trophy away from England for the very first time.
Only four teams - St Helens, Leeds Rhinos, Wigan and Bradford Bulls - have ever won the Super League title since the current format was adopted 25 years ago, and this will be Catalans' second attempt at joining that elite group.
The Dragons were narrowly beaten in the Grand Final by St Helens two years ago, meaning that they have more recent experience of this stage than Wigan, although the Warriors' overall Grand Final nous far outweighs that of Saturday's opponents, with this their 12th appearance since 1998.
Wigan Warriors form:
- W
- W
- W
- W
- W
- W
Catalans Dragons form:
- L
- L
- W
- W
- W
- W
Team News
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Wigan head coach Peet has made just one change to his 21-man squad for Saturday's Grand Final, with Ethan Havard returning for the first time since July.
Havard takes the place of Cade Cust, although Peet is unlikely to tinker with the starting team that saw off Hull KR so convincingly in the semis.
Liam Marshall helped himself to a hat-trick on his 150th appearance in that game and will be important to any Wigan success again this weekend, although they will mainly be looking to the newly-crowned Man of Steel Bevan French for inspiration.
French scored 17 tries and claimed 30 assists throughout the campaign to help Wigan to the final, and he will now be looking to cap off a memorable personal campaign in perfect style.
There are plenty of Catalans players who will be trying to do the same though, not least winger Tom Johnstone, who missed out to French as one of the three nominees for the Man of Steel award.
Johnstone finished the regular season as the joint-top try-scorer and needs just one more to equal Catalans' record for most tries in a single season.
Even that feat may not steal the headlines away from the retiring Tomkins, who will look to end an injury-disrupted final season in the league on a high note and bow out in fitting fashion.
It is all set up for him to enjoy a fairytale finale against his boyhood club, with whom he won three Grand Finals, two League Leaders' Shields and two Challenge Cups over his two previous spells.
Indeed, Wigan have only won one Super League title without Tomkins in their ranks this century, and if he is able to replicate his semi-final heroics this weekend, he could be the main reason for that record extending.
Catalans have named an unchanged 21-man squad from the one which beat St Helens in the semi-finals, meaning that Mickael Goudemand could be in line to make his 100th appearance for the club.
Head to head
As previously mentioned, Wigan won the most recent meeting between these two sides quite convincingly in August, running out 34-0 winners at Stade Gilbert Brutus.
However, it was Catalans who came out on top in the other two showdowns this calendar year, running out 18-10 victors at Wigan in March and then storming to a 46-22 triumph on the Magic Weekend in Newcastle.
The Warriors are still well ahead in the overall head-to-head stakes though, winning 31 and losing 13 of their 45 previous meetings in the competition.
We say: Wigan Warriors 22-14 Catalans Dragons
Catalans will come into this match knowing that they can beat Wigan, having done so twice already this year and also having toppled the St Helens monopoly on the Super League title in the semi-finals.
However, this Wigan team looks far more formidable now than they did when Catalans claimed those two victories, with 10 successive Super League wins, including that big one in Perpignan.
It promises to be a mouth-watering contest between two top teams, but we are backing Wigan to ultimately come out on top.
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Barney Corkhill
