IT is not how you start but how you finish and England forward Jon Wilkin is convinced his St Helens team will come out on top at the end of the engage Super League season.
Tomorrow’s 14th Grand Final will be the first not to feature either of the top two teams, with leaders Warrington falling to fifth-placed Leeds and Saints toppling defending champions Wigan in last weekend’s semi-finals.
It will be a resumption of normal service at Old Trafford, where Leeds and St Helens met for three years in a row from 2007 with the Rhinos emerging triumphant each time.
They have 14 Grand Final appearances between them since 1998 but they have been forced to do it the hard way this year after initially struggling under new coaches.
Saints won just two of Royce Simmons’s first five games in charge while Brian McDermott found himself under fire from Leeds fans after guiding his team to just 10 wins from his first 21 games.
But both clubs have won 10 of their last 12 matches in all competitions to prove Wilkin’s point and earn a tilt at the title.
“Warrington and Wigan have been the form sides all year and maybe some of the points-scoring that Warrington have done through the year had really caught the eye,” Wilkin said.
“But we were confident if we could put a performance together we could get to this game and I know Leeds have a history of getting to the big games.
“It is surprising that not one of the top two is there but timing is everything in sport and our timing has been good to get to this point and so has Leeds’.
“The timing to get the win is the next thing.”
St Helens are 4-6 favourites to stop the rot after four consecutive Grand Final defeats but Wilkin plays down his side’s dismal record at Old Trafford as well as any talk of revenge over the Rhinos.
“You want to win, of course, but as a player, you understand that, along with triumph and euphoria, there is a flip side,” he said.
“That’s what I love about sport, those extremes and it’s important you embrace both with a similar attitude.
“We’ve worked hard to get here and you’ve got to cherish these moments. You never know as a player when your last opportunity to play in a big game like this will be.
“We’re happy to be here. It’s not relevant to us who we’re playing.”
Most eyes at Old Trafford will be on Saints’ young half-backs Lee Gaskell and Jonny Lomax, who began the year as understudies to Leon Pryce and Kyle Eastmond but, after being fast-tracked into Super League, forged an exciting partnership which Wilkin believes can take them to the very top.
“You’d hope they’d be part of the England future for years to come,” he said.
“As a senior player, I’ve found it really exciting to be a part of their development. It’s been amazing and such a good experience watching them develop as players in front of your eyes.
“They’ve absorbed everything and put it into action and they’ve produced the goods in big games as well.
“I think the potential for them is massive. The key is their attitude and their willingness to learn and accept they’ve got failings in their game and that they can improve.
“Probably the other thing is that they don’t know how good they actually are. They’re blissfully unaware of what they’re capable of and that’s a nice quality to have as well.”
