Funny thing is I think they'll lose in Cardiff.

As a biased opinion I'm obviously going to say Wigan.



BUT I think Saints/Wire will push very very close.

They do, however Wigan have no also lost the pressure on themselves of not having won a trophy for a long time. That was huge on us last year especially after losing at Leeds in the cup and at home to Saints, Warrington, Huddersfield and Leeds (play offs) during the second half of last year. Many people said we'd bottle it come the crunch but we actually went to Leeds and won comfortably and beat Saints pretty well in the final. How did we do that? By grinding it out when it mattered.







Not sure what that has to do with anything. Noble massively under-achieved here at Wigan. 6th place in 2009 (especially in hindsight after 2010) was a disgraceful return. The difference between his era and us now is vast. Our standards won't slip back. I think we proved that last at Warrington. We wern't that good in attack but in defence we were all over Warrington and 24-18 was a bit flattering in the end for Wire.



As for whether we'll win this year - I think our massive squad depth will see us retain first place. The Grand Final is all down to the performance of the day itself.







On this weeks results I can't see it. They'll have to improve a hell of a lot defensively from their two pre season displays so far. But we'll see.

I'd love nothing more than a league and cup double (or treble if you count the WCC provided we win it!) but to go through a full season unbeaten in all competitions is an extremely tough ask in SL. We will be beaten this season, thats a guarantee. I just hope it's not too many times!

Like Bilko I am confident we are still the best squad and I believe we will finish top in the league table, however, this means little when it comes to the play-offs and all the tops sides are capable of beating us even when we are playing well so you just never know but I would expect us to be in the final after finishing top. Last season our top of the league finish was down to two results in the end.... we beat both wire and saints away. This gave us a lead throughout the year and we never looked back.



The challenge cup depends on the luck of the draw and how you turn up on the day but I think we have a good shout in that as well, I think we would have reached the final had we sneaked past Leeds (which we should have done).

Just one comment how was the score flattering towards us, we had 1 perfect try ruled out, and countless we bombed due to a bad pass or knock ons.



Granted Wigan played well, your defense was good, you just took your chances, i wouldn't look much into the game, by the comments of some of players they didn't play at full level due to Smith telling them "to go out there and enjoy it"



My only gripe, what was with Wigan players constantly trying to slow the play the ball right down, but the ref pick up on this well so not too bothered there.

What a pointless thread, Wigan are rightly favourites, but any number of things could cause them not to retain their crown, think saints in 2005 and 2007. Massive favourites, but got unfortunate injuries for one, and bottled the other

TBH we are suffering from injuries at the moment with Gleeson, Richards, Finch, Fielden and Hansen.



5 of our first 13 are out and we beat Warrington on their patch, if it were another team it would be called a crisis but due to our squad depth and quality in that depth I don't really see injuries as a setback, plus the return of Hock in May/June I see us doing really well in the league and either winning the GF or CC.

Some people always think last years champions will walk the current seasons title and it rarely pans out as easy as that. I remember watching Saints 4 or 5 years back and thinking they had the title sewn up for years to come and then watching Leeds play over the years you wondered who could give them a run for their money but it's never easy and alot just comes down to who turns up on the night at Old Trafford.



I'm confident the Wigan squad has enough quality and depth to take a top 2 spot but then after that anything could happen in the play offs as the top 4 or 5 are all pretty similar in terms of ability.



It should be a cracking season.

As with most other supporters I would hope the club I support will be in with a chance, Wigan set a high standard last year & I hope whoever wins does it by matching or bettering that rather than Wigan slipping up. Good luck to all for the new season & lets all hope for injury free teams.

Well said.

Saints look a lot stronger than I thought they would, but I think it will be a couple of years that they and Leeds will have a lull while they redevelop younger players and restructure. I think Wigan and Warrington will be the dominating teams for a couple of years.