So, here we are. Standing at the end of another season, with only two teams remaining after twenty-seven regular rounds and two weeks of scintillating play-off action, we arrive at our final destination: Old Trafford.

In one corner, the reigning, defending champions, Wigan Warriors, with twenty-three league titles to their name, and in the other corner, the underdog, Hull KR, with five league titles to their name (the last coming in 1985), a mere eight years after their regelation from Super League. 1st vs 2nd, the match many neutrals wanted to see in the showpiece match.

Wigan come into the Grand Final with an unchanged 21-man squad from their semi-final victory over the Leigh Leopards last Saturday. Club captain Liam Farrell will be hoping to return to the team after an illness kept him out last week. Whilst Young Player of the Year Junior Nsemba will hope to bring some magic to Old Trafford to add to his barnstorming breakout season.

Like Wigan, Hull KR welcome back their captain this week, as Elliot Minchella returns to the Robins squad following his two-match suspension. Oliver Gildart misses out on account of a rib injury, giving coach Willie Peters a choice between Tom Opacic and Jack Broadbent for Gildart’s centre berth for this, the biggest match in Rover’s recent history.

In the middle of the park, the previous two Man of Steel winners will no doubt be ready to put on a show for the watching audience as 2023 Man of Steel Bevan French will square off opposite newly-minted 2024 Man of Steel Mikey Lewis in the battle of the half-backs to determine who is the best in the league.

The Lowdown:

Wigan go into the Grand Final as favourites with the bookies and the fans, but those odds aren’t comfortable by any stretch of the imagination, and as this season has shown, there isn’t much to separate the two sides, with both claiming one win each over the other in the league this season. Their most recent meeting, a month ago at the DW Stadium, was a close-run affair, ending 24-20 in favour of the Warriors. Rovers will hope to have taken some lessons from that game to apply here, but the Grand Final is a different beast, and one the Robins are unfamiliar with.

Despite Hull KR’s lack of Grand Final experience as a team, there is still big-game experience amongst its players. Tyrone May played at Old Trafford for the Catalans Dragons last season, and Niall Evalds won the Harry Sunderland trophy there when he played for Castleford, but this experience has a flip side, as both of these players were on the losing side in these encounters.

Ultimately, the difference between the two clubs has been slim enough to slide a playing card through this season, and multiple factors should be taken into account when thinking about this final. It’s experience vs upstarts, for a start. Wigan have won no less than fifty trophies in the time since Hull KR last won one, but it must be said that Hull KR will not be there to make up the numbers, although their means of winning last week were controversial, there’s no arguing that they’re there on merit, and will be aiming to be every bit Wigan’s equal on the day and show the spark that has been evident all season.

Both sides have shown throughout the season that they are more than capable of scoring points, but finals are often won and lost of defence, and as such it’s the Robins who have the edge in that department, only conceding 326 points to Wigan’s 338 across the regular season, so don’t expect a scoring bonanza in this game, it’s more than likely going to come down to who can keep the most points out, and as such, I’m not expecting a high-scoring game.

Of course, I am going to predict Hull KR to beat Wigan at the end of this preview, but do feel free to take that with a pinch of salt, as I am a Rovers fan, but I would be an extremely blinkered one to make that prediction with any confidence, as this game could truly go either way, both teams are as close to equal as it is to be. The perfect end (for me, at least) to this story is a Hull KR win, so I am allowing my heart to override my head on this one. The passing of Brian Lockwood yesterday just adds fuel to the Hull KR fire, they will want to win all the more for that, but will they need it more than Wigan? That remains to be seen, but it’s sure to be a memorable final. See you at Old Trafford!

The Stats:

League Titles: Wigan: 21 Hull KR: 5

League Finish: Wigan 1st, Hull KR 2nd

Win/Loss Record: Wigan: P27 W22 D0 L5, Hull KR P27 W21 D0 L6

2024 Head-To-Head Record: Wigan 1, Hull KR 1 (League Games)

Bookie’s Odds: Wigan 4/11, Hull KR 2/1

Nathan’s Prediction:

Wigan Warriors 10 – Hull KR 14

Written by Nathan Major-Kershaw (Site editor & Hull KR fan)

Odds courtesy of William Hill, accurate as of 10/10/2024