Warrington could do the double, admits Saints coach
St Helens interim coach Mike Rush believes Warrington can become the first side to complete a league and cup double since Saints achieved that feat in 2006.
However he says the task of winning both the Super League Grand Final and Challenge Cup final is a tough task, and the feat requires an extraordinary amount of luck.
He said: “You need a good squad of players, and Warrington have that at the minute.
“Warrington have most of their key players injury free, but people underestimate the role luck has with any teams success. You have to win a minimum of two big games to get here and a lot can happen in those two games.
“It’s a great dream but you can get carried away and the hard work needs to come first. We were lucky enough to win it, but we had to work really hard.”
Rush and his side meet Warrington at the Halliwell Jones Stadium on Saturday night (6pm kick-off), and the St Helens coach is aware Warrington are arguably the form team in Super League as the play offs approach.
He is also aware of the possible threats Warrington possess, as the Wolves beat St Helens at Langtree Park in August.
He said: “They have someone crafty in Leeds Briers, who is a St Helens lad and he likes to get one over his home town club. Ben Westwood has been outstanding and will be in the mix for Man of Steel. Adrian Morley and Trent Waterhouse are up front while Brett Hodgson and Joel Monaghan are threats in the backs. I could go through the whole squad picking names out.
“But you try to win the arm wrestle, win that kicking game and make them come off their own line. Every team is less of a threat coming off their own line like we proved against Wigan.
“When you are winning that bit of an arm wrestle, which we lost a month ago in the first couple of minutes against Warrington, we never got that ball back for eight minutes. The little things will go towards winning this game at the weekend.”
However the last time St Helens travelled to Warrington, they won 28-16 in one of Rush’s first games as coach.
