Well if the Rugby Football League made a wish at the start of the season then it has probably come true – Saints are to play Wigan at Old Trafford in the season’s finale.
It means a ground that will be nigh on full and the teams who finished first and second will face one another.
It is all how it should be really, but personally it is one of those local derbies that I always feel I am watching from a distance.
Hardly surprising really as I am not from St Helens or Wigan, but I am sure that a fair number of RL fans who are neutrals for this contest also find it hard to pick a side when these two come together – mainly because one or other or both of them have given your favourite team a regular battering over the past decade or three.
However, this time round I am nailing my colours to the mast and saying come on Saints – or more specifically come on Nathan Brown!
It will be Brown’s last game in England before returning to Australia and, while I can’t claim Nathan as a pal or anything, our paths have crossed a fair few times over the years and he is simply great company.
He certainly has a different attitude and a laid back approach – in fact so laid back at one game at Warrington myself and Examiner rugby league writer Chris Roberts had to convince a jobsworth guarding a door that the fellow with us in the T-shirt and faded shorts was actually the Huddersfield Giants coach.
The moment that will stay with me when it comes to Nathan is at a press meeting at the John Smith’s Stadium where we were involved in a t’internet classic.
The Examiner was going through the initial stages of experimenting with videos for the website, but sadly when we set up the interview Nathan was stood on the dugout step – which is at least a foot high – and I wasn’t.
While Nathan is indeed a little taller than me, the footage made it appear as though the giant Giants coach Brown was being interviewed by a midget – the only thing that would have enhanced the situation further was had I asked the questions while inhaling helium.
But the lasting impression Nathan leaves on the English game is one of how to engender success and progression, while keeping everyone smiling.
He took the Giants to Wembley and made them a play-offs fixture, and he has taken Saints to the League Leaders Shield and to a Grand Final.
And the guy is definitely a winner. He arrived in Huddersfield from St George Illawarra where he had a 53 per cent win rate in 142 games, and he left the Giants with a 58 per cent win rate from 92 games.
However, the only thing that matters for Brown now is one more win and leaving these shores as a Grand Final winner – best of luck Nathan.
