ST HELENS skipper Sean Long issued a rallying call to the beleaguered Super League champions as they stepped up efforts to reclaim their world crown.
Last year's treble winners go into tonight's World Club Challenge against Brisbane Broncos (8.00) cast in the vdery unfamiliar role of underdogs after making a disastrous start to the new season.
Ravaged by numerous injuries and suspensions, Saints head for the Reebok Stadium hoping to avoid a third successive defeat for the first time since 2005.
Long insists his team can lift and is banking on their big-match experience to pull them through.
"We've picked up a few injuries but there are no excuses," he said.
"We've got to go out there and perform.
"Maybe our attitude has not been right in the last few games - maybe this has been in the back of our minds - but I'm sure we will put in a good performance tonight.
"We know we can do it. A lot of the players here have played in big games, that's our strength at the moment.
"There is no bigger stage than this, playing against a world-class team, and it will be good to test ourselves against them."
Coming off consecutive defeats by Harlequins and Wakefield, Daniel Anderson's men must quickly turn around their form against a virtual full-strength Broncos side who will be out to avenge their last-gasp defeat in Bolton six years ago.
Determined to learn the lessons from 2001, Brisbane forced a three-week delay to the fixture to enable them to field their strongest team and broke new ground by playing a warm-up match against Celtic Crusaders.
Their only absentee is injured centre David Stagg and coach Wayne Bennett is able to leave New Zealand Test winger Tame Tupou out of a star-studded team that is led by arguably the world's best player in Darren Lockyer and includes nine other full internationals.
Long believes the only way his side can topple the Australian champions is to chance their arm and play the style of rugby for which Saints have become famous and which helped them to a clean sweep of the trophies in 2006.
"They've got some class players so we've got to make them come off their own line," said Long, who will equal Shaun Edwards' record of four World Challenge appearances.
"We can't turn the ball over too easily. We've got to attack and play some football because, if you go out to play defensively you're going to come unstuck."
