Wigan Warriors are 80 minutes from a historic treble, but will St Helens spoil the party in Sunday's Women's Super League Grand Final?
One game remains for the victor to be crowned in this year's Women's Super League.
Wigan Warriors, winners of the Women's Challenge Cup and League Leaders' Shield, will contest a derby at home against St Helens in the Grand Final on Sunday.
A rematch of June's Cup final, where Wigan won convincingly at Wembley, the two sides meet again to battle for supremacy.
Will St Helens spoil Wigan's party? Or will the Cherry and Whites make it a clean sweep?
'The emotion is already there' - Betts
It has been a season to remember for Wigan Warriors regardless of how the result goes on Sunday.
With two trophies already in their locker, as well as having home advantage for the Grand Final, they go into the season's showpiece event with some momentum.
This was epitomised as Denis Betts' side wrapped up their place in Sunday's final with a comprehensive 38-0 semi-final win over Leeds Rhinos.
On their preparations, Betts told BBC Radio Manchester: "It's a little bit lower key because the emotion is already there. No matter what you say to them, that feeling is just under the chest.
"Everybody's talking about it and they're in a really strong position where they're getting recognised and appreciated for how hard they're working this year.
"This is what they want to work towards. Now it's about taking it easy, making sure we don't get too carried away and burn too much energy."
It has been some season for Betts too, having been named the Women's Super League Coach of the Year last weekend.
Sunday's fixture also represents the end of an era as Wigan captain Vicky Molyneux brings down the curtain on her playing career and Betts said he has been inspired by what she has brought to his camp.
"She actually straightened me up once because I was talking about how impressed I am with the sacrifices the girls make and she was quite harsh to me when she said she doesn't make any sacrifices, she makes choices of what she wants to do," former Wigan and Great Britain second row Betts added.
"That resonated with me quite strongly about what that meant and what she carried and the kind of person she was."
'They add so much to the club' - men's boss Peet
Similar to how Wigan's men's side stormed their way to a historic quadruple in 2024, their women's side could wrap up an incredible treble with victory on Sunday.
Men's boss Matt Peet said their female counterparts have provided a source of inspiration to his side's efforts rather than that bond being a one-way street.
"They add so much to the club - the professionalism around them and camaraderie adds to the positivity around the club as a whole," Peet told BBC Radio Manchester.
"The way they play is great to watch and I'm sure they learn from us and the way we do things but we also learn from them.
"Having the players they've got and the coaching team they've got led by Denis, there's a lot of collaboration that goes on.
"It's all part of the same team I would like to think and I wish them all the best. They're up against a really strong St Helens team. I just think it's added another showpiece event, including the semi-final, of standout fixtures to get everyone excited at this time of year."
St Helens were well beaten 42-6 in June's Women's Challenge Cup final at Wembley and are winless against Wigan so far this season.
Saints drew 22-22 at Wigan on 29 June in their first meeting after that Wembley defeat while they lost 24-20 at home in September at the tail end of the regular season.
Despite this, joint head coach Craig Richards said his side have taken a lot from their experience at Wembley, which came off the back of winning the Women's Challenge Cup four times in succession.
"For us there's a lot of strengths to be taken away from Wembley - the fact we got there [to the final] five times in a row shows our pedigree, how we're always there or thereabouts for silverware," he told BBC Radio Merseyside.
"On the back of that we learned a few lessons which led to a draw and there's not a lot between the sides. We can both score tries from anywhere on the field.
"We've got exciting halves and exciting edges and there really isn't much between the sides.
"For me it's about that focus. Focusing for 80 minutes is key because what we've done in the past is switched off."
The club's men's team showed they lived up to the moniker of "never write off the Saints" when they snatched victory after the hooter of their Super League play-off eliminator at Leeds last weekend, and Richards said his side have the ability to go to the very end, too.
"We know one thing Wigan don't do is go away - they don't falter so it's going to be an 80-minute performance needed to get the job done," he added.
"One of the advantages of St Helens, our culture is that we are very highly skilled and if you have to pull out that type of play, we've got the skill level to do it.
"Those types of things happen once a decade and we definitely don't want to take it that deep into the game even though I'm sure the game will go deep into the last five or 10 minutes."
Category: General Sports
