ALTHOUGH Saints boss Nathan Brown is leaving, he wanted to largely focus on Saturday’s massive Grand Final when chatting to the Star’s Mike Critchley this week.

MC: After six years in England, what is it like to get to the Grand Final at last?

NB: It is brilliant. As a coach or a player when it is on TV and you see the other coaches walking out with the teams you can’t help but think ‘I wish I was that bloke.’ It is the same for the players - it is what you train all year for. The Grand Final is the pinnacle – played at the home of Man United, Alex Ferguson and all that history.

MC: You say Saints are the underdogs, but having beaten Wigan once this year you cannot be completely overawed by them?

NB: Well if you honestly said to Wigan at the start of the play-offs you can play Warrington, Leeds or St Helens in the Grand Final they would have picked us.

There is not a person outside our playing group that thought we were even going to get here. No one else thought we could and I’d be surprised if even you thought we could get here.

The perception was there is no way in the world Mark Flanagan can play half back, Jordan Turner lock or that old bloke Paul Wellens get us here from full back. That was the view of the whole country, but fortunately the players had some belief and that is the key for us.

MC: They have found something to bind them since walking off defeated at Hull on August 1.

NB: At the end of the day we have Wello and Robes, and even though he is injured Jon Wilkin, blokes who have come through that era of all the great players and as a result bring belief within them. It is their belief and the way they have supported the staff and kept the group together that has got us here, not any genius from the coaches or one individual.

MC: There will be no sentiment going into your selection on Saturday, despite players leaving?

NB: There are going to be two or three players who are fit, who have played a huge part in helping us get here, who will miss out.

Anthony Laffranchi, for example, has played a big part because he is an experienced player who has helped keep the group together.

Matty Dawson has played 20 odd games – there are lads like him who has played a big part when we had all our injuries but doesn’t get to play and you have got to feel for those people.

MC: It has been a perfect marriage of older heads who have really stepped up, with the enthusiasm of some cracking young lads who have earned their spurs.

NB: The young lads are really good kids. Greg Richards, Tommo, Percy and Swifty are all good lads who have come through the system here and know what St Helens is about.

They are expected to play, expected to win and get to Old Trafford.

That is what St Helens fans think.

Us running first and getting to Old Trafford is just standard for a fan.

It is almost ‘we don’t care who is fit and who is not we expect to go to Old Trafford’ because that is what they have done most years in the Super League era.

There’s a few thinking it’s abut time - after two years - because this is where we belong.

MC: Saints have won a lot in their history, but if they were to win it this year, after all the adversity, it would be up there at the top of the club’s achievements.

NB: It is a huge achievement from the guys. These blokes are winners anyway – if you look what they have done to win the League Leaders’ Shield and get to Old Trafford they are winners anyway.

They have put the club back where the fans and chairman thinks is the team’s right to be at the top and at Old Trafford.

This is just part of the club’s DNA.

What it is going to do for the next four or five years with the age of the squad and what it is going to do is going to be huge.

MC: What do Saints need to do?

NB: That physical battle is always important, but especially so against Wigan. When they beat us on Good Friday physically they were a little bit better than us. We were good next time we played them, but it was not because we were on top – that game ebbed and flowed but we were good for long periods.

Your forwards win the big games.

It is about the big numbers getting over the advantage line, and them winning the collisions, with or without the ball, is going to determine how much time the other side gets to play with the ball.

Being good physically is important, as is being calm and enjoying the occasion. They should enjoy the place and not be overawed – we need to be physical, but calm, composed and smart.

I have been really proud of the way the guys have responded, the guys’ past month of footy has been good and so they should go into the game with plenty of belief.

Against Catalan for the first time in six weeks we started as favourites and for the first time since Walshy broke his leg people were expecting us to win the game of footy and maybe that showed.

This week we are going to be huge underdogs and that is a tag that suits us well.