BEN Barba admitted to watching some “wild” YouTube footage of past Saints v Wigan clashes to get himself up to speed on what the most keenly fought of derbies means.

And there have been plenty of feisty ones to pick from – from Adam Fogerty putting the head on Neil Cowie on Boxing Day 1994, Bobbie Goulding decking the same Wigan prop with a stiff-arm three years later through to the infamous Good Friday all-in scrap of 2004, which ended with skippers Paul Sculthorpe and Andy Farrell exchanging more than Easter greetings, and the now infamous Ben Flower Grand Final of 2014.

Although those bad-tempered affairs are a rarity now, Barba will have drawn from those videos just how much intense feeling there is between the sides – especially when there is something massive riding on it.

He was first made aware of rugby league’s biggest derby rivalry when chatting to CEO Mike Rush at Magic weekend, before he had even put pen to paper.

But when he steps out at Friday night’s do-or-die tussle – in front of a packed house at Saints with the volume turned up to 11 – the NRL Grand Final-winning full back will hear, taste and then feel what it is all about.

The 28-year-old, who will be playing his first game of rugby league in 10 months, is relishing donning the red vee – especially in a game that means so much.

Barba said: “I do know what this rivalry with Wigan is all about – I did my homework and watched some You Tube clips of clashes between the two teams in the past.

“I am not sure if it is that wild now, but I am definitely looking forward to it.

“It is like this fixture has been set up especially – but I am just glad it is at our stadium and not their ground so our fans will be on three sides!

“As a player you want to play in the big games and against the best and there is no better game than this.”

It is going to be some game to make a debut in, with Wigan motivated and licking their wounds from a narrow defeat by Hull FC at Wembley on Saturday.

Barba has experience of some of the Wigan players from games back in the NRL – but felt it was their team approach that has made the Warriors such a force in recent years.

“I have played against Sam Tomkins when he was over in the NRL.

“I think he did well in Australia, but it is much harder for English backs in Australia than it is forwards.

“I thought it strange that he went to play for New Zealand Warriors but I am sure Wigan are glad he is back playing for them now.

“In the halves Tommy Leuluai has plenty of good experience too, but their side as a whole has been so successful.

“I have watched a fair bit of them on television, especially a few years ago when Matty Bowen was full back there.

“They have a great bunch of players across the park – Sean O’Loughlin is a great leader and we have a hard job ahead of us.”

Friday night has been a long time coming for Barba, who was sacked by his former club Cronulla for testing positive for cocaine four days after scoring in the 2016 Grand Final win over Melbourne.

And having waited so long, Barba is determined for his latest comeback spell to last longer than four games.

Barba has been training hard, after admitting to losing some fitness during his spell in French rugby union, but given the way the season is now so delicately poised with every game being something resembling a play-off eliminator he hasn’t the luxury of a slow build in to the rest of his season.

And another Grand Final is very much on his mind as a goal – something that would have been considered out of the question last October.

“It has been tough, waiting and watching, but I have been working really hard on the training paddock.

“I have been building as the weeks go on to make sure I am not blowing out by the time I get to the game. It is like a springboard to get up there at the right time,” he said.

“We know as a group that everything from here on in is business. I don’t think we can afford to lose another game.

“I don’t want to play just four games at the end of the year and be back in pre-season.

“It is hard not to talk about the Grand Final, but it is the old cliché of going week-to-week.

“We need to put in some good performances against these next few sides to even think about a Grand Final.

“But for me It is like I am jumping on the train when it already moving.

“It is hard come into a side that has been working hard and I come in and within weeks have the possibility of playing in a final.

“But the team has embraced me – they are a great bunch of guys and it has been easy to fit in to the side and feel a part of it. All I can do is repay them by playing good footy and helping play my part to get the team to the final.”

Barba, a genuine superstar in the NRL, is being touted as Saints’ most important and eye-catching signing since they snared Jamie Lyon from Wee Waa Panthers in 2005 and rekindled his enthusiasm for rugby league.

Even being talked about in the same bracket as former Man of Steel Lyon and legendary former Kangaroos skipper Mal Meninga, who had a 31-game stint at Knowsley Road in 1984-85, shows the expectation that is being heaped up his shoulders.

But Barba, who turned down the overtures of Warrington to pen a two-and-a-half-year deal, is comfortable with that.

“In the past I would have probably let that expectation affect me coming through but now that I am a bit older I tend to let everyone else do the talking and I will keep it to myself and focus on the things that matter at the time.

“Those two guys (Meninga and Lyon) were definitely both great players.

“I know what Jamie did in two years here, but I didn’t even know Mal had played here until I saw his picture on the wall inside the stadium.

“I know what they did for this club – and I am sure if I can match that then the fans will be happy and so will I.

“It is good to see people embracing me coming here because I did not know what to expect coming off the back of the suspension and wondering whether people would accept it.

“But the reaction has been really positive since I got here and we have seen young kids walking around with my name on the back of their jerseys.

“Hopefully, all I can do is bring the performance that can big smile on those kids’ faces,” he said.