IT was frustrating watching Saturday’s Grand Final.

It was not simply because it was being played out by our two nearest local rivals - and one of them had to win.

But there was a strong feeling of what might have been had Saints been able to sustain the form and style of the opening two thirds of the season, into the games that mattered.

The last bit of that sentence is important, and Saints’ catalogue of semi-final losses post the Grand Final winning year of 2014 is only topped by Warrington’s inability to win a succession of finals since 2012.

Hopefully some tips from the sports psychologists and some new faces can help Saints break that particularly barrier.

Plus, and it is a big plus, the younger players should be better for the experience of a table-topping campaign.

It was not a great game, but Grand Finals and semis rarely are.

The Grand Final is all about winning - by whatever means necessary - although the sliding knees probably should have been punished stronger.

Now, how do we look at this?

Having spent the week dissecting what had gone wrong in the semi, imagine those frailties magnified on the bigger stage of Old Trafford.

If Saints found Warrington tough to break down in the semi, just how would they have fared in trying to prise apart a Wigan defence that spread its tentacles all over Warrington, rendering their play-makers dull and ineffective.

Every game is different. And given the amount of ball Wigan coughed up, who is to say that Saints won’t have taken advantage.

But we can put the what ifs away for a few months and start again.