Set of Six: Saints read 'How to win a big game' manual

You could say it may have been a dusty copy, given this is the first huge final or semi they have won since their last Grand Final victory in 2014, but the importance of this cannot be understated.

Saints did not play like a side with several years of accumulated doubts - as a result of those 17 big game losses since 2008 – weighing on their shoulders.

They have been outstanding all year – just like last year bar the blips in the two games that really mattered – so maybe people folding their arms telling them they are going to choke was just the motivation they needed.

Just one more huge night in front of us and that can really be put to bed.

2. From the kick off, Saints started like a team that knew exactly what they needed to do to mark Wigan’s card and dictate the game.

The aggressive defensive line was up in the Wigan faces, smashing their ball carriers back with their own 20, meaning that the kick on the last was on the back foot and returned with interest.

Set two followed the same pattern and in the subsequent set they simply pressed collect with Theo Fages touching down Lachlan Coote's grubber.

For all the classy stuff Saints have done with the ball this year, defence wins matches. That workrate, not let anyone down, scrap and battle will come to fore even more for the final.

3. That willingness to work for each other was very noticeable with the carries. From the off the hands of Mark Percival, Tommy Makinson and Kevin Naiqama were up to clear the line with some brave, direct running to clear the lines and get them on the front foot.

Credit where due, Saints' pack was immense - with Luke Thompson, Big Al, Morgan Knowles and and energetic bounce off the bench from Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook, but that lift from the backs was invaluable.

In a way that underlines the way they complemented each other, perfectly marshalled by the brains trust of Roby, Coote and Lomax at his imperious best.

The way they built each set was spot on, and the way they ended the sets with a Theo Fages kick was probably the best they have done all year. It ensured that they kept Wigan under the cosh and were always back up and in their faces.

4. When you get a collective team performance like that. you don't want to single out individuals - Tommo, Lomax, Percival and Knowles….as we end up with a big long list. But just how good was Luke Thompson. For the past few weeks we have heard a fair bit about the Wigan pack...maybe that was a challenge the England prop relished and rose to.

He doesn't just hammer the ball in - something he can do, but his speed and footwork for a big man really catches out defences. And he also has a big engine on him meaning he can keep going, no matter how many big gallops he has made.

People often complain when rugby league makes rule changes - but when they are for the better, like the interchange reduction, you have to say well done.

Thompson would have continued to progress, no matter what the rules, but you have to say he has really thrived under this system. The game is a much better spectacle than having 120 kilo props hammering it in repeatedly off and on repeatedly in 12 minute bursts.

5. One of the quirks of this play-off system means that Saints have another week off to prepare for the final, while Wigan must battle it out with Salford in Friday's elimination semi. Some put forward the idea that 'you rest, you rust', but I don't know any Saint who felt it would have been better to have lost on Friday, have a week of licking wounds and preparing for a resurgent Salford challenge - and then patch yourselves up for the final.

Sure, the winners will be battle hardened - but I suppose the proof of the pudding will be in the eating.

Saints have done it both ways in the past, but after this gruelling season in which they will have played more games than anyone else, a week off to get their heads on Old Trafford cannot be a bad thing.

6. I am sure Saints have been stung enough times not to get swept away on the back of Friday's win.

Now this is not scientific, but if you are an optimist you can draw on the history of 2000 where Saints murdered Wigan 54-16 at the JJB to reach Old Trafford where they beat the Warriors again.

Or if you are a pessimist, I don't doubt you will recall sweeping Leeds aside, 38-10, in the 2008 semi before succumbing to them in Daniel Anderson's bucket kicking last game at Saints.

Each team is different. But I very much doubt - having tasting that heartbreak at Wembley this year - that Saints will have any chickens counted already.