JUSTIN Holbrook said nobody at Saints is counting any Grand Final chickens yet, despite their clinical demolition of Wigan to reach Old Trafford for the first time since 2014.

But unlike Wembley, which ended in a bitter disappointment, Holbrook reckons the whole focus of this run-up to the Theatre of Dreams is much better.

Resisting the temptation of excessive back-patting, there appears a mood of quiet determination from the coach to fully do their stellar season justice by taking the big prize on 12 October.

A cautious Holbrook said: “We have to be careful of everyone saying we are going to win easy, because last week everyone was saying Wigan always come good and asking how were we going to go.

“But the minute we won, people started saying, ‘you are going to win the final’.

“But it is a different game and we have to do it again.

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“The playing group understand and as soon as we got together on Saturday we said, ‘listen, save the pats on the back, we have one more big game and if we do it then they can get all the accolades we deserve.”

Saints comprehensively defeated Wigan, executing the perfect game plan with all 17 contributing, to book the Grand Final.

"I thought all parts of our game were great and that was the most pleasing thing.

"You want to play your best in big games and that was our biggest so far. We built our sets well and Theo’s kicking game good - that is is important, but it will be even more important in two weeks."

And Holbrook gave an indication as to why he thinks this run up is different to when they reached Wembley in the summer.

“It feels much different, particularly with the health of the squad.

“We could not do anything about five players playing one game in five weeks and that came back to haunt us.

“Since that game all those players have played we are in a much better spot as a team.

“On top of that, we are really clear on what is ahead.

“After Friday’s win the next day they were really clear and focused that we have got to do it again, whereas last time they were just happy to get to Wembley.

“Time will tell. Finishing 16 clear and all that is a feelgood story but we have to play well next week. If we do, we can reflect on that and be proud of it,” he said.