ONE year on, and it’s St Helens again that block Warrington Wolves’ path to Old Trafford.

This time, however, the circumstances could not be more different.

On this weekend in 2023, The Wire made the trip to the Totally Wicked Stadium having clung onto a top-six spot by their fingernails following a turbulent season. Highly unfancied, they put up a fight but made their expected exit on that day.

Fast forward 364 days and the shoe is on the other foot – Warrington have earned the right to host a Saints side that have struggled through the campaign and are being roundly written off, even by most of their own supporters.

All the cards seem to be stacked in favour of Sam Burgess’ side against a side they finished 10 points clear of and have already beaten three times this year, including as recently as three weeks ago.

However, it will be the fourth of those games that will be remembered, particularly if they are beaten – a nightmare scenario that would be unbearable for everybody on this side of the divide - and that is why absolutely nothing can be taken for granted.

Those victories over Saints were just one of the barriers that have been kicked down by Burgess’ boys this year, and ending a six-year wait for a post-season victory will be another example of progress made.

It is one of two psychological hurdles that remain for the squad to clear. The other, of course, being the big one of securing that elusive first Super League crown.

Whatever happens on Saturday, the 2024 campaign can be looked upon as one that moved them back into the territory of the aforementioned ultimate goal being a realistic possibility when it has not looked that way for some time.

They will undoubtedly end this year in a better place than last, but losing to St Helens would make it all feel somewhat hollow at least for a little while.

There are still plenty who are yet to be convinced that this Warrington squad are capable of taking the final step of actually winning a high-pressure game with everything on the line – you only have to look at the reaction to the Challenge Cup Final defeat for that to be clear – and now, it is up to them to turn those opinions around.

Already, there are signs that lessons have been learned from what happened at Wembley – Burgess could have opted to keep his key men in reserve for Friday’s clash with London Broncos with their hopes of second spot out of their hands, but he kept the foot down.

As a result, the team are looking in form and in-sync but now is the time to make it count.

Exactly how far this group - and indeed the club as a whole - has come over the past 12 months is about to be revealed.