St Helens have steamrollered arch-rivals Wigan to coast through to a record 11th Super League grand final.
The league leaders produced arguably their best performance of the season, running in seven tries to two in a 40-10 victory that ensures Gold Coast Titans-bound coach Justin Holbrook’s last match will be at Old Trafford.
Holbrook’s men now earn another week off as Wigan seek to set up a deciding re-match when they take on Salford at home in next Friday’s final eliminator.
St Helens came up short in both major competitions in 2018 and have already lost in this season’s Challenge Cup final at Wembley but will now take some stopping in Manchester on October 12.
Reigning champions Wigan went into the game on the back of eight consecutive wins but had no answer to hard-running forwards Luke Thompson and Morgan Knowles or crafty playmakers Jonny Lomax and Lachlan Coote.
It was one-way traffic at the Totally Wicked Stadium from the moment halfback Theo Fages touched down a Coote kick off the inside of his boot in the fourth minute.
It took the visitors 10 minutes to get out of their own half and it proved their undoing as Saints centre Kevin Naiqama picked off George Williams’ pass to race away for an interception try.
Former Penrith Panther and North Queensland Cowboy Coote kicked his second conversion and added a penalty after 15 minutes to open up a 14-0 lead.
Wigan briefly stopped the rot with Zak Hardaker combining with Chris Hankinson to work winger Liam Marshall over for a long-range try.
Hardaker’s goal made it 14-6 but Saints struck twice more to pull out of sight by the break.
Thompson took skipper James Roby’s pass to romp through a yawning gap and score and Lomax found another chink to go in for his side’s fourth of the half.
It got even worse for Wigan when Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook created space for Coote to send second rower Zeb Taia in within six minutes of the restart.
The Warriors tightened their defence but Saints still managed to work an overlap for centre Mark Percival to go in for their sixth try and he added a second six minutes from the end.
Coote took his goal tally to six from eight attempts before substitute Bevan French grabbed a late consolation try for Wigan.