Experience and youth will go head to head in Saturday’s Super League Grand Final between Wigan and Catalans Dragons at Old Trafford.

For some players the showpiece will represent their last time on a rugby league pitch while others aim to use the opportunity as a springboard to future success.

Here the PA news agency picks out four of the crucial battles that could decide the destiny of this year’s Super League title:

Full-back: Sam Tomkins v Jai Field

Tomkins’ stunning late try in the play-off semi-final win over St Helens provided ample proof that the 34-year-old’s prodigious rugby brain has not dimmed in the twilight of his career. In contrast, the flying Field’s game is based on speed and spontaneity, capable of cutting through the most resolute of defensive lines. Whoever wins the war on Saturday should be grasping the Super League trophy.

Wing: Tom Johnstone v Abbas Miski

Johnstone and Miski went blow-for-blow in the try-scoring stakes this season and finished the regular campaign locked together at the top of the standings on 27. King of the full-length kick-chase, Johnstone has relished his first season in France but is matched for speed by Miski, the Lebanon international who has seized his unexpected chance to star on the wing for Wigan.

Hooker: Michael McIlorum v Brad O’Neill

Intimidating, combustible and a master of the game’s dark arts, McIlorum will set the tempo for Catalans provided he can resist his former club’s attempts to ruffle his feathers. The 21-year-old O’Neill, meanwhile, brings youthful enthusiasm and an imposing physical presence in defence. Wigan need O’Neill – who seized his slot from veteran Sam Powell earlier this season – to rise to the occasion and match his imposing rival.

Halves: Mitchell Pearce v Bevan French

Australian Pearce, who has seen and done it all during a stellar career in Super League and the NRL, will also retire after the game and his already ferocious will to win will ramp up further as he seeks to bow out in style. French, fresh from snaring this season’s Super League Man of Steel, has revelled in his new role this season and brings the kind of vision and vibrancy that has proved pivotal to his side’s success so far.

Wigan winger Abbas Miski is excited by the prospect of making history when he becomes the first Lebanon international to feature in a Super League Grand Final at Old Trafford on Saturday.

The 28-year-old might have struggled to imagine such a scenario in March when he was loaned out to Championship side London Broncos and made his sole appearance in a heavy defeat at Keighley.

But an injury-enforced reshuffle in the Warriors ranks led to Miski grasping a rare first-team opportunity, and 27 tries and a Players’ Player of the Year trophy later, he has inked himself onto head coach Matt Peet’s starting team sheet.

Miski, who played in all four of his country’s matches in last year’s World Cup, told the PA news agency: “To be the first Lebanese player to play in a Grand Final is a huge honour.

“There are a lot of young Lebanese players growing up in Australia and playing in the NRL, and I think Lebanon has the potential to continue developing into a big rugby league country.

“It’s big for the game in Lebanon too. If people see players like myself playing in Super League and the Grand Final, it gives them someone to look up to and to realise playing at this level is not such a dream.”

Miski will emulate fellow Lebanon internationals Hazem El Masri, Robbie Farah, Tim Mannah and Josh Mansour, all of whom have featured in previous NRL Grand Finals in Australia.

Arriving at Wigan from London in 2022, Miski featured sporadically in his initial top-flight campaign but his prospects changed dramatically two weeks after his trip to Cougar Park, when Jai Field was ruled out for eight weeks due to a recurrence of a hamstring injury.

Peet switched Bevan French from the wing, initially to fulfil Field’s full-back role, leaving Miski to take on the vacant slot out wide – and he responded immediately with a pair of tries in his first appearance against Leigh.

By the end of a campaign that culminated in his side squeaking to the League Leaders’ Shield, Miski sat joint-top of the try-scoring charts on 27 alongside Catalans Dragons rival Tom Johnstone.

“I learned such a lot from Bevan having been on the wing, and I think I really benefited from a sustained period in the squad because the previous year had been very stop-start,” added Miski.

“Going out to London was a conscious decision on my part because I knew I wanted to get some more game time. I could have stayed in the reserves but I really wanted to be ready to play when I got called up.

“It’s been a great season for me and a big honour to get the players’ award. But I am fully focused on the Grand Final because we know how much it means to the fans and the club, and we are all on the same trajectory to achieve our goals.”

Wigan have been boosted by the return of 21-year-old prop Ethan Havard to their provisional squad for the Grand Final, having been ruled out by a hamstring injury since July.

The regular Betfred Super League season comes to a close on Friday night with both the League Leaders’ Shield and the sixth and final play-off slot still up for grabs.

Ahead of the announcement of the official 2023 ‘Dream Team’ this weekend, the PA news agency selects its own all-star line-up from the campaign so far.

Jack Welsby (St Helens)

The flashy 22-year-old full-back remains a cut above most of his rivals and has played an integral part in helping Paul Wellens’ men shake off their sluggish early season and re-emerge as a threat at the business end.

Abbas Miski (Wigan)

Just a year after being loaned out to Championship side Newcastle Thunder, the Lebanese winger has evolved into a try-scoring machine for the Warriors, his 27 taking him into the final week of the regular season joint-top of the standings.

Adam Keighran (Catalans)

Brilliant with the boot and equally at home at centre, hooker or in the halves, Keighran – who will move to Wigan at the end of the current campaign – has been a crucial element of another successful season in the south of France.

Jake Wardle (Wigan)

Wardle’s move to Wigan last October raised few eyebrows but the 24-year-old has exceeded expectations at centre, underlined by a superb first career hat-trick in the 50-0 win over Leeds earlier this month.

Tom Johnstone (Catalans)

Johnstone, equalled only by Miski in the season’s try count, has been a revelation in his first season in Perpignan, his trademark surges down the left flank suggesting his previous injury issues are now a thing of the past.

Bevan French (Wigan)

Having migrated to the halves in mid-season to help solve a minor injury crisis, French appears to found his true home under head coach Matt Peet, seamlessly transferring his speed and invention on the wing to a much more pivotal role.

Lachlan Lam (Leigh)

A model of consistency in Leigh’s spine, Lam has been one of the biggest reasons for their phenomenal success, and fittingly kicked the golden-point winner after a man-of-the-match performance in the Challenge Cup final.

Paul Vaughan (Warrington)

His season may be set to end in ignominy after a four-match ban for unnecessary contact, but few will dispute the juddering impact the Australian prop made in the early part of the season, when Wire were intent on sweeping all before them.

Edwin Ipape (Leigh)

Tirelessly influential, constantly probing, only Saints veteran James Roby came close to matching Ipape’s impact at number nine this season, as the Papua New Guinea international adapted superbly to life in the top flight.

Tom Amone (Leigh)

Only Vaughan has made more metres from the front row this season, and the Tongan’s gritty consistency has been a major factor in the success of his team-mates in the Leopards’ all-action spine.

James Bell (St Helens)

Bell has been a revelation in Saints’ second row this season, adding strong defence to a more consistent attacking threat to make himself an indispensable part of head coach Wellens’ late-season revival.

Matt Whitley (Catalans)

Whitley has been a model of consistency in his five seasons with Catalans and saved his best for the current campaign. His impending addition to a congested Saints back row for 2024 is a coup for Wellens.

Elliot Minchella (Hull KR)

That KR’s injury-hit campaign did not buckle after their Challenge Cup final loss to Leigh is largely down to Minchella, whose increasing influence steadied the Robins’ ship and marked him out as the stand-out number 13 in the competition.