But the England ace insisted revenge won't be a major issue for Saints in Saturday's Old Trafford re-match.

"The main motivation is winning and being champions this year," said Wellens, who was part of the Saints team beaten 33-6 by Rhinos 12 months ago.

"That's what we are focusing on and that's what we've focused on throughout the course of the year.

"Obviously last year was a huge disappointment. It is not something we've thought about a lot up until this week, since Leeds booked their place in the final alongside us again.

"Then you start thinking about last year and maybe we do owe them one, but that's not the motivation behind us wanting to win.

"We have had a very long, tough year and the guys have given everything throughout the course of the year.

"We have won the Challenge Cup, which was fantastic. We would like nothing more than to finish the season strongly and be crowned champions."

Saints finished top of the engage Super League table for a fourth successive year, a point ahead of Leeds, and Wellens feels it will be a fitting finale to the season.

"I think it's the game everybody wanted," he said.

"It's going to be a fantastic occasion and for the neutrals, it is the two best sides over the course of the year getting to fight it out in the Grand Final.

"You can't ask for more than that."

Wellens described Rhinos as "a fantastic side", but he insisted Saints aren't spending too much time thinking about what the defending champions might do on Saturday.

He said: "We have played each other a lot this year and I think that's the difficult thing when you go into games like this.

"Both teams tend to know a lot about each other, with the amount of games we've played against each other, so I think from our point of view – and probably Leeds' as well – you just concentrate on your own performance.

"We have confidence in the players we have around us. If we can perform like we know we can and we take that on to the big stage, we are confident going into the game."

Saints are on a three-game winning run against Rhinos and were 38-10 victors in the qualifying semi-final at Knowsley Road less than two weeks ago.

But Wellens said that won't mean much when it comes to the title decider.

"We had a similar scenario last year, when we won the first game to go straight into the final," he recalled. "The semi-final this year was a bit more comprehensive, but it is not something we'll look at too much.

"It was obviously a great performance and we can draw a lot of positives from it, but we are aware that we will be facing a completely different team this weekend.

"The Grand Final brings its own pressures and it's an unique occasion.
"There's no second chances, so the pressure's there, but both teams have a lot of experience within their ranks and they know how to deal with that situation."