Never mind St Helens. Brandon Costin feels that Wigan - who the Bulls meet tonight - are the team to look out for this season.

"Personally I think Wigan have been the team to beat this season right from the start," said the stand-off or centre.

"You can say that St Helens are a great attacking side, but there was a time earlier in the season when Wigan had lost five games and we had only lost one, and yet they had conceded fewer points than us," said the 30-year-old.

"I think all year their line has been hard to crack and they have started playing well on attack with Adrian Lam and Julian O'Neill playing out of their skins at the moment."

"I really think they are going to be hard to beat," added the Australian, whose future - all things being equal - will be with Huddersfield Giants in the Tetley's Super League next season.

However, having played for five Australian clubs before starring for the Giants in 2001, Costin is more than qualified to judge the merits of Wigan half-backs O'Neill and Lam.

"They are playing some of the best football in the competition," said the shaven-headed utility player, who joined the Giants from Canberra Raiders. "When Paul Sculthorpe plays well, Saints look like the best side, but a team with quality players in important positions can really excel too.

"You only have to look at how well London have gone with Denis Moran to see that, but Wigan have two great players in Lam and O'Neill." Costin added: "Believe me, O'Neill is a brilliant player. In Australia, right from his early days as a junior, he was always a top player. He was rated as high as Brad Fittler back home, and he is showing that kind of form at at Wigan."

Fingers were pointed at the Bulls after they lost successive games to St Helens and Castle-ford last month, but Costin reckons they are well on the road to recovery.

Of their 20-18 victory over Leeds last Friday he said: "I don't think we struggled. We were smart in the second half and played well as a team."