Warrington Wolves are on the verge of their second successive Challenge Cup final but centre Matt King is dreading history repeating itself against French outfit Catalan Dragons in Sunday's semi-final.

Ex-Melbourne Storm star King was part of the Wolves squad which beat Huddersfield Giants in the final at Wembley last year and has helped guide Tony Smith's team to second place in the Super League.

Catalans on the other hand have had a miserable season but derailed Warrington's chances of leapfrogging Wigan at the top of the league with a shock 29-28 victory in Perpignan last month.

The Wolves will be red-hot favourites to progress from the semi-final but 29-year-old King fears a case of deja-vu.

"They've not had a great season but the Super League win will give them confidence and that's a scary thing when you come into a do-or-die game," said King, who scored a hat-trick in last season's semi-final win over Wigan.

"We have to be on our toes and that defeat might be the little kick up the backside we actually need going into a big game.

"Any complacency we may have had is straight out of the window and we know what to expect.

"Scoring tries is nice but the way we performed in last year's semi as a team was more pleasing than anything.

"If we can play well together then things like scoring tries and scoring hat-tricks comes to one lucky person on the day and last year I was lucky it was me."

Wolves coach Smith will be without loose forward Simon Grix for the game at the Stobart Stadium but Catalans coach Kevin Walters will return to the Dragons dugout this weekend.

The ex-Brisbane Broncos stalwart missed his side's 24-22 victory over Bradford Bulls last weekend to attend the funeral of his father, Kevin snr, in Queensland.

Meanwhile ex-Sydney Roosters forward Chris Flannery insists St Helens will be on a revenge mission when they face Leeds Rhinos in the other semi-final to be played on Saturday.

Flannery has suffered three consecutive Grand Final defeats at the hands of the Rhinos in the last three years.

Ex-Newcastle centre Matt Gidley returns to the squad after recovering from injury as Saints embark on their tenth consecutive semi-final appearance.

And the 30-year-old, who joined the Knowsley Road side from the Roosters in 2007, believes now is the time for Saints to get their own back.

"I've not got too many outstanding memories of games against Leeds," said Flannery.

"There have been a lot of disappointing matches that we've had against them and those three Grand Finals sit in the front of your mind.

"They're hard to forget. These games always go down to the wire with us and Leeds so it's going to be tough.

"I think we played well against them last time, without a number of key players and hopefully we'll get a few troops back and play to our best in the semi-final.

"Last year was disappointing for the whole club in not being able to bring any trophies back after the successful period we had before then."

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