The Warriors' 34-4 defeat at the JJB Stadium in July was met by a furious response from fans and club bosses. Some supporters called for coach Brian Noble to be sacked.

But since then they have lost just one of their seven matches to stand just 80 minutes away from a date against St Helens in the October 4 Grand Final. And Mathers says the soul-searching after the Giants loss acted as a launchpad for their assault on the play-offs.

He said: "We were galvanised by the criticism that we copped from all quarters.
"It was deserved and it shook us up, and we had a good long hard look at ourselves – collectively and individually."

Mathers, who signed earlier this year from Australian club Gold Coast Titans, enjoyed arguably his best game for Wigan in last week's 50-26 victory over Catalans. And he knows all about tomorrow night's (Friday) opponents Leeds, having developed through the same Headingley nursery that produced Danny McGuire and Rob Burrow.

Leeds lost 38-10 to St Helens last Friday night but Mathers said: "You'd be a fool to think Leeds would perform that badly twice, they very rarely do and so we're under no illusions about how hard it will be.

"You can be banged up and bruised from a long season, but it's two 80 minute games to go for us to win the biggest prize ever – we're that close."

Another former Leeds player, Mark Calderwood, departs Wigan at the end of this season for Hull. Calderwood was a firm favourite at his boyhood club and knows only too well the danger they pose.

"I know all about Rob Burrow an Danny McGuire and even if you stop their forwards it's hard to stop them," said the winger.
"You could go from one to 17 and pick out a danger player for them.

"They came second in the comp by a country mile so we'll have to play well."