The Liam Farrell Column: Getting ready for a Hull of a milestone

But for a Wigan player and a Wigan lad, it’s a tough time and we have a big few weeks coming up.

We’ve lost our last two Super League games - they were both defeats, but the manner of which they happened were different.

With the Saints game on Thursday, the effort was there.

It was a real derby game, a full-blooded affair and both sides gave everything. We gave ourselves every chance, a couple of dumb mistakes cost us.

But defensively we were quite solid, three of their tries were from kicks, and we were right in it until the end.

There have been plenty of derbies like that and unfortunately for us, we were on the wrong end of the result at the end.

But on Monday, and I feel pretty strongly about this, we were completely off against Wakefield.

Credit to them, but we were really disappointed with what we served up.

Our attack was alright - we scored 30 points and caused them trouble - but when we score that many points, we shouldn’t be losing.

We pride ourselves on our defence, and that’s why it was so tough to take.

One positive was to to see another Wigan lad come in for his debut.

James Worthington has only just turned 18 - the fact he was born in 1999 is a bit scary; we’re getting to the point where it won’t be long before we start seeing lads born in 2000 in the team!

We’ve quite a few young lads in the team now, and they’ve got a lot more responsibility on their shoulders than when I came into the side.

I was asked about my debut this week, because I’ve got my 200th game for the club coming up this weekend.

It’s a big milestone and I’m happy with what I’ve achieved - I’ve had plenty of good times here, and won a few trophies.

And that was part of the reason I signed the new five-year deal - hopefully we’ve a few more trophies coming up over the next few seasons.

Obviously, looking back on my Wigan career, the finals stick out, as well as the 2011 Good Friday win against Saints.

At the time I was still a young lad, and probably didn’t fully appreciate it, but now I look back I realise those moments don’t come around too often.

I realise how fortunate I was to come into the side in 2010. I made my debut early in the year - on Easter Monday, when George Carmont got injured - and stayed in the team most of the season and ended up making the Grand Final side, too.

I’ve got to pay credit to Michael Maguire, he gave me a chance.

I remember, when he joined, the players heard he was big on pre-seasons and I thought I had a chance to hopefully catch his eye.

I’ve always had the attitude of trying to work as hard as I can. It was never to show off – I have to be physically on my game because I’m a bit smaller than an average back-rower, and I like the idea of having the advantage on fitness.

I’m grateful for the career I’ve had and it’ll be nice to celebrate my 200th game for the club.

But of course, Saturday isn’t about me, it’s about getting the win. We’re doing it tough, we’ve been in a position to win the last three games and slipped off the gas.

We know got a tough job on our hands, but we’ve played well there in the past, and hopefully that continues on Saturday.