Emotional talk which inspired charge to Grand Final

Leading 14-0 at half-time through tries by Lewis Tierney (two) and John Bateman, the home side were on the ropes when Hull stormed back to take an 18-16 lead.

But Wane’s injury-hit team regained their composure and grabbed late tries from Sam Powell and Anthony Gelling to secure a 28-18 win - and set up a showdown with Warrington at Old Trafford next Saturday.

Afterwards, several players spoke of the significance of a team meeting in the build-up, in which they took turns in speaking about what reaching the decider would mean to them.

And Wane admitted: “We had a close-to-the-heart meeting this week, where people spoke honestly.

“The team spirit here is incredible, this mob never knows when they are beaten.

“It was an outstanding backs-to-the wall performance and I can’t tell you how proud I am.”

Until Gelling’s dramatic late try which finally killed off Hull’s resurgence, the major flashpoint had been the try which put Hull ahead on the 62nd minute.

Steve Michaels was awarded a try by video referee Ben Thaler while match referee Robert Hicks was waiting at the other end of the pitch to award one to Wigan centre Oliver Gildart.

“I don’t mind us not getting it but it took too long,” Wane said. “Let’s make it quicker, spectators come to watch the game.”

He added: “With 10 minutes to go, I felt a bit of panic and sent a message on to tell them to stay in the systems that we’ve practised and we did that and got the success.

“All praise goes to the players, who have turned up to train injured and play injured, and I’m pleased for the fans who stuck behind us because they realised the position we’re in.

“I said to the players Hull would come back, they’re a good team and there’s things we need to fix, no question about that.

“We came up with a couple of defensive errors in the second half, which was a bit disappointing. We didn’t have a ruthless streak about us in the second half.”