Secret instructions behind Warriors' rise

The Warriors assistant coach took charge of a brief session yesterday as Shaun Wane recovers from the hip surgery which forced him to miss Saturday’s 32-10 victory at Catalans.

Having reviewed the performance, what pleased the coaching staff the most was the way the player stuck to their game-plan through the course of the 80 minutes.

And Winder hopes the fact they have “lived the experience” will give them renewed faith in their systems as they turn their attentions to Thursday’s visit of Warrington.

Winder said: “We had a game-plan to be patient.

“We talked about not being frightened to be boring - that’s how we shaped it to them – and at half-time, it was all about sticking with the process. If we keep doing that, if we stick to our process, it bodes well for the games coming up.”

Catalans locked the scores 10-10 after an hour before Wigan piled on 22 further unanswered points.

“At half-time you could see they understood that what they had done in the first-half was going to get them opportunities,” added Winder.

“You could feel it. The (Catalans’) kick-chase wasn’t quite as aggressive, they’re not all getting back behind the ball... there were small signs which tell you at some point, you’re going to get an arm free for an offload, or you’re going to get a line break, and all of a sudden things start to go for you.

“And that’s how it went. John Bateman was getting his arm free, George (Williams) was able to skip across the line and our ball-players had a bit more time, and all of those little things come from the other team being fatigued.”

Winder took the media duties at the weekly press conference in Wane’s absence.

The head coach is hoping to be back at the helm for Thursday’s visit of Warrington.

Liam Farrell is set to miss out with a knee injury but Winder is cautiously optimistic it won’t be a long lay-off.

“It’s still too early to say for sure, but hopefully it’s not too bad,” he said.

Warrington’s veteran forward Ben Westwood could miss Thursday’s trip to the DW Stadium.

Westwood, who served a four-match ban earlier in the season for striking, made his comeback from a broken hand in the Wolves’ 50-10 win over Leigh on Friday but has been charged with a grade D dangerous throw on prop Danny Tickle.

Westwood, who was sin-binned for the offence, is facing a suspension of three to five games if he is found guilty.

Today’s tribunal will also consider the grade F charge brought against Leigh prop Jamie Acton for “other contrary conduct” in the Centurions’ defeat by Catalans Dragons nine days ago.