Wane tunes up for trophy hunt

Shaun Wane says his Warriors players will be working on '˜lots of detail' in both attack and defence as they line up an assault on four trophies next season.
Wigan 
Warriors trained with the
 Manchester 
Thunder netball team yesterdayWigan 
Warriors trained with the
 Manchester 
Thunder netball team yesterday
Wigan Warriors trained with the Manchester Thunder netball team yesterday

While keeping his cards close to his chest on the specific aspects of their game his players are sharpening up, Wane has made no secret of his desire to scoop more silverware next term, and doesn’t see why achieving an historic ‘quadruple’ shouldn’t be on their radar.

Leeds Rhinos picked-up the League Leaders’ Shield, Challenge Cup and Grand Final trophies in 2015, but weren’t involved in that year’s World Club Challenge, which will be Wigan’s first shot at a trophy in 2017.

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“I think every Super League club will want three trophies. We’ve got a chance of four, which is great,” said Wane.

“Brian (McDermott) got three, didn’t he?

“I think any coach will be very motivated to win everything, whether you finished at the top of the comp or the bottom of the comp last 
year.

“It’s bred into you that you want to win things. We’ve got a chance of four, it starts against Cronulla, and it would be fantastic if we got it.”

But in order to beat NRL champions Cronulla Sharks at the DW Stadium on February 19, Wane thinks improvements will need to be made by a squad that won the Super League crown last season in the face of an injury crisis.

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“(We’re working on) private things – not something that many people recognise in a game,” he explained.

“It’s really small detail stuff which we hold dearly but not very noticeable. They have a big effect on how we run a game. (We’ll work on) loads of detail in our attack and our defence and just trying to fix a few areas from last year.”

In a bid to inject new ideas and training methods into his squad, Wane – who studies a wide range of sports – took his players to train with the Manchester Thunder netball team yesterday.

He will use a variety of different sports in the off-season to see what ideas and training methods he can borrow and translate to rugby league.

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And despite the World Club Challenge being the hot topic in town, overshadowing the Super League opener against Salford the week before, Wane doesn’t want to let points towards a first League Leaders’ Shield since 2012 slip through the net.

He said: “We want to win the League Leaders’ Shield.

“Like every other coach, we want to win that, and we start with two points against Salford, and then we’ve got a big one the week after.”