Wigan Warriors expecting the unexpected during Covid-19 crisis

Asked about his opinion of Wigan’s opponents, he said - in all sincerity: “We have a lot of respect for Catalans and... sorry, Castleford.”

Wigan had been preparing to face the French side at Warrington, only to discover on Tuesday night four members of the Dragons staff – three of them players – had returned positive coronavirus testing.

The match was instantly postponed, and Castleford – who had no scheduled match this weekend – were drafted in instead.

Toronto’s withdrawal from Super League has left an 11 team competition, leaving one team each week with a ‘bye’ – though the RFL has told them to remain on stand-by.

And forward Willie Isa says they will maintain an 18th man mentality throughout the rest of the season.

“I half expected the change, to be honest,” said Isa.

“Even last week, we weren’t playing (because of the Challenge Cup), but in the back of my head I was thinking, ‘We might play this week if something happens’.

“You’ve got to be ready to go.

“Since I’ve been here at Wigan, we’ve had that mentality of, ‘Anyone, any place, any time’ – and that’s definitely the case this year.”

Lam says the sport’s willingness to be flexible will be key for the next three months as they tackle a gruelling fixture schedule.

But he admits there is a “fear” too many more Covid-19 cases may derail this interrupted campaign.

“If you miss too many you’ll have to make them up in the short time left, that’s the concern,” he said.

“Catalans are three games behind, where are they going to fit them in?

“You’d think it will catch up with them, but I don’t know, they may have a big enough squad to handle that/

“We’ll have to see.

“Across the board, everyone is working hard to make sure everyone stays fit.

“But if there are 50 people at a club, 11 clubs, you’d have to think someone is going to get it along the way.

“And teams will find themselves under the pump at some stage.”

Wigan have no such concerns today, with Lam welcoming back three players from the side which beat Leeds 28-10 in their last outing two weeks ago.

Halfback Tommy Leuluai and props Ben Flower and George Burgess return from either injury or suspension, and more reinforcements should follow, with Oli Partington, Sean O’Loughlin and Oliver Gildart possibly entering the mix for the following Thursday’s game against Hull KR at Headingley.

Today’s televised match is at Warrington’s HJ Stadium (4.15pm), in another match behind closed doors – something Isa hopes will change soon.

“Our game is made by the fans and is for the fans – I can play in front of nobody, but it’s not the same,” the 31-year-old said.

“It’s a fans game and the sport is built around strong communities and passionate people, and that’s what is rubbish about it right now.”

Aside from that, he says players have adapted to the Covid-19 protocols and the necessity to limit the risk of the virus impacting on the squad.

“Our main goal is to keep the competition going, we need to be strict on ourselves,” he said. “I like going out for a coffee so I even went out and bought a coffee machine.

“Most of the boys have families or partners, I think Bevan (French) is the only single fella, but he’s fine.

“He’s always reading, he’s a bit of a deep-thinker.

“He texts me messages saying, ‘Try and read this’ - I keep telling him I haven’t read since high school! I read newspapers and autobiographies, but that’s about it!”