Wigan Warriors star Dan Sarginson's desire to return 'typifies his character'

The centre took part in team-run yesterday, just days after the death of his younger brother last weekend.

Wane will speak to Sarginson again today and said: “It’s just on what he wants to do and he’s leaning towards wanting to play.”

Wigan told the 25-year-old he could have as long as he needed to grieve the family tragedy.

And he said his decision to return so soon typifies his character.

Wane said: “It’s heartbreaking, what has happened.

“I was in conversation with him when he was in Norway and he could have stayed there for weeks, or in London with his family for weeks, and he wanted to get back here.

“And that tells you everything about him.

“Mentally he’s in a tough place.

“I’ve been through it myself, what he’s been through, and I couldn’t wait to get back into work and I think he’s of a similar opinion.

“He’s very much loved by the players. We gave him as much time off as he wanted and he didn’t want it, he wanted to come back in with the players.”

Sarginson’s decision to play or not looks set to shape whether Dom Manfredi makes long-awaited comeback tonight, or whether he is kept on ice.

“Dom is fit and healthy, we’ll just see how our outside backs go,” said Wane.

“There have been some players who were under pressure and they did a good job against St Helens last week, so I have that to consider.

“I have Sarge’s mindset to think about. So I have all of that to think about.

“If it’s not this week when Dom plays, it will be in next few weeks.”

A victory would see second-placed Wigan open up a five-point gap on Castleford, ahead of their match against Hull FC tomorrow.

“If we play like we did on Friday, we’ll be hard to beat,” added Wane.

“If we’re on, we’re going to be tough to beat. We just need to be on.”

He said harassing Wakefield will be key to victory but was full of admiration for the job counterpart Chris Chester has done.

“Chris has killed it, he’s been fantastic,” added Wane.

“He’s done an outstanding job, he’s a good guy – and he’s a lot to be proud of.

“They’re a good side and you need to take the metres off them, defend tough, don’t give them time to play, so our line speed has to be aggressive.”

Kick-off at the DW Stadium is 7.45pm.