Wigan Warriors: The 18th Man - Bevan French ‘destined to etch his name into Warriors folklore’

David Bailey:

Here's hoping for a swift return to winning ways. A Catalans win would be nice too, to wipe out Saints’ advantage from last week already.

Bevan French, four more years! After the disappointment that was Good Friday, the Warriors delivered the perfect pick me up for a wet Wednesday in Wigan. A two minute highlights reel ended with the news that the reigning Man of Steel had committed to Wigan until the end of 2028. I will be brutally honest, I thought this season would be his last in Cherry and White, and I'd have shook his hand, thanked him, and wished him well after all he'd given us.

Arriving in 2019, having a disrupted start with Covid and the devastating loss of his mother, French has shown what he is capable of. Having shifted positions, the superstar is surely destined to etch his name into Warriors folklore. Sure, we have had overseas players before who have graced the club, winning trophies and endearing themselves to the Cherry and White faithful. Should Bevan fulfil this contract it will take him to 33 years of age and almost ten years at the club. The only other overseas player that I can think of who ingrained himself so much into the club and culture was Graeme West, pretty elite company if you ask me. Apparently, when French's mum learned of the support of the Warriors during that awful time, she told him 'you've got to repay these guys'. Fast forward to a Challenge Cup, League Leaders’ Shield, Grand Final, World Club Challenge, Steve Prescott Man of Steel, and Super League record for tries in a game, it's safe to say he's repaid us, and much much more. With seven year deals for the coaching team, and the spine of 1,6,7,9 and 13 (as well as various key deals throughout the side) committed for the next three seasons at least, there's an ominous looking stability for Wigan.

So far this season, the Warriors haven't been at their best. Defensively, I'm not too worried, even Saints couldn't break down thirteen men and titles are built on solid defence. There have been quite a few disruptions with injuries and now suspensions. With the return of Mike Cooper, Ethan Havard, Sam Walters and hopefully Sam Eseh on the horizon, Peet will have some big decisions to make and no one will be assured of a starting place. I have no doubt the attack will fire, and when it does, Wigan will be very hard to beat. As long as the Warriors mix it at the top until the game in hand is played, they'll be there or thereabouts come the business end of the season.

Darren Wrudd:

For most of the game last Friday it was an amazing atmosphere. Mostly that is, with the morons in the Wigan end who insisted on throwing beer over everyone when we scored. Why are there so many idiots these days with no idea how one should behave in public? The game itself was full of spice and its fair share of controversy. When a video referee tells the ref that after watching Liam Byrne’s tackle it's only a yellow, the ref still gives a red. Then the match review panel give a four match ban on top just to show they back the whistle blowers decision. Very poor in my opinion. Could not really argue with the other sin-bins and there seems to be a bit of a technique problem with some of our big hitters, or is it overly genteel rulings of heavy contact, I’ll let you make your own minds up.

My highlight of the game was actually off the pitch. When the Wigan faithful sang the chant I wrote (apologies to little Ern). In the best Oasis twang possible, ‘Heee’s electric, he’s got a style of play that is so eccentric, he does things you never expected. And his name’s, Jai Field’….. Ace!

The week has seen us play Leigh by the time anyone reads this, so let's see how close I am. I think a scoreline of 12 – 26, no sin-bins for us but one or two for the opposition.

We can expect a tough game and Lam has his chargers playing a free flowing style which can catch any team out. Offloads aplenty from the Leythers can be a risky pastime and I am pleased that these days our tries are structured and come from set pieces intermingled with some brilliant individual skill.

Finally, Robin Park is host to the wheelchair championship game between Wigan and Catalans on Saturday. If you have not seen these guys before, I suggest you get along and support them. They go at it tooth and nail and it should be a fast paced game. Unfortunately I cannot be there as I have a significant birthday party to help organise for my lovely wife Glenda.

Take care all and until next time.

Stephen Ford:

The opening fixture list has been pretty helpful for us this season which I think assisted us in our preparation for the Penrith game and gave us a “soft landing” after the game. Excluding the Penrith performance I think that, along with most supporters, our performances have been no more adequate and we have got the job done in a professional manner. From a player point of view I think that Brad O’Neil, Thompson and to a lesser extent Ellis have for me been the stand-out players. O’Neill is progressing at a rapid rate of knots and I think that he is the best hooker in the competition by some distance. His work rate is exceptional and when Farrell finally retires, personally I cannot see beyond O’Neill as our next captain. When you consider that Thompson has had little game time in the last few years due to injury I think that his performances are improving game by game and his ability to play long minutes has been invaluable and will be required in the next two games. I suspect that as the year progresses we will see an even more confident and dominant Thompson who will be a key player in our quest for more silverware.

I’ve been particularly impressed with the management team in securing long-term deals with Field and French, securing our main attacking threats and for agreeing long deals with the first-team coaching staff. I don’t think that I’ve seen a more settled squad with so much potential for many a year.

The Saints game proved yet again that our attack isn’t as fluid as we all would like. Heavy and wet playing conditions are not conducive to our style of play so I am not overly alarmed but I hope that by the time we get to the Castleford Challenge Cup tie that our passing has found its fluency and timing comparable to last season’s final dozen or so games. The right wing combination of Miski and Keighran is still giving me a little concern particularly when they have to deal with high kicks in defence. It's still early days so hopefully Peet and his team can resolve this issue and help to develop their partnership. The biggest concern in the first five games has been our poor discipline. We give away far too many penalties for silly mistakes giving repeat sets which has led to additional defensive pressure. When we play the CC tie the home crowd will be baying for free kicks from the first minute and if our ill discipline continues we could be facing a very difficult game that a lot of fans think will be an easy route to the semi-final. Peet has mentioned our ill discipline so I am sure that this is being worked on in training.

There are two stand-out games for me versus Leigh. Last season’s final league game to clinch the League Leaders’ Shield was particularly satisfying and not just for the result. Even though Leigh had a lot of territorial advantage and played with a lot of aggression and effort, I was very relaxed that we would win the game as our defence was superb and the team didn’t panic at any point during the game. This was the game where I thought that we could go on to win the Grand Final and that we were a very good team, exceptionally well drilled and a team filled with self belief. A great night and a great result. The 1968 second round CC game versus Leigh at Hilton Park always brings back great memories. We had won the first round tie at Hull and when we drew Leigh in the second round I was desperate to go and watch it. My mum wasn’t too keen on me going to the game as a big crowd was expected and as a 10-year-old lad I needed to go with an adult. My mum arranged for a neighbour to take me to the game and I went with her to the game travelling by coach to the short journey to Leigh. I can’t remember if it was a sell-out crowd but I can recall the noise and the passion as it was my first away game where Wigan fans and opposing fans literally stood next to each other. I loved the atmosphere. I loved the Challenge Cup. We won quite convincingly and I was certain that we were going to win the CC in 1968 along with many other Wigan fans. We did get to the semi final and in front of a sell-out plus 30,000 fans we got brought back to reality with a very heavy defeat against a Leeds team, who for me, played a different game and totally outplayed us. The Leigh game though had really started my love of the Challenge Cup with all its history and the prestige that came with winning the famous trophy.

Glynn Bradshaw:

We kept winning up until last Friday but not playing well. I was going to mention the penalties also, as we are giving away too much cheap field position which you can’t do against good teams.

I was also saying to our son last week about Mago, he used to offload quite a lot when he first came into the team, remember one try, straight from a kick off at the DW against Leeds I think it was when Field backed up a Mago offload and scored from about 80 yards. Now he doesn’t seem to appear to look to offload, which must be at the coaching staff’s request.

A few people are not at their best at the moment, and it will be a tough game against Leigh as we are stretched in the forwards. We were second best last week at Saints sadly, we improved in the second half, but couldn’t get any field position in the first half and our defence kept us in the game.

At the time of writing, it looks like Mulhern won’t be playing for them, which is a big loss for them. I think he has improved since moving from Warrington.

Memories of Leigh games for me are the game where we won the League Leaders’ Shield last year, great atmosphere and such a tense game, and the other one is Micky McIlorum’s testimonial a few years ago, where I was in hospitality sat on the same table as Steve Hampson and Henderson Gill. We were well beaten that day.

I’m looking forward to the game against Leigh, although the weather forecast is not good. But we need our completion rate to be better, and use the ball more.

On a positive note, great news about Bevan French committing his future to the Warriors.

Fingers crossed we can prevail.