Wigan Warriors: The 18th Man - ‘Magic Weekend abroad? We can’t even sell it out in the heartlands!’

Darren Wrudd:

That has been a tough period to work with, three games over nine days and the lingering memory of Shaun Wane’s old attitude to embrace these situations and rise to the challenge with excitement was just not enough. The science was there with cryo recovery units poised to spring into action after the mid-week game but there is only so much juice in the tank at this level and if a team loses the energy battle, you can more or less write off the game.

Leeds knew they had a decent chance to upset us last week and if they played at full speed and made few errors, we were always going to be living on the edge of a precipice. If you add to that some penalties conceded and some tired dropped ball and we gave ourselves little chance to look threatening, instead just looked a little weary. Shame the RFL don’t give the World Club Challenge its own weekend which would do away with this ridiculous situation.

I have not been too concerned with the odd yellow card recently, but I cannot express strongly enough just how disappointed I was to see Harry Smith’s reaction to Bentley’s efforts and his action was so very much out of character it left me quite shocked. He knows that he has let himself and many others down by that behaviour but will have a few weeks to contemplate the fact and then get on with his job. This is not a player bashing exercise believe me, as I think so highly of Harry and what he has worked to become at this club, so I trust that same character will shine through and he will learn from the situation and in future will perhaps get the revenge he wants in a more controlled fashion by putting on the points.

But let us not forget about those previous two games when we put 28 points on each and beat two very good sides in Leigh and Huddersfield, so I expect that after some careful management of the players this week, we will arrive at Elland Road fresh and ready to put things back in order.

Personally I really don’t like the Magic concept, as like many other aspects of our game it treats the fans like little cash cows and whilst the headlines might be all about how low some of the ticket prices are, (probably sat behind a pillar or almost in the car park) the RFL does not seem to understand the principles of building a sports following, at least enough to make this attractive for me. It’s bad enough that we are charged up to £6.25 a pint for lager at a home game or £4.50 for a cheap pie costing the club less than 50p, but for a single game of rugby – I can manage without either. However if you are to sit in a stadium and watch three games of rugby, being there most of the day. You would think that they would let fans take in sandwiches etc of their own, or have prices and decent quality food to make the fans flock in. Instead they make the day into an overpriced spectacle with awful food offerings and prices to make your eyes water.

Instead, I will be watching at home and expect a tough game against the old enemy. No doubt if fit, Farrimond will get another chance to shine. We have a very experienced back-line and some of the best ball handling forwards in the league, so a game plan needs to be ingrained in everyone’s mind for this team to work together. We can do it though and take yet another two points of the plastic scousers. Season’s getting really interesting now isn’t it?

David Bailey:

Magic Weekend is once again upon us, and despite IMG's initial indications pointing to this being the last one, it's apparently going to continue with some ambitious new venues on the horizon. Taking the games to Ireland or France as has been mooted would be disastrous. We can't even sell it out in the heartlands.

I'm not a huge fan to be honest. It skews the table. No disrespect intended to Huddersfield or Castleford who are playing in a game which will decide Magic’s most successful team to date.. they haven't exactly been competing for honours on a regular basis. In fact Wigan have only played Huddersfield once (and beat them) since its inception and never Cas. It shows the imbalance of the fixtures that two sides that have fluctuated between the playoffs and mediocrity are the most successful.

Wigan face arch rivals St Helens in what will be a very unusual fixture. With both sides' spines depleted with injuries and suspensions there are some intriguing matchups and a chance for youngsters to shine. Both sides have very effective packs to choose from, but half-back combinations will probably decide the outcome of the game. A new name could be etched into club folklore on either side.

Despite the run of shaky results, the Warriors still have the fate of the League Leaders’ Shield in their hands. Win their remaining games and they take the trophy. As one Hull KR fan account commented on the socials. Simples. KR are going well, however Wigan have the advantage of having four games remaining at the Brick, including hosting KR. If Rovers take the League Leaders’ Shield whilst still having to face Wigan Saints and Leigh away then fair play. I still feel Warrington will be the biggest threat, but I'll be a lot happier when French and Smith are back out on the pitch. It's a case of defend for your lives and hang in there for three more weeks. Peet knows what he's doing.

Stephen Ford:

A defeat against Leeds wasn’t a total surprise last week but the performance was bitterly disappointing against a Leeds team who had several players missing and hadn’t shown any really good form all season. Obviously a third game in ten days would have been a major contributor however, our form of late has been quite poor and the old habits of poor discipline and low intensity have been on show for a few weeks now. French is a major loss for us and the long term loss of O’Neill has added to that but I think that most fans would still have expected a much better performance than what was delivered. Personally, I think the loss of Isa has been overshadowed by our league position but recent games have highlighted our weakness on the right hand side of defence which Isa, prior to his injury, was a tower of strength and led the defence by great example. A defeat to Leeds at Headingly is not an unusual event in itself but the overall depressing performance I think caught a few of us off guard after beating Leyth at a canter the previous Tuesday. It’s difficult to think of any positives from the game however, in the longer term Smith being sent off and subsequent ban of three games may give him time to recharge his batteries and reassess his game before the play-offs.

Smith has had some criticism in recent weeks, some of it deserved but for me I think that at times he has taken on too much responsibility and our poor form has let him get his frustration lead his train of thought rather than get back to some basics.

The loss of Smith hopefully will give Farrimond the opportunity to play the number seven role rather than a minor role that he has previously been asked to play. Farrimond is potentially a great seven and I’m quietly confident that we will see this against Saints on Saturday at Elland Road. To do that he really does need the pack to play a more up tempo game, cut out the poor discipline and get back to delivering the platform for a first class defence. Delighted to see Forber in the 21-man squad and I fully expect him to deliver some much missing energy in the pack with his first class play the ball skills at hooker. I was a big fan of Martin Dermott when he played hooker for us and I think that Forber has the potential to reach the levels of skill that Dermott delivered in virtually every game that he played. Personally, I would start with Forber but I think that Peet will keep Leeming as the starting hooker and bring Forber on maybe 30 minutes or so into the game. Saints will be missing I suspect at least seven or eight players from their starting 17 so I would like to think that we can turn our recent form around and deliver a win. For all their missing players Saints will still have a very good pack available so it is vital that our pack win their battle and give our superior backs the ball and time to help deliver the victory. Once again I’m not too bothered about our performance, I just want a win. I think that Forber could be the “surprise package” and I’ve got a feeling that Byrne will finally deliver a top performance as he will be needed to do so to keep Walmsley as quiet as possible. Both teams will have a few youngsters playing so it will be really interesting to see how they all perform in the heat of the original derby. My main worry is that our recent lack of discipline continues, added to the threat of Robertson from fullback. Hopefully Peet gets the game plan right and young Farrimond plays his natural game leading the team around the park. I expect a tight game with no more than six points separating the two teams.