Wigan Warriors: The 18th Man - ‘The message has to be discipline, discipline, discipline...'

Darren Wrudd:

I am not sure my heart can take many more games like that. At 20 points to eight down, the only ones who thought we had a chance were the seventeen players in the squad. The first half was scratchy for sure, strewn with errors and most of them unforced, a more shrewd opposition could have put twice that on us. But it took some darn hard work from the lads and a never give up attitude to turn that around and I was mightily impressed to see it.

Just how cool a head must Matt Peet have in that coaching box, to have such confidence in his choice of structure in the players to not even use all his substitutions. Now that’s a rare occurrence, Liam Byrne sat on the bench for the game and unless I blinked and missed it, never took part. Was he injured, forgotten or did the coaching staff just believe that the rest could produce the goods.

But when you have a player like Patrick Mago stepping onto the field to seemingly up the tempo of the game single handedly and taking all his team-mates with him, then perhaps giving Byrne a rest was a good choice.

Of course it took some fancy footwork from that young man who must be considered the best player in Super League at the moment. Bevan French makes me giggle like a child when I watch the magic he produces. How on earth does he even see that kick chase try in his mind's eye before baffling the Hull defenders as he plonked the ball down. I hope everyone watching him play alongside Jai Field, can realise how special they are and cherish these games as looking back they will be stuff of legend and we can say that we were there.

Once more the Hull coaching staff jumped on the old band wagon, ably piloted by East Hull-born Jon Wilkin, crying about gamesmanship. When in particular Dupree was injured, there was an obvious foul play with contact to the head, the accusations of players staying down to milk a penalty perhaps says more about how they coach their own game than how we play ours. Wigan players don’t pretend, they just get on with it. Then we watch Hull winger Joe Burgess leave the field under another yellow card and do the slowest baby steps walk of shame to give his team extra time to get their breath and prepare for the Wigan onslaught. The cheeky smile on his face as he reached the touchline and the fans were explaining to him their feelings of displeasure was priceless and made me laugh. But there was no gamesmanship mentioned by the TV pundits then, funny that. In the end of course, quality shone through and we found a way to win which puts us back where we belong, at the top of the table.

Two more games means trophy success is within our own control but both matches will be no pushover. Leeds have begun to find form at just the right time of year and although they are as a club a shadow of their former selves, as we saw earlier this year they are capable and dangerous with the ability to spoil our chances if we are not dedicated to stop them.

Their new coach is changing attitudes at Headingley and I can see them building momentum toward the play-offs and into next year, but I cannot envisage us losing this one and it will leave us down to the last weekend to secure top spot.

Finally, I hope we take full home advantage from now on to wear our home strip. We should be in Cherry and White at every home game bar none and save the extra shirts for away games. I know the night was a charity night for the Brick, but it just did not seem right and our home identity should be almost sacred.

David Bailey:

Wow, just wow. The play-offs hit early as the high flying Robins were brought back to earth with a gritty yet expansive performance from Wigan Warriors. Once again the club got it right on and off the field. The pyrotechnics and light show, coupled with a large away following, meant The Brick hosted another match with a big game feel. You cannot underestimate how getting big events right helps the muscle memory of the players at the business end. For the first time since the Challenge Cup Final, Jai Field, Bevan French and Harry Smith all lined up together, and in an electric second half, boy did it show. KR were spirited and resilient, and can point to two yellow cards having a major influence on the game. It's amazing how when something involves a Wigan Warriors player, the rest of the league get up in arms about it. It has gone on since, well, since Mikey Lewis stayed down in the Challenge Cup semi-final in 2023 and will continue with the current rules. But enough about that. Field and French looked lively again and caused sheer panic in the Rovers defence with players not knowing whether to shut them down or hang back. This indecisiveness led to space for the likes of Wardle and Marshall to run riot once more. Marshall is now seven clear in the try-scoring charts and will surely finish the season on top. Wardle just oozes class and I have run out of superlatives to describe him. Add Nsemba and Mago into the mix where they were just too powerful to handle and Wigan once again seem to be hitting form.

One thing you have to say about Matt Peet and his team this season is that so far, when they absolutely had to, they have turned up and done the job. Every game with something at stake, they have delivered. World Club Challenge, delivered, Challenge Cup games (especially KR and Wire) delivered. Now KR last week, whilst some may say it's just two points, which is true, had we lost last week, I believe the League Leaders’ Shield would have gone. Now the Warriors have one hand on its retention and if results go our way, it could be claimed by 10pm on Friday. Peet often speaks about the journey they are on as a group and it shows. They speak about legacies, and retaining the shield for the first time in Warriors history, and keeping the dreams of a quadruple alive will certainly add to that.

This week, on heritage day, the Warriors welcome old foes the Leeds Rhinos. Whilst the Rhinos have had a difficult season, Brad Arthur has galvanised them, and they are still hunting for a play-off spot. Wigan will have that hefty defeat at Headingley in their minds I am sure, and once again Liam Moore is the man in the middle. I had a quick look at some stats and Liam Moore has only refereed Wigan in three Super League games this season. The Warriors have lost the penalty count in all three and suffered two defeats. In fact Wigan have only been on the right side of the penalty count just seven times in 25 Super League rounds this season. Unsurprisingly, they have won each of those games. The message has to be discipline, discipline, discipline. Leeds have suffered the loss of the rejuvenated Lachie Miller, as well as missing Ash Handley, both could be costly if the Warriors backline gets space like last week. Wigan have the unusual luxury of an unchanged squad. I doubt many will have any arguments if Peet goes with the same team, however with Liam Byrne not getting a single minute last weekend, it wouldn't be a surprise to see him switched. Harvie Hill had a good game in defeat in the reserves Grand Final (at loose forward) or could Sam Walters enter the fray against his old club? Surely worth giving Nsemba a few minutes rest having seen the impact of Mago in only 14 minutes last week. Either way, it's going to be another blockbuster night with the pyros and lightshow. The ladies are also playing at The Brick and need every ounce of your support to help them against one of their three bogey teams. Let's hope it's a double victory against the Rhinos.

Stephen Ford:

A great game on Friday against HKR. An odd game in some respects as HKR had very little territorial advantage but we allowed them into the game with mistakes and ill discipline particularly in the first half. HKR are a very good team and are deservedly in the top two in the competition. Willie Peters has effectively assembled a team of cast offs and got them playing some attractive rugby and now they have improved their defence they are capable of beating any team in the competition. It was great to have Smith and Farrell back but perhaps it was to be expected we were still a little clunky as Smith didn’t play initially with his normal fluency in dictating our attack. At half-time it was a little difficult to comprehend that we were losing after holding the upper hand for the majority of the first 40 minutes and I thought that if HKR scored first in the second half then it would be too difficult for us to recover. After they had scored from the intercept close to their own line I must admit that I thought that our game was done. Yet another piece of magic from French dragged us back into the game and from that point we looked more assured, reduced our errors and looked in total control. I’ve been watching Wigan for over fifty years and seen some really great players and the more that I see of French the more I’m convinced that he sits amongst the truly great players that I have seen in the cherry and white. I’ve probably seen better players but very few have with such regularity shown amazing skills and excited the crowd as much French does. His try in the game was exceptional. I don’t think anybody on the ground or watching on TV saw the opportunity as he did and very few players, if any, could have completed the execution.

Nsemba continues to improve and his all-round game is outstanding for a lad of his years. Unfortunately the NRL will come knocking for him, so I’m going to enjoy watching him whilst we still have him and hopefully Danson can come up with a contract to secure his talent long into the future. The atmosphere on Friday was brilliant and for me it matched that of the WCC game against Penrith. Great times to be a Wigan fan.

We owe Leeds one for the heavy defeat at Headingley and hopefully we can get the result on Friday to all but clinch the LLS and end Leeds’ chances of finishing in the top six. With Field, French and Smith back and gaining match fitness combined with our pack we should have too much for Leeds however, they have been the underdog a few times against and upset the apple cart so I’m a little nervous prior to the game. Leeds have been very hit and miss recently but when they do fire, they are a very capable team.

We haven’t really hit top form since our CC win but the last few weeks we are starting to look like we did in the final stages of last year and if we do perform at that level reducing mistakes and penalties we should have too much for Leeds. I still expect a very close and tight game with fewer than eight points separating the teams at the final whistle. Interesting times.

Glynn Bradshaw:

What a great game on Friday and a great atmosphere, with a great turnout from KR fans on a Friday night. We scored some great tries, notably the Bevan French effort and the Mago inspired runaround that led to Marshall’s match winner.

Disappointed with Willie Peters post-match comments with no credit given to the Warriors and how we exploited the man advantage with some top class rugby.

What continues to infuriate me with the Warriors is our lack of discipline, hardly surprising we are the most penalised team in the league, by constantly giving cheap penalties and field position away.

We should have learnt by now that you don’t contact a kicker, late hits etc, but sadly the situation doesn’t seem to improve. I know we have had our fair share of bad calls, but we need to take ownership.

Anyway, on to another crucial game against our bogey team, we owe them one after the debacle at Leeds when we were below par.

Sure they will come out firing as they know they need to win both games, but so do we, and hopefully that will inspire another good performance in front of the Warriors faithful. Fingers crossed that the combination in our returning spine will inspire us once again and see us over the line.