Wigan Warriors- The 18th man: 'Tommy deserves to be sent out with a Grand Final winners medal'

The 18th man contributors look back on the Bank Holiday Weekend games against St Helens and Hull KR, and reflect on the news that Thomas Leuluai will retire at the end of the season.
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Jon Lyon

Friday’s win over Saints was as good as it gets.

It’s impossible to single out any players as the entire 17 were magnificent.

Thomas Leuluai will retire at the end of the seasonThomas Leuluai will retire at the end of the season
Thomas Leuluai will retire at the end of the season

We out fought their forwards and outplayed their backs, and if we play like that in the play-offs then we have an outstanding chance of Grand Final victory.

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There is nothing sweeter than beating St Helens and silencing their obnoxious supporters, who, as usual, spent more time singing about us than supporting their own team.

Brad O’Neill had by far his best game in a Wigan shirt, aggressive from the outset, hunting players down in defence, like watching a young Micky Mc.

Marshall was scoring at one end and saving tries at the other, Field and French combining beautifully as always.

Harry Smith and Cade Cust controlled the entire match and we almost expect Smith to convert every try now, his goal kicking is that good, and he duly obliged.

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The whole pack were phenomenal. Mike Cooper led from the front and Morgan Smithies played like a man possessed.

He certainly put Welsby off his game for the full 8 minutes and I hope other teams have taken note of how badly he handled the pressure.

The only downside was the injury to Liam Farrell and all we can do is pray it’s not as bad as it first appears, as he is irreplaceable in our side.

Monday’s trip to Hull KR gave debuts to a lot of young lads and they all did themselves proud.

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Down 32-6 at one point in the second half it would have been easy to let heads drop and end up on the receiving end of a big scoreline.

They did themselves and the club proud to dig in and fight back to a more than respectable ten point loss.

Sam Halsall was exceptional again and Ben O’Keefe took his try very well. Ollie Partington led from the front as he captained the side and I thought his sin binning was harsh.

Looking ahead, I expect to see us back to a more or less full strength team against a Catalans side who have been very erratic of late.

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Club legend Tommy Leuluai will hopefully return, on the back of his announcement that he will retire and replace Lee Briers on the coaching staff next season.

Tommy deserves to be sent out with a Grand Final winners medal for all he has done for us over the years.

Memories of some of his tackles will live with me just as long as any tries I have seen.

Thank you Tommy for all the wonderful memories, and let’s hope there are a few more still to come.

Darren Wrudd

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Could we have had a better performance against Saints last week?

I find it hard to think how we could. Our desire, energy and flair shone through for all to see in what is obviously the biggest derby in the game.

Saints looked harassed, with poor little Welsbey looking shell shocked as he had finally met his match.

Whether it was Harry Smith ruffling his hair or Smithies laughing in his face, it certainly had an impact on their super full back/half/wing/centre, or whatever else they want to call him.

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He was rubbish and should be nowhere near an England shirt unless in the club shop.

Going forward though, I know that for all the bravado and bull, St Helens will be dreading facing us in the final if we should make it that far.

I think we are probably the only team who have the beating of them and everyone knows it.

Difficult to pick stand out performances but I would have to go with our very own Duracell bunny, Liam Marshall.

This lad has everything.

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Tough as granite and afraid of no defender. He puts in such a shift each and every game and still has the pace and finesse to back up and finish when required.

Players like Marshall form the backbone of teams like ours, leading from the front by his actions, simply sublime.

Another ridiculous double fixture weekend saw us travel over to Hull KR on Monday and I am really pleased that so many of our fringe players got a shot, with seven debutants making their entrance as fully fledged first teamers.

My goodness this looks like a great squad in the making as it is.

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With several young but seasoned players like Halsall and Miski holding the lads together, not to mention Captain Ollie Partington who seemed to get sin binned for looking at the ref in a funny way, we put together a mixed performance which showed some naïve nerves from the youngsters when there was no need.

A few too many tackles were all arms and body position turned out which makes it so hard to effect a proper tackle against an inwards step.

But the technique is trained in the lads and they instinctively know when they have got it wrong and this honesty is what breeds a tight group of lads.

We play the same brand of rugby through the squads and it shows in the class on show from lads like Ben O’Keefe and Logan Astley not to mention Junior Nsemba, who played 80 minutes in the pack and stood up fantastically well against some seasoned Hull KR players.

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The result was not to be but could so easily have been our game, but lessons learned and go again.

Tonight’s fixture against Catalans should be a good one.

Wanting to finish our home campaign on a high for our fans, Matty Peet will no doubt roll out the big guns.

I half expect to see Tommy Leuluai make an appearance.

I do hope so as this year he has played like a 26-year-old, with such energy and a real general on the field.

I expect a win, a good win. Then no doubt a comment from Macbanana after the game extolling the virtues of just how much the French add to the competition.

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The two points are not critical for us and with a rest week following, I hope we go out on a high.

Glynn Bradshaw:

It was another special night at the DW against Saints.

There has been so much to enjoy at home this season and this was right up there.

We took our chances whereas Saints blew the majority of theirs with poor decisions and handling.

We still need to address losing the territory battle against them, as if they dominate territory as much next time it then may be a different result, but that’s for another day.

The defeat to Hull KR was to be expected.

I thought Hanley had a good game.

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O’Keefe, Nsemba and Hill were the pick of the debutants for me, although Astley showed some nice touches too.

We certainly held our own particularly in the 2nd half.

I’m looking forward to Friday. I believe that Catalans have picked a weakened squad, which is sad if true, as a stern test would have been ideal preparation for the play-offs.

Let’s hope we don’t pick up any serious injuries similar to Liam Farrell’s.

He will be a big loss going forward, such a major part of what we do and a model of consistency.