'In-form Salford may be favourites,' says Wigan Warriors boss Adrian Lam

Adrian Lam has been impressed by Salford recently

Those who bill Wigan as the form side of the competition ignore the fact Ian Watson’s outfit have won their last eight games.

And leading their assault has been half-back Hastings, who will be joining Wigan next season on a marquee contract.

“I’m sure he won’t be doing us any favours,” said Lam. “I know he’s passionate about what Salford have done for him and bringing him over from the NRL when he was going through a scrapheap, and he wants to repay them.

“They’ve won more games than us recently and maybe they can be seen as favourites.

“They’ve got third spot for winning eight games in a row, including four against the top five, and you look at the stats – Hastings top three for metres-made in Super League, Josh Jones top two for line breaks, Evalds second for tries scored – they have the numbers in the right areas and they’re a threat.

“The challenge for us is to get better and we need to step it up a level.”

Lam was speaking at a media event at Old Trafford earlier this week to launch the start of the play-offs series.

Leaders St Helens have a week off while Warrington and Castleford, who finished fourth and fifth, launch the Grand Final race in a sudden-death match tonight.

Lam was a Challenge Cup winner with Wigan in 2002 but never won at Old Trafford as a player.

“Just walking around and seeing the pitch, it’s an amazing stadium and Wigan have some great memories from what they achieved last October,” said Lam.

“When I came back, I made the point that Wigan have never gone back to back – in Australia, nobody has done it in 25 years. It’s tough to do.

“But that was the challenge for us and over the last few weeks, we’ve worked hard to put ourselves into a good position now to do something.”

Lam was flanked by Sean O’Loughlin and George Williams, two of his key players in their charge for a sixth Super League title.

“One thing we have is experienced players who can manage these moments and I’m looking forward to them stepping up,” said Lam.

“The best players, in my eyes, are the players who play the best when it matters – and we’re in the play-offs, now is when it matters the most.”