Wane not panicking after third straight defeat

Shaun Wane says there is "absolutely no panic" in the camp after Wigan tumbled to a third straight loss.
Craig MullenCraig Mullen
Craig Mullen

Their surging run in the first-half of the regular season already seems quite a while ago after they ended a disappointing few days - in which they lost at Hull KR and Warrington and had the Tomkins video nasty to deal with - with a defeat.

Wane, though, was far happier than in their last two losses, praising his players' effort and challenging them to dig themselves out of trouble - acknowledging that outsiders will be relishing their recent woes.

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He said: "We're second in the comp'. We have to improve, I don't like losing, but there's absolutely no panic.

"At the minute, if we're feeling sorry for ourselves we need to get out of that and be professional.

"But I don't feel like last week. There was effort today - we got ourselves back into it. We just need to be smarter, better, work harder... but I was happy with the effort.

"The players know people are enjoying the position we're in, and that was a motivating factor for us when we won a Grand Final (in 2016)."

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Wigan, missing a handful of front-line players, were dominated from the start although Gabe Hamlin's first try for the club saw them trail by only eight points at half-time.

The hosts, who were very impressive, tightened their grip on the contest before late tries by Tom Davies - one of their better players - and Morgan Escare. Wane praised academy-product Craig Mullen after a strong debut in place of sick Liam Marshall.

"Marshy phoned me when I was taking my dogs out this morning with a croaky voice," he said. "I called Craig and I've never spoken to a lad as excited. He's a full-back by trade but he jumped in and did some good things."

Wane couldn't hide his frustration with referee James Child - but stressed he wasn't blaming the official for the result.

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"Some of the penalties weren't deserved, but some were," he said.

"There were some shockers, missed 50-50s... they (the referees) don't want to get better, they just want to fine you. It's frustrating. But no excuses why we lost - Wakefield were the better side."

Wane said Liam Farrell will have a rolled ankle assessed. Wigan are next in action a week on Saturday at Hull FC.

Trinity coach Chris Chester said: "We were quite dominant. Apart from two, five-minute periods when we took our foot off the pedal. Our ball-control was the best it has been all year - we asked a lot of questions."