Why Wane is confident Sarginson will grow in strength for Wigan

Shaun Wane has backed Dan Sarginson to come back stronger after a rocky reintroduction to Super League.
Dan Sarginson went close to scoring against Hull FCDan Sarginson went close to scoring against Hull FC
Dan Sarginson went close to scoring against Hull FC

The centre returned to Warriors this year – after a season with Gold Coast Titans – as a direct replacement Anthony Gelling.

But after catching the eye for the wrong reasons, he was left out of the side last Friday to nurse a shoulder injury.

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Wane plans to give him another week off and is confident the extra time to train in the gym will pay off.

He said: “He’s had an injection in his shoulder, he could play this week but I’ll probably give him another week.

“He needs some strength training, he’s not done that for the past few weeks.

“I need him to be fit and healthy, so I decided to leave him out and get him fit and good, and get some strength in is shoulder.

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“This is a tough sport, when you’re fit. So trying to do it when you’re not doing weights, it’s a bad place to be.

“I recognise that with Sarge, he needs an arm around him and a bit of a rest.”

Wane says Sarginson’s confidence has not been dented by his under-whelming form.

“He’s a confident kid, and the main thing Sarge needs to understand - and I’ve told him - is that I’m on his side, the players love him, the staff love him,” said Wane.

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“We know how good he is. We’re not seeing the best of him at the moment so I need to make sure that we do, and doing what we are doing - in the bigger picture - we want him fit and healthy. He’s a good player, Sarge – he’s one of the most competitive players we’ve got.”

Forward John Bateman is set to continue in the right centre role against Widnes on Friday – Warriors’ first home match of the year.

He filled the role in the 16-10 loss at Warrington last Friday.

“He had a couple of misses and straight away, as soon as he came into the changing room, he said to me, ‘I need to do some one-on-one D’,” said Wane.

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“And that’s him, he looks for improvement all the time, he’s very harsh on himself.

“You’re a bit more isolated at centre than defending in the back-row, and I get that - he’s had a finger injury, you’re grabbing a lot... he wanted to work on it, and he has done.”

Wane will name his provisional 19-man squad today and admitted he is considering making changes to his squad, with French international Romain Navarrete and winger Joe Burgess both in the mix.

Wigan’s reserve game with Leigh this Saturday will now take place at Robin Park (kick-off 2pm). The Under-19s are away at Widnes on Saturday (2pm).