Wigan Warriors - The 18th Man: 'The rugby league equivalent of Christmas arrives this week...'

David Bailey:

The rugby league equivalent of Christmas arrives this week, the biggest game in the calendar as Wigan take on St Helens on Good Friday.

However, before we get to that, let's talk about Hull KR. Whilst Rovers have played some good stuff and rightly sit atop the league, last week was a stark reminder that if they want to be champions, they'll have to overcome Wigan. As much as League Leaders’ shields can't be won in April, they definitely can be lost.

Wigan welcomed back a heavily strapped Abbas Miski to the fray, a boost after hearing Luke Thompson would be sidelined until around Magic Weekend. The Warriors rode out the early KR pressure and some individual moments of brilliance from Bevan French and Jake Wardle separated the two sides. It turned into a quite one-sided scoreline, but the marker has been laid.

Rovers escaped pretty lightly with injuries last year, and have already suffered worse luck in the first seven rounds this season. It'll be interesting to see how they cope with the demands and heightened expectations.

Now onto Good Friday, a sell-out at The Brick and a Warriors team with their tails up. Whilst St Helens also got a good win against Wakefield last weekend, they are still yet to taste victory against Wigan, Leigh, Warrington or Hull KR in 13 attempts. Paul Wellens is feeling the pinch and will point once again to injuries. That being said, every club gets them and it's how you respond and how much faith you put in your youth.

Last week, he was forced into playing George Whitby and now faces a dilemma. Trust Whitby on St Helens’ biggest day of the season, or opt for experience with Jonny Lomax. It's going to be interesting to see which route he goes down but Wigan will be waiting. Even missing Ethan Havard, Thompson and Adam Keighran, the Warriors play anything like last week and it could be a long afternoon for Wellens.

Darren Wrudd:

I really enjoyed last week, billed as the champions v the unbeaten league leaders, the stage was set to pop Mikey Lewis firmly back in his seat and we certainly succeeded in that. All the way through the game, the Sky cameras followed Lewis, playing up and celebrating every KR play, that is until, of course, the tables turned – brilliant!

What it took from our lads was the belief that our coaching staff had diligently come through with a game plan to do the job, provided they stayed to it and put the effort in.

I think we showed a lot of character throughout the game. Even when things were going against us, the work ethic stood fast and we continued to play our game and looked for opportunities. The rest, of course, is in the scorebook and that is, of course, why we are champions.

Great efforts from our forwards set the base for us to work from. I think these days the balance between controlling a ruck and giving a penalty is so fine and a testimony to the work we do on the training field on how we can, more often than not, find the right balance. This gives our back line the freedom to play what is in front of them and creativity is not short amongst our squad.

That, added to the constant state of readiness when a break happens, and we have so many backing up and running on just in case the offload or pass comes their way. It is a joy to watch us play the game when we are like this. Two that spring to mind are Jake Wardle slicing through the defence with a lovely line and then turning on the speed for his try and Jai Field, who started running from deep as soon as we moved the ball and shot through the line as if by magic as the short sharp pass from Bevan French was sheer class, sending Field on his way. A fantastic performance all round, but still plenty to improve on.

It was also a pleasant break from all the talk of NRL takeovers and which clubs to drop or include as it really splits opinions for many fans. I have never been a fan of including a French team in our league or a Toronto one for that matter. I really don’t think it is as big a success as they all make out. The French international side is poor, the success of Catalans is built on British players and coaching staff, so forcing another French side Toulouse into the comp at the expense of an English club rather than invest in the English game is, in my opinion, building the game on a poor foundation. I know plenty of folk like a jolly in the sunshine, but how many French supporters spend their time and money over here? Perfectly understandable, of course, but the NRL chiefs putting conditions of two French sides and full admin control for a 33 per cent investment is not good business. Tell them to go and buy the French league and build that up to a level, perhaps, instead.

This week of course is the biggy. The one fixture which we all look for at the start of the year and the biggest game of our year so far, as a mere spectator. Good Friday, a full house. I bet Wellens has a special file for all his excuses as to why they lose against us, if not, I have a few more if he wants to get in touch. I have heard already in the media that he has injury worries, don’t believe it, they will have 17 fully capable players available and we need to hit them hard and do what we do best.

With Brad O’Neill settling into his role as number nine again and no new injury issues to the squad, the team selection should largely look after itself. I hope we perform well, keep control of emotion and serve up a winning scoreline to start Easter off on a high.

I can hear the South Stand already, weeee are the boys...