Wane Expecting Usual Suspects

[josie andrews]

Shaun Wane has admitted he is expecting "the usual suspects" to compete ahead of start of Super League XX.

The Warriors begin their campaign at the Select Security Stadium against Widnes Vikings on Thursday ahead of the first home game with Huddersfield Giants on Friday 13th February.

Speaking ahead of the season Wane said: "St Helens and Warrington will be strong, Leeds are always there challenging so I think it will be the usual suspects but it's going to be very competitive with the new competition, I'm very excited by it."

Wane admitted he thinks all of the Super League teams will be looking to get out of the blocks fast in 2015: "Every minute of every game is going to count. This new competition is going to make the games a lot more exciting.

"We lost some games last year and they were mental loses. We lost at Bradford and Wakefield and no disrespect to them but it cost us in the end, the League Leaders is a very important competition so we can't afford for any slip ups."

The Warriors head into 2015 with a new half-back partnership with George Williams and Matty Smith now tasked with steering the Warriors around the park.

The Warriors Head Coach admitted he never once looked to replace Blake Green from outside and was always looking to promote from within.

On the task facing George Williams this year Wane said: "The way we play it's never going to be easy, we're quite intense there with our approach to the game. George has a lot to learn and he's still very young but he will be a great player. He defends tough and he'll learn. He's finding his feet at the minute and I'm willing to give him that time. There is no doubt in my mind that he is going to be a top player."

Wane has also been impressed with a couple of other youngsters in pre-season with both Ryan Hampshire and Connor Farrell catching his eye: "Ryan is very talented with the ball going forwards, he's going to be a top player for years to come. He'll play this year, if Matty (Bowen) plays better than him then he'll be in, if he plays better than Mango then he'll be in so I'm in a great position there with two really good classy Full-Backs fighting for the same position.

"Connor has impressed me in the two games he's played, he's a good kid with the same style as Liam. He's an exciting player."

Tickets for Wigan's for the game at Widnes and at home to Huddersfield are now available from the DW Stadium Ticket Office, the ticket hotline 0871 66 33 552 and online here.


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