Wigan Warriors' unorthodox approach ahead of the new season

Discuss all things Wigan Warriors. Comments and opinions on all aspects of the club's performance are welcome.
Post Reply
josie andrews
Posts: 35575
Joined: Sun Jun 10, 2007 10:17 pm
Location: Wigan
Contact:

Wigan Warriors' unorthodox approach ahead of the new season

Post by josie andrews »

The Warriors won't be playing a pre-season game.

Wigan Warriors appear a safe bet to challenge strongly for the Super League title again this season – but could go into the new campaign without playing a pre-season friendly.

Adrian Lam’s side, pipped at the death by bitter rivals St Helens in the 2020 Grand Final in Hull, have no formal games lined up before they face Leigh Centurions in their opener on Friday, March 26.

How will that lack of match practice affect the Warriors ahead of their season-opener later this month?

True, all Super League clubs are scaling right back the amount of friendlies that they play in the current environment.

Fans will not be allowed into grounds until the back end of May following the government’s latest update on the roadmap out of Covid-19 restrictions last week.

Thus there is no money to be made by clubs by staging pre-season games right now.

Super League clubs usually play between two and four pre-season fixtures to ready themselves for the rigours of the new campaign.

Quite often they prove useful exercises as coaches assess their options, players build match fitness and systems and structures are put in place.

Fans desperate for a rugby league fix during the off-season always enjoy them.

Take the Jamie Jones-Buchanan testimonial and Rob Burrow benefit match which saw Leeds Rhinos and Bradford Bulls clash at Headingley last January.

The place was packed to the rafters and showed the appeal of pre-season fixtures, albeit in special circumstances as fans from not only Leeds and Bradford but general rugby league followers turned out in force to support Burrow following his diagnosis with motor neurone disease.

Leeds-Bradford derbies, or Wakefield Trinity’s traditional visit to Headingley on Christmas Day, always attract sizeable crowds, as does a Hull derby.

Club chairmen see pre-season fixtures as a means of bringing some much-needed coffers into the club at a difficult time of year financially.

Coaches, on the other hand, are often reluctant to play too many as they bid to try and keep their squads injury-free ahead of the big kick-off.

But, by not playing a single game, are Wigan in danger of being undercooked heading into the new season?


They are understood to be considering an opposed training session with Salford Red Devils shortly.

That should allow them to develop and hone their systems as new recruit Jai Field looks to strike up a new half-back partnership with Jackson Hastings.

But will it be enough?

Ten other Super League clubs have put formal pre-season friendlies in the diary in the coming days, with Catalans and Leigh both playing twice.

Salford and Wigan are the only two sides who have not, so an opposed training session could provide their only meaningful match practice ahead of the new season.

https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk ... x-19944052
Anyone can support a team when it is winning, that takes no courage.
But to stand behind a team, to defend a team when it is down and really needs you,
that takes a lot of courage. #18thMan
Post Reply