Adrian Lam has hailed the impact of Liam Farrell and Jake Bibby after Wigan Warriors’ 34-6 win over Wakefield Trinity.
The Warriors were comfortable winners in the end at the Totally Wicked Stadium, but they were tested in the first half by a dogged and resilient Wakefield side, who scored the opening try of the game through David Fifita.
Wigan hit back through Oliver Partington and in the second half they ran away with the game as Bibby scored a hat-trick, while John Bateman and Zak Hardaker touched down to ensure Wigan begin the season with two straight wins.
Lam’s side looked free-flowing and confident in attacking areas at times, but it was their defensive display that pleased him most.
“I loved that, I thought it was pretty tough in the first half, we made a couple of errors but our defence was outstanding tonight,” Lam told Sky Sports after the game.
“We’re just starting to get some combinations together in round two so I'm very happy for the boys.”
There was a handful of players across the Wigan line that contributed to their dominance in the second half of the clash as Wakefield faltered, but Lam picked out the performances of Farrell and Bibby for praise.
“(Farrell) is outstanding,” Lam added. “I had a conversation with him at the start of the week and he just said ‘yep, I’ll do whatever’s best for the team’.
“He did his homework on his opposite number, who’s a good player as well, and tonight he broke that game up when we were up by six.
“I’m very pleased for Jake, that’s his first hat-trick I think. Jake’s the same, left centre, left winger, right centre, right winger, he moves around quite a fair bit for us and fills a lot of positions.
“Tonight, luckily, he got the three tries and he was outstanding last week as well.”
