Joel Monaghan has urged Castleford to be on their guard as they prepare to face the backlash from Wigan’s heaviest defeat in more than a decade.
Comprehensive losses are few and far between for a club such as Wigan, so it is hard to know what to expect from them on Friday night. However, following their 62-0 whitewash at Wakefield last weekend – the Warriors’ biggest defeat since their 75-0 loss against St Helens in 2005 – Monaghan is anticipating a stern response as Castleford aim to move within a point of the top four with victory.
“People have been hearing about it all week, about how that game ended up, but when you go to Wigan on a Friday night at their ground it doesn’t matter what happened the week before – you’re going to be in for a tough game,” the wing said.
“We’ve got a fair bit to improve on ourselves and we know it’s not going to be easy, despite what happened to them. You’re not going to see a Wigan side as bad as that two weeks in a row, so it’s got the makings of a great game. I’ve played in some great games against them and I know that it’s a tough place to go to.”
Monaghan has found himself in and out of the Castleford team with a recurring back problem since joining from Warrington but with that issue now resolved and the Tigers winning three of their past four games, he believes the best is yet to come from both himself and his team‑mates as they look to scale the Super League table, where eight sides are separated by only four points.
He said: “There’s so much more to come from this group this year. I believe there are some good times coming for this club and it’s only going to make the boys tougher, the way we’ve battled to get some wins. I’ve never seen it as tight as this since I arrived in England and if we can perform over the next month we’ll put ourselves in a good spot come the end of the year.”
A sickness bug and a plethora of long- and short-term injuries meant the Warriors were without as many as 10 frontline players for that defeat at Wakefield last weekend and the Wigan coach, Shaun Wane, has warned he is still expecting his side to be below par on Friday night as injuries and illness continue to plague the club.
“There were some sick players who shouldn’t have played at Wakefield but we had nobody else,” Wane said.
“To that end, I take my hat off to those guys – they really performed tough. There’s a few who are still not great but I’m hoping over the next few days they’ll get better – but we won’t be at our absolute best, given what we’ve been through.”
The defending champions, Leeds, will aim for only their third win of the season on Friday as they face Hull FC but the hooker Beau Falloon believes an upturn in form is imminent. “We haven’t been getting too many wins and I think as soon as we get that first win we will gain a bit of confidence and kick on from there,” he said.
The Rhinos lost 14-10 to Salford last weekend, although their performance suggested to some that they may be turning the corner. Falloon said: “Everyone is a bit low on confidence at the moment but I feel it’s not too far away.”
Falloon’s team-mate Liam Sutcliffe said: “There were many positives, especially from where we’ve been at the last couple of weeks. We’re not panicking. We know we’re not in a great position but everyone is still confident in the team’s ability and what we can do.”
Leeds will be without their captain, Danny McGuire, because of a quad problem, while Hull, who are aiming for a sixth win in succession, could welcome back Leon Pryce and Danny Washbrook from injury lay-offs.
