“We’ll make sure this never happens again,” said the Wigan coach, Shaun Wane, in the aftermath of their Challenge Cup semi-final defeat to Hull four months ago.
On Friday for the fifth and final time this year, Hull and Wigan meet once again: this time with a place in the Grand Final on the line. With both sides having two wins apiece, another thrilling contest is expected – yet to say they meet in contrasting form is an understatement.
The disappointment of missing out on top spot and the League Leader’s Shield was obvious for Hull after last week’s defeat at home to Warrington, their third defeat in four games since winning the Challenge Cup.
Consecutive wins for Wigan against Warrington and Catalans earned them home advantage in the latest chapter of Super League’s most exciting rivalry of the season but beneath their good form is an underlying problem.
Wane believes becoming Super League champions next Saturday would rank as Wigan’s greatest achievement in the light of long-term injuries to Joel Tomkins, Liam Farrell and Michael McIlorum, and the news Sam Tomkins and Sean O’Loughlin will not play again this season.
“I promise you, it would go down as the biggest ever,” he said. “This isn’t just a current thing we’re going through, we’ve had this all season long. We’ve had players not training for weeks on end, and our training has been so hit some lads have just turned up for games. Internally we know that it would be the best win ever if we got over the line at Old Trafford.”
Wigan have drawn criticism throughout the season for the way they play and they finished the Super 8s with the third-worst attack in the competition, despite ending the regular season in second place. Eight tries and 48 points against Catalans last Friday and a stirring comeback against Warrington the week before went a long way to answering the critics.
“To be honest, I don’t know much about those comments and I don’t take them on,” Wane said. “As long as I know what we’re doing is correct; consider how busted we are and we’re in two semi-finals. It’s a good effort from us, I’m happy with where we’re at and we’ll go into this in a real confident mood.”
Hull’s form suggests their race may have been run having won at Wembley for the first time in their history but Scott Taylor, who was part of Wigan’s last Grand Final-winning side in 2013, said only one trophy would be regarded as a disappointing season for a side who were in the hunt for the treble a week ago.
“We have to make the Grand Final,” he said. “We should be playing there as I think we’ve been the most consistent team and I’d see it as a disappointment if we’re not there. For how disappointing the last few weeks have been, we’re 80 minutes away from Old Trafford. We still stand on the brink of something special.”
Wane added: “We know how tough it is to back up after a Challenge Cup win and they will find some form. They’ve had six players in the Dream Team. I’ve got plenty of respect for what Lee Radford has done there and it’s a massive challenge, but we’ll be going for them.”
Wane said after the defeat to Hull at the Keepmoat Stadium four months ago: “We are absolutely devastated but we’ll use this as a real strength for the games to come.” Victory on Friday and a fourth consecutive appearance in the Grand Final will drop the strongest hint yet that he may well have been right.
