Wigan Warriors coach Shaun Wane has said that Huddersfield’s injury problems are not too dissimilar to the Warriors’ – and says that people forget when his side lose players to long-term injuries.
Wigan head to Huddersfield on Friday night to face a Giants side without big names like Craig Huby, Scott Grix and also potentially Danny Brough, who suffered a dead leg in last weekend’s loss to St Helens.
And Wane says he’s expecting a strong Giants side no matter what – adding that his team have their own injury problems, a problem often forgotten by people.
“We went there last year and played really well against them, so I’m hoping for the same thing,” said Wane.
“They’re busted but we’ve not got Dom Crosby and Sam Tomkins, so when we get those back I’m hoping we’ll be better. Huddersfield are a strong team, especially at home, and they’ll be up for it after losing to St Helens. We’re looking at playing against 17 players; whoever they pick they’ve got key blokes out but so have we.
“Our side would improve with Sam and Dom in it for example, and they’re a strong team still. They’ve lost Ferres, we’ve lost Joel; they’ve lost Grix, we’ve lost Sam – so it’s not too dissimilar, there’s not that much difference, and people seem to forget when we lose long-term absentees.”
Wane also insisted that the Warriors are not thinking about the upcoming World Club Series game against Brisbane, too – and said he could name an unchanged side on Friday night.
“We didn’t get any injuries; there were a couple of minor knocks but it’s unlikely I’ll make any changes ahead of this weekend,” he said.
“We’re not thinking about Brisbane – we’re thinking about Huddersfield first. That will take care of itself; we want to go to two out of two and we’re wary of Huddersfield wanting their first win, so we need to prepare for it.”
