WIGAN WARRIORS have not set their sights on Wembley just yet, even though they kick-off their Challenge Cup journey against Barrow Raiders on Sunday.
Head coach Denis Betts has enjoyed many memorable trips to the national stadium throughout his career, and while he would love his squad of players to do the same, he is not letting them think too far ahead.
Barrow pushed the Warriors close twice in the opening stages of last season, with Wigan winning the Challenge Cup clash twelve months ago by just two points.
While Betts expects another tough game against a new-look Raiders side, he knows his team are much further on in their preparations than they were a year ago.
“I do want them to experience that and the girls who have been involved for the last couple of years and have watched the games at Wembley know what their objective is and what they’d like to do,” said Betts.
“Everyone wants the same thing but we’re not focusing on that too much yet. We’re looking at what we have to do day in, day out. We’ll see what we do against Barrow and kick on from there.
“We know we can expect Barrow to be fired up. They are well coached, they will be enthusiastic and we know they can be physical so it will be a good game to start the competition off with.
“They will test us, and London the following week will be tough. Travelling there will test us in different ways so we’ll see how we go in those games and then hopefully think about what a quarter-final might bring.
“We got to the semi-final last year against Leeds and that game probably came a bit too soon in our development for us to really challenge. Although we didn’t get too close to Leeds in the end, we still showed a lot more in that game than I was expecting and that gave us something to build on for the rest of the year.
“But where we are now is at a completely different level to when I first came in last year.
“Everything was so new then and pre-season this year has been about not stepping back but everyone understanding their role, understanding what our expectations as a club are, building on the aspirations as a group and making sure that they understand their own objectives and targets.
“The level of understanding is completely different too compared to last year so hopefully we can hit the ground running a bit more this year, starting on Sunday.”