Clubb: A lot at stake

Warriors News · October 29, 2020

Tony Clubb looks ahead to Friday’s derby against St Helens at the Totally Wicked Stadium.
The 33-year-old talks about his memories of playing against Saints and how he returned from injury to make his 150th Wigan last week.
Clubb: “There is a lot at stake for both teams and has all the markings to be a good game.”

Tony Clubb says the Wigan-Saints derby will still have the same ‘feel’ to it despite there being no fans to watch inside the Totally Wicked Stadium on Friday night.

The Warriors head to the Totally Wicked Stadium (K.O. 7:30pm) looking to overtake their rivals and move to top spot in the Betfred Super League table.

Whilst admitting it will be different without spectators there, Clubb says the intensity will still be high between the two sides.

He said: “These are the games you look forward to. It’s been the same since I got here, no matter what you do, you have to beat them. Whether crowds are there or not, it will still have that same feel to it, because the mentality from us will be the same.

“There is a lot at stake for both teams and has all the markings to be a good game.

Clubb says the players’ mentality will be no different for this derby than others.

“For every player from Wigan it is one of the first games you look out for, and I know it’s been an up and down year, but we still get dead excited for it. The games are a joy to play in because it’s just two teams going at it.”

It was not long after joining Wigan that the prop realised how the big the rivalry between the two clubs is.

“We used to play Saints in friendly games when I first joined. At London it was more about getting to know the new players, but here we went into a meeting with Waney (Shaun Wane) and the first thing he said was, ‘I want to win this’. From there on, I know whenever we play them, even if it was the car park out the front, it is one we have to win to make the town and the people happy.”

Clubb hopes to add the League Leaders’ Shield to his trophy haul.

The 33-year-old has plenty of memories of the derby and is looking forward to adding to that in Friday’s clash.

“I remember one game when we turned them over quite convincingly. There is also the Grand Final against them too, and even though we lost, the atmosphere was class. I’ve got lots of memories since I’ve been here, and I expect nothing less on Friday.

“Every game is a must win now because it can turn so quick. If we can go top then it is in our hands. With the run in we’ve got, I feel we can beat the teams we have.

“As players we generally don’t worry about the point percentage because if you’re winning games then you are doing alright. It gives us more incentive and the League Leaders’ Shield is a trophy I have never won, so it would be nice to add to the collection.”

Clubb made his return from injury in the victory over Salford.

Clubb made his 150th Cherry and White appearance last week as he came off the bench to help his side beat Salford Red Devils.

“To play 150 games for such a great club is special. It was nice to have my shirt presented to me by Lockers (Sean O’Loughlin) and I was also shown a short video of myself during my time at Wigan.”

The forward believes the Warriors’ display against the Red Devils places his team in a good position heading into the derby on Friday evening.

“It was something we have been trying to get this season. We didn’t know how Salford would turn up, but we wanted a ruthless attitude from the start, which set the tone. For the 80 minutes we were really good and that puts us in good stead for what will come this week.”