HARRY SMITH is backing Wigan to bounce back from successive seasons of Super League disappointment and get back on the title trail – by taking their mauling by Wakefield on the chin and moving on.
Having claimed the crown in both 2023 and 2024, Matt Peet’s side lost out to Hull KR in the 2025 Grand Final and new champions Trinity in this year’s play-off semi-finals.
That was after winning the Challenge Cup – with a 40-10 triumph over Hull KR – and lifting the League Leaders’ Shield with 22 victories from 27 over the regular season.
Wigan went into the play-offs on the back of 16 consecutive wins, a run kick-started by their Wembley success and during which they replaced Leeds as table-toppers.
But after sitting out the first stage of the play-offs, they were seen off 33-6 at home to Wakefield, having beaten them in the quarter-finals of the Challenge Cup and then in both league meetings.
That left England halfback Smith to reflect: “Everyone trains hard and everyone goes into the season wanting to win things, so not to do it (in the play-offs) was obviously disappointing.
“But it’s not the end of the world and you have to accept that you don’t always get it your way.”
Talking to Wigan Today, he added: “It’s still been a brilliant year. If you said at the start of it you’d take two out of three trophies and win 16 games in a row, you’d probably take that.
“It was disappointing the way it finished, to be so close to getting to a Grand Final and not play our best game, and that’s probably what hurt a bit more.
“Wakefield were outstanding, but we just weren’t at our best and that showed on the scoreboard.”
