Leeds Rhinos coach Brian McDermott has described tonight’s opponents Wigan as “relentless” – and admits his side will have to be on their game to get a win.
No Super League side has won at Wigan for over 20 months, dating back to St Helens’ victory there midway through the 2014 season.
And McDermott, whose Leeds side are chasing a second successive victory following last week’s win against Huddersfield, admits that whilst he hasn’t seen a lot of the Warriors this season, he has a fair idea what to expect.
“I haven’t watched a whole raft of Wigan’s games, and it’s so early in the season. By Shaun’s admission they haven’t been great and neither have we – neither have a few teams, actually,” he said.
“I think they’re still trying to find out what is is thats going to work for them this year; historyically they’ve done similar things but they’re very good at it and you’ve got to stop them, which is not easy.
“You could write down five things they’d do in attack and you’d be accurate, but they’re very good at it. They’ll be relentless with things which means your defence has got to be relentless too.”
The Rhinos will hand a debut to Beau Falloon in the game, whilst Jamie Jones-Buchanan returns from a serious knee injury and Mitch Garbutt is back following the suspension issued to him for the red card he got during the World Club Challenge.
