Wigan Warriors coach Shaun Wane has called for a strong refereeing performance when his side travel to Hull KR on Friday night – after insisting that the “smart” crowd at Rovers put pressure on match officials.
Wane’s comments were made at his weekly pre-match press conference on Tuesday, before the round of refereeing appointments were made later that day.
The Warriors’ trip to KR as they look to keep pace with leaders Hull FC will be officiated by Ben Thaler, but before that appointment was made, Wane wanted to be sure that his side would have a “strong referee” in charge to counter the pressure Hull KR fans put on officials in his belief.
Wane also admitted it would be a tough game against a Rovers side in decent nick after beating Wakefield last week, saying: “Hull KR are going well; Campese seems to change how they play but they’ve got some good threats on their edges.
“Hopefully we get a strong refereeing performance there because the crowd at Hull KR are very smart and they manage to put a bit of pressure on the officials whenever you go there, which we’ve found out in the past.
“As long as we’ve got a strong referee then we’ll have a good chance.”
Wane created a stir recently when he insisted his players were only performing at “four or five out of ten” – and he revealed he still hasn’t changed his mind on that philosophy.
“I genuinely believe they’re still about a four or five out of ten.
“I don’t mean that in an arrogant way at all, it’s just that I know what’s to come from my players and I think we’re way off that at the moment. We’ve got some key personnel missing from the middle like Lockers and Tony Clubb but the guys who have been in there have been doing really well.
“Our attack can still improve a lot and our defensive efforts can hugely improve.”
