Shaun Wane has admitted that he won’t be able to fully get to grips with his squad until the direct build-up to Wigan’s Super League opener with Catalans.
With five of Wane’s men on international duty with England over autumn, the Warriors were without some of their major stars for the start of pre-season.
Although those five – Sean O’Loughlin, Liam Farrell, John Bateman, Matty Smith and George Williams have all reported back for duty, Wane is ensuring that he doesn’t rush them back into the fold too quick.
As a result of that, the Wigan head coach has not been in a position to work with his first-choice team as one, just two weeks before their first Super League fixture of the season.
“We’ve not had one proper training session with our internationals, and we’ve already started our pre-season games,” he told Wigan Today.
“All the internationals are in the video meetings, they’re listening and learning, but we can’t flog them, we can’t get them out on the field and get reps into them.
“The first (proper session) will probably be the week of the Catalans game.
“It is unfortunate we won’t see our starting XIII in a pre-season game, which every other club gets to do.
“A lot of internationals’ first game will be Catalans, which is unfortunate, but there’s not much we can do about it.”
