Lam’s fullback admission after confident thrashing of Wakefield

Adrian Lam was confident all along that his Wigan side – who ran out 34-6 eventual winners – would beat Wakefield, even when the teams went in level at the break.

“I had a good feeling about the game, I felt watching us physically from the start we were there to play,” Lam stated.

“I was confident whatever points they got, we could run that down. We had a few opportunities that we couldn’t nail in the first-half, but the conversation at half-time was really good.

“I told them to stay calm. it was outstanding the execution down the right side and I’m really pleased for Jake Bibby getting a hat-trick.”

Lam was forced into another reshuffle after confirmation that Jai Field would be sitting out for a length of time, so Liam Farrell started in the centres and put in a professional performance.

“I had conversation with Faz (Farrell) at the start of the week and as professional he is, he wanted to do what the team needs.

“Together we looked at some homework on his opposition player and he ticked the boxes all week on what he could do.”

It was Willie Isa’s 150th game for Wigan tonight, and the Wigan boss could not speak highly enough of the Kiwi.

“Willie was promoted into our leadership group this week by his peers; for me as a coach, Willie is an ultimate professional whether at training or at home.

“He’s a really popular member of the group and everyone trusts in him; I’ve been harsh on him on my time at the club on his pass execution, but he was superb tonight.”

Whilst opposition boss Chris Chester was dismayed by the tackle that saw Tom Johnstone exit the field, Lam wasn’t too fussed.

“The referee had an opportunity to put him on report and give them a penalty. I’m not too sure it was that bad, we’ll have a look on Monday.”

Although Lam is looking forward to having some players come back in the next few weeks or so, it will be too soon for some of his chargers.

“(Oliver) Gildart, (Dom) Manfredi and (Liam) Marshall won’t be back for a good few weeks yet, but one good thing is we are winning without them at the minute.

“If we can keep building confidence and momentum and then one-by-one those players come back, it’s only going to improve the confidence in our group.

“Credit where credit’s due, when you communicate clearly to those those that are filling in roles for a period of time, it makes it easy for everyone – they all know their place.”

In the absence of Bevan French, however, Zak Hardaker has more than stepped up to the plate, but Lam still sees French as his number one fullback.

“I think Bevan is one of best fullbacks in the competition and we’ll make that decision when we come to it.

“We know Zak loves playing at fullback and he won us the game last week and he was outstanding again tonight.

“It will be a headache when Bevan does come back, but we’ll get there.”