Pundit Sam Tomkins is predicting the ‘tough times’ to continue at Wigan Warriors with the two-time Man of Steel winner expressing concern at how many key players are missing.
The most obvious pair are the suspended Harry Smith and the injured Bevan French with that half-back pairing being crucial to Wigan’s success in recent years.
Whilst Smith will return for the upcoming Challenge Cup semi-finals, French’s return date is as yet unknown, though the initial reported timeline would have him miss May as well.
Speaking after Wigan’s 23-6 loss to Warrington Wolves, Jon Wilkin pointed to that upcoming semi-final as being a pivotal fixture in the calendar.
He claimed: “A lot rides on the Challenge Cup semi-final that’s coming up, and they’ve got a tough run of fixtures so I’m not sensing that it’s the end of a very difficult run for Wigan and Matty Peet here.”
That run of fixtures was something Tomkins pointed to when making his ‘tough times’ prediction, as he stated: “I think it’s going to take a massive effort for Wigan to get out of this, given the players they’ve got missing.
“Within the next five games, they’ve got to play St Helens (Challenge Cup), they’ve got to play Leeds, they’ve got to play Hull KR. They’re going to have some tough times.
“This team will get better, but it’s going to take a lot of effort.”
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Both men pointed to Harry Smith’s absence as being key with Jack Farrimond joined by young loose forward Taylor Kerr in the halves for the majority of last Friday’s loss to Wire.
“Harry makes a massive difference,” Wilkin argued, adding: “We’ve been talking before the game about how important he is. We showed at half-time, maybe with some just bad structural set-up stuff, missed comms, not getting on the same page as each other. That’s where someone like Harry Smith is worth his weight in gold.”
Tomkins agreed: “Yeah, he’s like a coach on the field when you’ve got a half like that a real general on the field that says, ‘we’re going to this spot and we’re going to throw this play on’.
“Tonight, I think Wigan struggled with that, the fact they had two really inexperienced halves in there. They couldn’t quite control the game and take opportunities at the right times, but it certainly wasn’t through lack of effort from them.”
Host Brian Carney questioned if Wigan were being ‘let off the hook’ in regards to how calm so many seem at the current four-game losing streak, but Jon Wilkin argued that Warriors head coach Matt Peet was the architect of such calm.
“Matty Peet doesn’t feel flustered. For me, the fans don’t feel flustered by it. I think there’s a lot of acknowledgement of injuries.
“We’ve gone to other grounds, I’ll say my team, St Helens, when they were going through an injury patch and losing games, it was like a vitriolic atmosphere. There was almost a tension there.
“Whereas I don’t really sense that and I think Matty Peet exudes understanding, he’s empathetic with the fans, and also, he’s realistic about the situation. I wasn’t alarmed by his interview post-match, nor should you be.””
