Really pleased: Lam

  • Head Coach Adrian Lam reacts to Wigan’s 12-28 victory over Catalans Dragons.
  • Lam: “I thought our mentality was perfect.”
  • Full time: Catalans Dragons 12-28 Wigan Warriors.

Adrian Lam praised the attitude of his players after bouncing back from last week’s defeat by running out comfortable winners over Catalans in Perpignan.

The Cherry and Whites overcame the Dragons 12-28 on Saturday evening – a result which highly contrasted with the previous week’s defeat over Hull KR.

Reacting to the result in the post-match press conference (held via Zoom link), Lam expressed his delight of the victory.

The Head Coach speaking via Zoom.

“I was really, really pleased with their efforts. We were a completely different team.

“When you have a loss like last week people think you didn’t prepare well. That isn’t the issue, the issue was attitude. 

“This week I asked them to be the players they believe they can be, and that in the Wigan jersey there is an expectation and that they needed to step up.” 

The Warriors kept Catalans from scoring a single point for over 70 minutes.

Despite Wigan’s dominance on the scoreboard throughout the fixture, there were plenty of stages where Catalans looked to have the upper hand.

The French side forced six goal-line drop-outs, meaning the Cherry and Whites had to soak up a number of spells of pressure, something which the defence more than dealt with.

On the quality of the Wigan defence, Lam said: “When you get through those periods as a group it makes you a better team. I thought our mentality was perfect.”

The Head Coach also took the time to praise winger Joe Burgess, who returned to the starting 13 to score two tries on the night.

“I thought Joe (Burgess) was great. He could have maybe had a third too.

“He’s had a long wait being in-and-out and got an opportunity with Liam Marshall not being available today.”

Onto injuries and the boss provided a brief update on the health of his side following the result. 

Joe Bullock has made a total of seven appearances for Wigan this season.

“There’s a couple we need to have a look at when we get back. 

“Joe Bullock is a worry, he may have broken his hand but we may not know that for sure until maybe Monday.”

There was also a mention on the situation surrounding skipper Sean O’Loughlin who didn’t travel with the squad despite being expected to make a return from injury this weekend. 

“One of his family members had some Coivd-19 symptoms. So we took the precautionary route for him, his family and the Club to stay at home.”

Saturday 12 September 2020