Darius Boyd and Sean O'Loughlin pose with the World Club Series trophy
Shaun Wane has described Wigan's Super League wins so far this season as 'ugly', but captain Sean O'Loughlin reckons they are the perfect preparation for Saturday's clash with Brisbane Broncos.
The Warriors are second up in the 2016 Dacia World Club Series, hoping to avenge their 14-12 golden point extra-time defeat by Wayne Bennett's Broncos in the inaugural tournament 12 months ago.
O'Loughlin, who was this week told by Bennett that he will keep his job as England captain under the veteran Australian, is anticipating another close-fought battle at the DW Stadium and believes their hard-fought wins over Catalans Dragons and Huddersfield have got them in the right mood.
"You don't expect to be 100 per cent at the start of the year but the games we've been involved in have been real grinds," said O'Loughlin. "As much as you want to be chucking the ball about and scoring full-length tries, you know you kind of build into that.
"I think it's probably the best kind of prep we need. We know it will be a trough, close encounter and we've had two of those so we feel like we're in good shape going into it. "There is a lot of desire from the way it went last year, just coming out on the wrong side of that result, a lot of the boys want another crack at this game."
Twelve months ago, the 20,000 Wigan fans were angered by referee Phil Bentham's decision to award a penalty for an alleged ball strip with the scores locked at 12-12 which enabled Corey Parker to kick the winning points.
"It finished on a little bit of a sour note from our point of view," O'Loughlin admitted. "It was a tough game and probably could have gone either way. "They got the result in the end and it kind of makes everybody a bit more hungry to go out there and get the win this year."
There was a farcical end to the game when Wigan centre Anthony Gelling charged down Parker's first kick at goal and was on his way to the sin bin by the time the Kangaroos forward succeeded at the second attempt. "I hope he's learned his lesson, that bloke," Bennett said at the series launch. "It was really dramatic, no one has seen anything like that before in the game. It was really weird."
Gelling admits his emotions got the better of him, saying: "It was like standing in front of a firing squad, you knew that the bullet was coming, you're going down so I might as well try and do something about it.
"We'd given it our all and for it to be decided by a penalty goal so late on was gutting. We really want to make up for it this year and get the win."
Brisbane were without a host of regulars because of injury 12 months but Bennett has been able to bring over a near full-strength team this time which adds to the size of Wigan's task, but it is one O'Loughlin is relishing. "If we're going to beat any of the Australian sides we want them to come over here strong," he said. "We want to play their best sides and it's a great opportunity for us.
"That's probably one of the best things about this comp, to play against some of the best players in the world is a great test for everybody involved. "If we want this competition to continue being a success, we need to get wins in it as well, and we'll be doing our best on Saturday to do that."
The DW Stadium pitch has been relaid after Wigan's opening game on the mud patch and O'Loughlin is hoping it will remain a lucky charm, for Brisbane were the last visiting team to win there. "We've had some good form at home in the past two years," he said "It is a big advantage to be playing on your own patch and we'll try to make the most of it." Australian Matt Cecchin will referee the game.
Wigan Warriors squad: John Bateman, Gregg Burke, Josh Charnley, Tony Clubb, Liam Farrell, Ben Flower, Anthony Gelling, Oliver Gildart, Willie Isa, Dom Manfredi, Michael McIlorum, Sean O¹Loughlin, Sam Powell, Dan Sarginson, Matty Smith, Ryan Sutton, Taulima Tautai, Lewis Tierney, George Williams.
Brisbane Broncos: 1 Darius Boyd, 2 Greg Eden, 3 Jordan Kahu, 4 James Roberts, 5 Corey Oates, 6 Anthony Milford, 7 Kodi Nikorima, 8 Sam Thaiday, 9 Andrew McCullough, 10 Adam Blair, 11 Alex Glenn, 12 Matt Gillett, 13 Corey Parker.
Interchange (four from): Jarrod Wallace, Josh McGuire, Joe Ofahengaue, Travis Waddell, Herman Ese'ese and Tom Opacic.
