{"id":554865,"date":"2026-04-28T10:28:11","date_gmt":"2026-04-28T10:28:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/554865\/"},"modified":"2026-04-28T10:28:11","modified_gmt":"2026-04-28T10:28:11","slug":"pundit-predicts-tough-times-to-continue-at-wigan-warriors-after-fourth-super-league-loss","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/554865\/","title":{"rendered":"Pundit predicts \u2018tough times\u2019 to continue at Wigan Warriors after fourth Super League loss\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Pundit Sam Tomkins is predicting the \u2018tough times\u2019 to continue at Wigan Warriors with the two-time Man of Steel winner expressing concern at how many key players are missing.<\/p>\n

The most obvious pair are the suspended Harry Smith and the injured Bevan French with that half-back pairing being crucial to Wigan\u2019s success in recent years.<\/p>\n

Whilst Smith will return for the upcoming Challenge Cup semi-finals, French\u2019s return date is as yet unknown, though the initial reported timeline would have him miss May as well.<\/p>\n

Speaking after Wigan\u2019s 23-6 loss to Warrington Wolves<\/a>, Jon Wilkin pointed to that upcoming semi-final as being a pivotal fixture in the calendar.<\/p>\n

He claimed: \u201cA lot rides on the Challenge Cup semi-final that\u2019s coming up, and they\u2019ve got a tough run of fixtures so I\u2019m not sensing that it\u2019s the end of a very difficult run for Wigan and Matty Peet here.\u201d<\/p>\n

That run of fixtures<\/a> was something Tomkins pointed to when making his \u2018tough times\u2019 prediction, as he stated: \u201cI think it\u2019s going to take a massive effort for Wigan to get out of this, given the players they\u2019ve got missing.<\/p>\n

\u201cWithin the next five games, they\u2019ve got to play St Helens (Challenge Cup), they\u2019ve got to play Leeds, they\u2019ve got to play Hull KR. They\u2019re going to have some tough times.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis team will get better, but it\u2019s going to take a lot of effort.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jake Connor\u2019s World Cup chances, Brian McDermott reaction & Leeds Rhinos early title favourites \u2013 click here to watch the latest episode of the Serious About Rugby League Show<\/a><\/p>\n

Wigan Warriors boss helping prevent major panic<\/p>\n

Both men pointed to Harry Smith\u2019s absence as being key with Jack Farrimond joined by young loose forward Taylor Kerr in the halves for the majority of last Friday\u2019s loss to Wire.<\/p>\n

\u201cHarry makes a massive difference,\u201d Wilkin argued, adding: \u201cWe\u2019ve 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\u2019s where someone like Harry Smith is worth his weight in gold.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tomkins agreed: \u201cYeah, he\u2019s like a coach on the field when you\u2019ve got a half like that a real general on the field that says, \u2018we\u2019re going to this spot and we\u2019re going to throw this play on\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cTonight, I think Wigan struggled with that, the fact they had two really inexperienced halves in there. They couldn\u2019t quite control the game and take opportunities at the right times, but it certainly wasn\u2019t through lack of effort from them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Host Brian Carney questioned if Wigan were being \u2018let off the hook\u2019 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<\/a> was the architect of such calm.<\/p>\n

\u201cMatty Peet doesn\u2019t feel flustered. For me, the fans don\u2019t feel flustered by it. I think there\u2019s a lot of acknowledgement of injuries.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve gone to other grounds, I\u2019ll 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhereas I don\u2019t really sense that and I think Matty Peet exudes understanding, he\u2019s empathetic with the fans, and also, he\u2019s realistic about the situation. I wasn\u2019t alarmed by his interview post-match, nor should you be.\u201d\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Pundit Sam Tomkins is predicting the \u2018tough times\u2019 to continue at Wigan Warriors with the two-time Man of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":554866,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-554865","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-rugby","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/554865","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=554865"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/554865\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/554866"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=554865"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=554865"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=554865"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}