‘We owe it to ourselves, not Wigan’ – will Wembley loss be a motivating factor for Wire?

As they prepare for their first meeting with Wigan Warriors since losing their Challenge Cup final, Sam Burgess dismissed any notion that Warrington Wolves “owe them one”.

Instead, he insisted the players owed it to themselves to put in a better performance than they delivered at Wembley when they visited the Brick Community Stadium on Friday.

The Wire will move level on points with their neighbors at the top of the Super League with a win, although as they and many others have found out, that’s a lot easier said than done.

With Wigan unbeaten at home for more than a year and triumphing in the last seven meetings between the sides, history is certainly against Burgess’ men, but he insists it is a challenge they will rise to head on.

However, he says repayment will not be a motivating factor for his side.

A dejected George Williams processes the defeat at Wembley (Image: SWpix.com)

“We owe it to ourselves. It’s not about owing them one because I don’t think it works,” he said.

“We owe it to ourselves to deliver a better performance.

“It’s a big challenge for us as a group to go to Wigan and play. They are champions for a reason, we’ve played them a few times this year so we know what it’s all about.

“We look forward to the challenge like every two weeks. Wigan are the challenge that awaits us at the moment.”

The chance to close the gap at the top came thanks to Wigan suffering a surprise defeat at Hull FC in Round 18, allowing Warrington and Hull KR to close in on them by virtue of wins over St Helens and Leeds Rhinos respectively .

It was a result that ended the Warriors’ 10-game winning streak, but Burgess fears what their response will be.

“Everyone has bad days, right? It’s human nature,” he said.

“The teams have little bumps but I guarantee you they will be a different team on Friday night.

“They are very consistent – ​​I dare say they have been the most consistent team in the last two years.

“They are very hard to break down and they compete very hard like the champion teams.

“Consistency is the key and without argument they have been the most consistent.”

Wigan’s surprise defeat at Hull FC on Saturday marked the end of a 10-match winning run for Wigan. (Image: SWpix.com)

Recent history may not favor them in this event, but Warrington will make the short trip up the A49 full of confidence.

They battled the adversity of having James Harrison sent off after just 20 minutes and even spent a spell with just 11 men to claim a memorable win at St Helens last time out to extend their winning run to four games .

While their head coach says they can take a lot from the win in terms of confidence and belief, he insists they can’t afford to stop.

“We’re growing as a group and figuring out what works and what doesn’t,” he said.

“We’ve had some shocking games and games where we’ve been able to put things together for long periods of time.

“We handled adversity really well on Friday and we’ll take some great lessons from that, but the clock resets every Monday morning here.

“They will have learned a lot about each other on Friday night going through this together. They should have a closer bond with more faith and trust because of it.

“Like we keep saying, though, if it had been a loss, we would have moved on and reset.

“What has been does not matter much for what is to come. We don’t dwell too much on wins and losses.”

Friday’s win at St Helens was Wire’s fourth in a row (Image: SWpix.com)