Adrian Lam hoping Wigan can play at home in play-offs

James Gordon

Wigan coach Adrian Lam says they would love to end their exile from the DW Stadium for their play-off clash in a fortnight’s time.

The Warriors secured the 2020 League Leaders’ Shield with a hard-fought 19-6 win over Huddersfield at Headingley on Friday night, putting them 80 minutes from the Grand Final.

They are one of just two clubs – the other being Hull KR – not to have played on their own ground since the resumption of the Super League season in August.

Lam said: “That would be nice.

“If the administrators are listening and can do us a favour by doing a deal with our hierarchy to make sure we play there, it would be a nice way to finish off the year, as in our last game before the big one.”

The first round of the play-offs will take place at the Halliwell Jones Stadium, with Warrington hosting Hull on Thursday night and then Catalans taking on Leeds 24 hours later.

The highest ranked winner will play St Helens for a place in the Grand Final, with the other winner taking on Wigan.

Meanwhile, seventh-placed Huddersfield remain on stand-by for the play-offs in the event that any of the six teams above them are hit by Covid-19 and Lam admits that fear is at the back of his mind.

A host of late-season league fixtures were cancelled due to a spate of positive tests and Salford cruelly lost Dan Sarginson and Jack Ormondroyd for the Challenge Cup final at Wembley after they contracted the virus.

“It’s a dangerous time to be honest,” Lam said. “We talk about this every day, how we can minimise the risk.

“Where we train at our facility, the protocols we have there are as professional as anywhere in the world.

“If it does happen, it happens. I pray that no team gets it because for the integrity of the game , the teams have to be the best you can field every week.

“Everyone is doing their job. With the country going into lockdown, I think that’s probably going to help our cause a little bit.”