Hull FC v Wigan: Five takeaways as ‘utterly ruthless’ Warriors bring woeful Airlie Birds ‘back down to Earth’

Following Wigan Warriors’ 46-4 win over Hull FC at the MKM Stadium, here are our key takeaways from the round two clash.

The top line

Pressure was certainly on the Warriors after their surprise 1-0 defeat to Leigh Leopards in round one, but they came out the blocks quickly and opened their account for the night – and the season – after just six minutes.

Some delicious hands through their left edge found the ball in Liam Marshall’s hands, and the winger put in a clever kick to send Jai Field through unopposed, and the fullback made no mistake with the finish.

The game quickly quietened down after that, with ill-discipline creeping in from both sides, however, you felt Wigan still had the better of the chances.

You felt, with the game fairly even, a moment of magic was needed. Step up, Bevan French. A well-worked strike play through the Warriors’ right edge found the ball in the former Man of Steel’s hands, and he threw a perfectly executed bullet pass to beat the on-chasing Hull defenders and allow Abbas Miski to cross out wide.

This effort saw momentum swing back to the visitors, and they made it count with a quick-fire double. Patrick Mago nabbed the first as he bashed his way through the defence to score, and Field added his second too as he latched onto French’s clever stab-kick.

You felt Hull FC needed to score first in the second-half if they stood any chance of clawing back into the game, and they did just that as Lewis Martin crossed after a delicious floated pass from Aiden Sezer.

This new-found hope was soon blown out though, as Tom Forber extended Wigan’s lead after a mishap from a Hull FC goal-line drop-out.

It was fast becoming a case of ‘by how many’ for the Warriors, and back-to-back efforts from Wardle, Field – who completed his hat-trick – and French saw them run away with a comfortable victory.

Ligi Sao injury worsens FC crisis

Freak, innocuous injuries always seem the worst, and unfortunately, it seems Ligi Sao is set for an extended spell on the sidelines.

Within minutes of his entry onto the pitch, the Samoan international was stretchered off after a horrific-looking knee injury – where it actually looked like he went to hit it back into place like the now-infamous Joe Westerman clip.

Hopefully, it isn’t as serious as it first appears.

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This is also another major concern to add to the Black and White’s growing injury list. Davy Litten and Oliver Holmes missed their victory over Catalans last time out, and Jed Cartwright, Zak Hardaker and Amir Borough also picking up issues in the South of France as well.

Injuries were a major issue for Hull FC last year, and could they cost them again in 2025?

Attack, attack, attack

Rugby league can be very easily, and sometimes wrongly, described as ‘five drives and a kick’, but to be honest that pretty much summed Wigan’s attack up last weekend.

That was not the case this time around at the MKM, however, as they were utterly ruthless.

There was a genuine venom about the Warriors tonight when they got into striking distance, as they just managed to consistently find different ways of picking off the FC defence.

Yes, they still deployed the likes of Luke Thompson, Patrick Mago and Kaide Ellis to motor them towards the line, but around that, they managed to sprinkle some stardust to things. Bevan French and Jai Field had their fingerprints all over their attack tonight, injecting serious fizz at critical moments.

Around them too, the potent left-edge really came into their own with some classy link-ups. Their opening score came as a result of telepathic handling from Junior Nsemba, Jake Wardle and Liam Marshall, and they constantly found themselves in places to have an effect on the game.

Crucially, though, it seemed no set was the same. There was always a different question posed by the Cherry and Whites, which is an incredibly scary thought moving forward.

Wigan’s left edge

A lot of the focus of Wigan is put on the combination of French and Field, but tonight the left edge was what won them the game. Literally everything they did was delightful.

Take their defence efforts. All four members found themselves repeatedly dragging the likes of Harvey Barron, Ed Chamberlain or Jordan Rapana into touch, and that proved crucial in stopping a lot of Hull’s half-chances.

In attack, it seemed everything good came from either one of them having a moment of brilliance or a collective move. The aforementioned first score was delightful, but they found themselves consistently linking up for spectacular efforts. Wardle’s second-half score was a prime example of that connection, as he calculated exactly where Marshall was going to be to get on the end of his pass.

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Wigan do a lot of things right on the pitch, but that left edge just proved they are the true beating heart of this title-winning juggernaut.

What a difference a week makes

This time last week, Hull FC had a lot of the media eating their words (myself included), and to be fair to them it looked like they could potentially spring a surprise in the opening exchanges, but in the end, they were just played off the park by the defending champions.

For all of their improvements last weekend, it just looked like they reverted back to the Hull FC that we saw for large parts of last season again, which is a crying shame. The pack were mercilessly steamrollered through by their Cherry and White counterparts, with only Herman Ese’ese putting up a consistent fight.

The edge defence was also found wanting, particularly from the combination of Fash and Briscoe, as Wigan just unpicked them with almost every attempt, as they just offered a really tame defensive effort.

In attack, they just didn’t look like posing that many questions – minus their try which came with Wigan a man down. Their pack’s inability to get consistent front-foot ball was probably the contributing factor to this in fairness, but they just lacked any genuine imagination or ambition when in the red-zone.

One thing that probably summed their night up was Tom Forber’s score in the second-half, as he scooped up a short goal-line drop-out to waltz over the whitewash. This killed any sense of a fightback, which again was a major theme that ran throughout their 2024 campaign.

There were flashes, don’t get us wrong. The Lewis Martin score showed what they could do when their pack get rolling and play with a sense of desire, and their intent at the start of the second-half was also actually quite enjoyable to watch as they again just found new holes and new areas to attack; but, flashes will not lead to serious long-term improvement.

They’ve come crashing back down to Earth with a serious bump.

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