Wane hails passion and strength of Joe Burgess

Correspondent

Shaun Wane believes Joe Burgess is not under any additional pressure at Wigan, despite being set to leave the club at the end of the season.

The 20-year-old is off to join NRL side Sydney Roosters at the end of the current season.

Wane believes Burgess is a fine, fast-improving player, who has the passion and character to succeed.

“I honestly don’t think he’s under pressure from anywhere else, and he’s certainly not from us here at the club,” said Wane.

“He’s a strong character, and the only one he’s bothered about is my opinion. He’s not under pressure.

“He does some good things, he does some bad things. There are certain things he needs to get out of his game.

“But I’m going to give him time.

“There’s Dom Manfedi playing really well at Workington, so every player in our team is under pressure.

“I want the best all the time, but I also recognise the good things that Joe does too.

“There’s a little bit of him trying too hard as well. He really badly wants it – I can’t tell you how down he was after the Widnes game.

“If I see a player so passionate, then I’ll stay with him.”

A trip to Hull KR is next up for Wigan at the weekend, and they will be encountering some familiar faces at the KC Lightstream Stadium.

Greg Burke is on a season-long loan deal from the Warriors at Rovers, while Darrell Goulding signed for the Robins on a permanent deal from Wigan in the close season.

“They’re two good players,” Wane said.

“They’re two people I’m close to, and text regularly. I do care for them, and I want them to do well, but not this Sunday.

“We’re going there wanting to get two points. The players are low key this week, because they expended some gas in that game on Saturday night.

“I’ll look after the players, but they’ll be mentally good on Sunday at Hull KR.”

The Wigan coach feels that Rovers, who have lost their two opening Super League fixtures, are a quality side who will come good at some stage soon.

“I watched both their games, and they were unlucky,” he said.

“They are playing well. They’re playing with some energy. They ripped into Leeds in that early period of the game.

“They’re a good team, but it will take time for them to settle and get used to everything and the new players.

“The small details of what each player does, that will take time to gel.

“When they do gel they’re going to beat teams. Chris Chester is a smart coach.

“So I am aware that, even though they lost those two games, they’ve challenged both teams and played really well in large parts of the game.

“They’ve had a week’s break, whereas we’ve not, so they’re going to be fired up and they’re going to be wanting their first win.

“But we want our second win.”