Farrell outburst set to cost Wigan dear
FORWARD CHARGED AND COULD MISS CLASH WITH CENTURIONS
WIGAN are almost certain to be without influential forward Liam Farrell when they look to snap a run of six matches without victory against Leigh on Thursday.
The second-rower was named captain for Saturday’s 39-26 defeat at Hull, but was sin-binned for dissent after protesting in the aftermath of one of the home side’s first-half tries.
Farrell, who was making his 200th appearance for the Warriors, has been handed a Grade B charge for directing foul and abusive language towards a match official, which carries a recommended suspension of 1-2 matches.
He has the option of submitting an Early Guilty Plea in exchange for a one-match ban, ruling him out of the local derby clash with the bottom-ofthe-table Centurions, but ensuring he would be available for next week’s Challenge Cup quarter-final against Warrington.
Farrell was awarded the Harry Sunderland trophy for man of the match in the Super League Grand Final against the Wolves at Old Trafford last October and skippered the cherry and whites in the absence of captain Sean O’Loughlin, who missed the match with a hamstring injury.
The Warriors have had to contend with a number of injuries to key players so far this season, but are expected to have John Bateman, Oliver Gildart and Sam Tomkins back in their ranks in the coming weeks.
Willie Isa received a caution for tripping during the defeat to Hull, while Leigh’s Antonia Maria also received a warning for making contact with the referee during his side’s defeat to Leeds on Friday.
Meanwhile, Rochdale Hornets head coach Alan Kilshaw struggled to find any positives after his side’s 38-14 defeat to Sheffield Eagles on Sunday.
The match at Belle Vue was in the balance at the interval, but a poor second-half performance from Hornets saw Eagles run away with the game, much to Kilshaw’s anger.
“It was only 8-6 at half-time even after how poor we’d been with the ball, so we spoke about that and trying to go at them set for set, but then we made an error at the start of the second half,” he said.
“Next thing they had scored 12 points, so the first 20 minutes on that second half is probably as disappointed as I have been all year.
“I was really frustrated with what we served up, and there’s always a chance we could be a bit flat after last week’s heroics, but I hoped we would use that momentum to kick on.
“You’ve got to complete sets against Sheffield as physically they wear you down, but we handled them a lot of ball. Their first two tries that they scored were really soft, so we’re really disappointed and there aren’t many positives to take.”
The defeat against Sheffield leaves Hornets eighth in the Kingstone Press Championship table.