DISMISS US AT YOUR PERIL
Gildart warns play-off rivals
WIGAN V LEEDS 7.45PM
OLIVER GILDART has a clear message for Wigan’s doubters: don’t write us off yet.
Last year’s Grand Finalists have stumbled through much of this season, losing key attackers to injury and scoring fewer points per game than any other team.
But the Warriors still clinched a topfour spot and stand just two wins away from Old Trafford ahead of tonight’s opening play-off clash with Leeds.
Centre Gildart said: “It has been tough. Everyone expects you to win things at Wigan, and rightly so. We like to think of ourselves as one of the better teams and you do have that pressure when you put on the badge.
“It has been very frustrating and disappointing at times. We’ve not had our starting left edge play more than three games together, so it has been hard to build combinations.
“I wish I could score five tries every week but realistically it’s not going to happen. But we got the fourth spot, and we know what it’s like to play in these big games and get them won.We have got quite a healthy squad at the minute and anything can happen. I don’t think anybody should be writing us off just yet.
“Our attack hasn’t been brilliant but it doesn’t come down to attack in the bigger games, it’s all about defence.”
Gildart has a personal reason to want to finish on a high – he leaves his hometown club for Australia’s Wests Tigers at the end of the campaign.
“I’m fit now and it’s a good time of year – crunch time,” he said. “It would mean the world to leave as a threetime Grand Final winner withWigan.” ●Gildart was speaking as part of ‘Pride in the Community’, a grassroots initiative launched by Ronseal, the UK and Ireland’s premier woodcare brand.