The Morning After: Dominant Wigan, O’Loughlin’s guard of honour & Hull’s season over

Drew Darbyshire

The Morning After looks at three talking points from the latest Super League action.

Dominant Wigan

Wigan produced a fine display to beat Hull 29-2 at the DW Stadium and reach the Super League Grand Final.

READ: Wigan 29-2 Hull: Superb Warriors reach Super League Grand Final

Adrian Lam will no doubt be delighted with his side’s defence against Hull. Not only did they not concede a single try, but they forced a number of errors from their opponents in the second half and kept their intensity throughout the entire 80 minutes.

The likes of Joe Bullock, Ollie Partington and Willie Isa were superb in Wigan’s pack and got through a lot of the ‘ugly’ work in defence.

Wigan were just as clinical in attack. Zak Hardaker and Bevan French combined on a number of occasions while Jackson Hastings did a terrific job standing in at hooker.

O’Loughlin’s guard of honour

Retiring Wigan captain O’Loughlin was given a guard of honour from both sets of players following his final game at the DW Stadium – and it is safe to say it was fully deserved.

The 37-year-old former England skipper has made 458 appearances for his hometown club and will pull on the cherry and white jersey one more time in the Grand Final on Friday, November 27.

O’Loughlin will retire as a legend of Wigan and British rugby league. He is the perfect role model for any youngster who wants to make it in the game. A one-club man, a warrior on the pitch and an absolute gent off it.

Hull’s season over

The 2020 campaign has been one hell of a rollercoaster for Hull.

At one point it looked as though they were never getting near the play-offs but suddenly they pulled a few wins together and came good at the right time.

The Black and Whites have shown improvement under interim head coach Andy Last but they just fell short at the final hurdle.

Hull won’t be getting the ‘home’ Grand Final they were hoping for – but they can take a lot of encouragement of how they have played at the back end of the season and take that into 2021.

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