Adrian Lam hopes to go out on high in final Wigan home game

The 51-year-old former scrum-half, who has been head coach for the last three seasons, is leaving the club at the end of the year and will take charge of his last match at the DW Stadium on Thursday when the Warriors play Leeds in the first elimination play-off.

Victory will set up an away semi-final with St Helens or Catalans Dragons but he is acutely aware that defeat will be the end of his involvement with his adopted club.

Lam said: “I’m a realist but I’ve put that at the back of my mind and I know, if we get our preparation right and our players turn up for each other, it gives ourselves a chance to win.

“I want to stay positive and keep a real vibe about the place, keep momentum building and keep everyone on a high that we’re on at the moment and not think about anything that’s a negative.”

READ: Six potential candidates to be next Wigan head coach

Lam, of course, is hoping to go one step further than 2020 when his team were runners-up to St Helens in an epic final, which was switched to the KCOM Stadium.

He said: “Sadly we didn’t get the opportunity to play at Old Trafford last year and, if that was the storyline for this year, it would be as good as it gets for me.

“But it’s not about me, it’s always been about my players and I’ve always been strong in the belief and trust that we can get it together at the important times in the season.

“We’re now at that point. Hopefully we can see that on the field for 80 minutes on Thursday night and then we can see what’s next.

“We couldn’t have had a tougher period to make sure that we aimed up and I think we’re in a really good place physically and mentally as well.

“We’ve played more games than anyone in Super League this year and it certainly hit us six or eight weeks ago when we hit a flat spot where we were down in confidence but we’ve come out of that period now.”

Wigan finished the season with a morale-boosting win over league leaders Catalans last Friday but Lam is conscious that they suffered a 14-0 home defeat to the Rhinos only a month ago.

He added: “Leeds have got some great individuals and, when they’re playing their best rugby, they’re as good as any team in the competition in my opinion.

“They are one of the teams that can win it from any position in the top six. We’ve played them a couple of times in the regular season and they beat us only four weeks ago.

“We understand the challenge that’s ahead of us but we’re looking forward to it.”

Lam has an injury doubt over prop Joe Bullock but the six players rested for the game against the Dragons will all return to face Leeds.