There were times last season, when Bevan French was in his audacious groove and Liam Marshall was scorching over the try-line with reckless abandon, that it felt like Wigan’s relentless dominance of the domestic game in the first half of the 1990s had never ended.
Such was the conviction of Matt Peet’s side as they successfully defended a Super League title they had finally wrenched from the grasp of their historic rivals St Helens the previous year, it was hard to envisage any different set of hands clutching the prestigious trophy.
