Rugby League Coaching Manuals

Christopher Irvine, London Times -  Brian Noble, the Wigan Warriors coach, shrugged off talk of pressure as his side seek to avoid a third successive engage Super League defeat at home to Castleford Tigers on Friday.

"It is a long season and nobody is pressing any panic buttons," Noble said. "But it is important we produce a decent performance and we need to give our fans the belief that we are a competitive team and can shake things up. We certainly haven't had the start we would have wanted."

Noble admitted that the opening home loss to Wakefield Wildcats "stunk a little bit of complacency" but that the 18-10 loss to Hull last weekend represented a significant improvement.

"It's people in the press who talk about those kind of pressures, not us. With a 27-game programme it's a bit silly. I can understand fans' frustration because we were poor against Wakefield. We didn't look like a team but we did at Hull and I thought we were unlucky not to come away with something."

With Richard Mathers, the full back, still suspended, Cameron Phelps, the centre, ruled out through injury and doubts surrounding the fitness of Phil Bailey in the second row and Pat Richards on the wing, Noble is preparing to give debuts to Shaun Ainscough and Karl Pryce, the former Bradford Bulls threequarter, who was signed from Gloucester rugby union club 18 months ago but missed the whole of last season with a foot injury.