BRIAN NOBLE does not intend that today’s playoff eliminator against Castleford should be his last match in charge of Wigan Warriors but, as he finally acknowledged on Friday, lose and it probably will be.

After months fending off questions about his future, Noble admitted it had become hard to cope with club chairman Ian Lenaghan’s refusal to discuss renewing his contract, which expires at the end of November.

“What you have to do in these situations is compartmentalise. It’s the only way I’ve been able to manage this, otherwise it could send you mental,” said Noble. “It’s the only way I could approach it, otherwise the speculation over what has been six months now could kill you.

“It’s important I have an exit meeting with Ian Lenaghan, if it happens to be that way, but you’d think something would have been said before the last game of the season [at Huddersfield last week].

“I’ve had three or four other job opportunities, and I’ve refused to jump on board anywhere until the season is out of the way. My work until November 30 is at Wigan.” It is possible, if the seemingly inevitable comes to pass, that Noble may leave Wigan having won the ultimate prize. He insists he is genuinely excited about his squad’s prospects.

“I am happy with where we’re at coming into the playoffs, because we’ve got a young, dangerous and determined team. The players’ attitude has been awesome — I can count on one hand the occasions when they haven’t fully applied themselves. They’ve been operating in adversity, but we’ve created stability and that’s been a heck of a challenge, because there’s nothing we haven’t had to cope with at Wigan.

“Now we’ve got a hurdle to jump in Castleford, but I’m confident that with the fans behind us at the DW stadium, we’ll give it a serious go. We’ve built a solid bridge here, and the sad thing for me is that it might not be me that gets to paint it. Everything is in place. A lot of people have worked hard to achieve that, fabulous people who have put this club together again from where it was when we first arrived, when they were 12 points off the pace and going into the other division.”

As he indicated, Noble is not short of job opportunities. The most persistent links him with Celtic Crusaders, whose head coach John Dixon is paying the price for a torrid season. Wherever Noble ends up, he will want a long contract. “A coach now needs five years minimum. When somebody new comes in, it might take three years to get out the contracted people you don’t want, and that’s just for starters,” he said. “The key is the development of young players. That’s an area where Wigan are at the forefront, but they still need the quality that will get them to the highest level and keep them there.”

That is a challenge for another day. For now, he is focused on reaching Old Trafford next month, starting by beating Castleford today.

ON TV TODAY
Wigan v Castleford
7pm Sky Sports 1