Leeds Rhinos v Wigan Warriors - Tom Briscoe expecting tough test from defending champions

They may be reigning Super League and World Club champions, but Shaun Wane’s side are finding it tough after a raft of injury problems.

Also, Wigan have lost their last five games at Headingley which has proved a miserable hunting ground of late.

However, they are boosted by the return of prop Ryan Sutton, England second-row Liam Farrell and impressive young centre Oliver Gildart.

“They always play well against Leeds and whether they’ve got injuries or not we know it is going to be a tough game,” said former England winger Briscoe.

“We are not looking into what’s happening with them, we’re concentrating on ourselves and going into this like any other game.

“We can be confident. I think it has been a good season so far. A lot has been made of the Castleford game (a record 66-10 loss), but barring that we’ve won most games and are in a good spot.

“We pushed Saints all the way in our first match and we’ve just had that one blip at Cas’.

“We are quite happy with where we are at the minute and we will keep improving.”

High-flying Leeds are seeking a fourth successive win, which is a marked difference to last season when they spent most of the campaign surprisingly rooted to the bottom of Super League.

Briscoe, 27, conceded: “It’s nice to be up there, especially after last year. It’s not good to be at the other end of the table.

“We are where we deserve to be at the minute, but it is too early in the season to be looking at the table. A lot can change. It’s 23 rounds before the league splits so it is nice to be up there, but I think the more important thing is the way we are playing and keeping ticking off the wins.”

At the sixth attempt, Briscoe scored his first try of the season at Huddersfield last week.

“It’s nice to get that ticked off and, hopefully, there’s a few more over the next weeks,” he said, Leeds overcoming a stuttering start to the year to now average more than 37 points per game in attack over the last three rounds.

“In the first few games we were struggling a bit, but since Cas’ we seem to have clicked a bit better.”