PETER Gentle says Hull FC will still face an aggressive Wigan side this evening, despite the Warriors fielding a vastly under-strength team.
Warriors coach Shaun Wane has left out the majority of his Wembley side, giving his cup-winners a rest after an emotional week of celebrations.
It means Wigan's fringe players will get a chance against Hull, with Gentle himself handing some of his younger players an opportunity because of injuries.
But while Wigan will bear little resemblance to the side that beat Hull six days ago, Gentle says his players still face a tough task at the DW Stadium.
"Wigan are a professional outfit and whatever they put in front of us will be good," Gentle told the Mail.
"The players they are bringing in have plenty of first-grade experience. I think Wigan won't change anything in their approach and will bring the same aggressive attitude in defence.
"Defensively we need to be better in a few areas. While obviously there is a lot for us to work on in our attack."
Gentle says Hull have tweaked a few things at training this week in an effort to improve on an attack that failed to score a single point against Wigan at Wembley.
But rather than make drastic changes, the Aussie coach says Hull simply have to hold on to the ball better and stop making so many tackles on the back of their mistakes.
"Everything we spoke about before the cup final didn't come to fruition," added Gentle.
"We didn't hold the ball long enough to build any sort of pressure. It's been a problem all season the amount of tackling we are doing, and it climaxed in the final.
"We have to learn to share possession. We did it earlier in the season and beat Warrington twice and Leeds when we shared possession. When it is stacked against you, through your own fault, you'll struggle to beat any side."
Clinging to the memory of those past victories, Hull are positive they can still mount a successful assault on the play-offs.
Having effectively been in the mindset of having to play knockout rugby for the past month because of their once perilous league position, Gentle believes his players are in an advantageous position.
"We want to win our last two games and will do everything we can to do that. We've had the sudden-death mentality for a while now and you don't lose momentum in one game," explains Gentle.
"It's about getting back out there for us. It was good for us to get to Wembley, but this is a separate competition and there are eight teams left.
"We've got two games to turn our form back around and then we will see where the semis take us."
